The Office of the Vice President for Student Life at the University of Iowa has created a new program to better connect students living off campus with resources on campus.

Tanya Villhauer, the associate director for harm reduction and strategic initiatives, and Eric Rossow, the assistant director of IMU Outreach & Services, have spearheaded the Neighborhood Ambassador Program.

They collaborated with Marcia Bollinger, the neighborhood outreach coordinator for Iowa City, to create an outreach and support system for UI students living off campus.

“These ambassadors will welcome students, provide resources, plan events, create newsletters, and interact with permanent residents to help foster a more cohesive community,” Villhauer said.

She said she hoped the program would help students better understand the ins and outs of leasing and utilities. The program is not meant to replace on-campus resources; rather, Villhauer said, she hopes that Neighborhood Ambassadors can serve as liaisons between students and the resources they need.

Before the program kicked off, a website with resources for off-campus students was created in the fall of 2017 to help students living off-campus exist with both the UI community and the broader Iowa City community.

The site addressed legal rights of tenants, the lease gap many students face in late July, and off-campus resources for renters. Now, the website has a link to offer more information about Neighborhood Ambassadors.

A press release issued in July said Neighborhood Ambassadors would be hired to serve seven neighborhoods in Iowa City: Bowery, Brookland/Roosevelt, College Green, Downtown, Longfellow, North Side, and Riverfront Crossings East.

There are currently six Neighborhood Ambassadors who have been hired, and the Division of Student Life is searching for more participants in the program and encourages all those interested to apply.

The selection process is not unlike that of other UI jobs. The position was posted on the HireAHawk website, Villhauer said, so that all those interested could apply. Applicants submit résumés and cover letters before going through an interview.

Ambassadors will receive a yearly stipend of $500, distributed in amounts of $250 once per semester. They will work five to seven hours a month, spending most of their time on writing newsletters and scheduling outreach events.

UI student Elin Dejus, who lives in the College Green neighborhood, believes students living off-campus would benefit from such a service.

“While I don’t know the extent to which [the resources] exist, if they came to our door with newsletters with information, that would be more accessible than having to search for resources yourself,” she said.

The students’ first acts as ambassadors will be to appear at the Havoc on Hubbard student-involvement fair and to send newsletters out to the students in their areas. The newsletters will serve as an introduction to the Neighborhood Ambassador Program.

Though it is still a pilot program in its inaugural year, Neighborhood Ambassador Rachel Maly is optimistic.

Maly said the program provides a resouce in which students come to another student for help.

“… Sometimes it’s hard to reach out to a resource in person because it’s hard to know what they do,” she said. “It’s easier to reach out to another student for help than to reach out to an organization for help.”

Editor’s note (8/29/18): In an earlier version of the story, Neighborhood Ambassadors were incorrectly said to work five to seven hours a week. This has been corrected to five to seven hours a month. The DI regrets this error.