April 26, several students from the UALR Bowen School of Law will present the results from their service-learning projects in Neighborhood Development, a new course offered this spring. The presentations will take place at 10:30 a.m. in the Bailey Alumni and Friends Center on the UALR main campus.

The students performed work focused on the University District surrounding UALR’s main campus. Bowen professors Paula Casey and Lynn Foster and adjunct professor Cliff McKinney taught the course, which was designed to provide service to the University District Development Corporation (UDDC), a corporation formed to revitalize the University District.

“To benefit the UDDC, students selected blocks within the district and conducted title searches to determine whether the properties were owner-occupied or leased to tenants,” Casey said. “This information will be stored in a retrievable way and future students in the course will continue to build a database of information about district properties.”

As the UDDC expands its work to purchase and rehabilitate more properties, students may be able to assist in conducting searches of the properties targeted for possible purchase. In the course, Bowen students performed title searches, drafted an ordinance, and drafted a real estate contract for sale. The contract is the first in a series of forms, which will constitute a “form bank” that the UDDC will use in conducting its business transactions.

“Students drafted brochures for home buyers in the University District explaining purchase agreements and urging them to hire home inspectors and purchase title insurance,” Foster said. “All students were required to attend one city board meeting, one city planning commission meetings, one UDDC board meeting, and one neighborhood association meeting. Journal entries allowed professors to assess student learning and adapt the course throughout the semester.”

As the UDDC matures as an organization and realizes its full potential in rehabilitating and constructing housing in the district, the Neighborhood Development students will be able to provide a greater spectrum of legal services targeted to UDDC needs.