The location of colleges and universities in the US is diverse. There are universities located in downtown, suburbs or even in sparsely-populated rural community. In many cases, these universities operate in a 'bubble' where students and faculty have little interaction with the wider community around them. As members of the local community, universities can provide valuable community service that can reinvigorate neighboring areas that suffer from many adverse socio-economic issues - such as low-quality public school system, high poverty rates, lack of jobs, etc.
A model can be the "Great Cities" program of the University of Illinois - Chicago (UIC). Students and faculty of UIC provide services to improve the neighborhood public school system, provide technical education to school children in underprivileged communities,and help to improve the neighborhood housing quality. Elon University has the "It takes a Village Project" where undergraduate students tutor elementary and middle-school students of local, under-performing public schools. Similar projects have been undertaken successfully in some other universities, and some of the best practices are listed in this link.
Such community involvement by universities can improve the surrounding communities and therefore, should be actively encouraged. Every university should have an office dedicated to community outreach, and should encourage faculty and students undertake projects that benefit the surrounding communities. The experience of community outreach programs should be shared, and the best practices should be adopted by other universities. This can help universities be more accessible to the locals, and locals will feel that the universities are part of their community, instead of being a foreign bubble in their locality.
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