A $15,000 grant from the Erie Community Foundation will allow Gannon University to develop partnerships with the Erie School District and the Erie Bureau of Police while also helping the University expand its community service efforts.

Gannon University will use the grant to invest in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) mapping software and to train faculty members and students to use it. The grant also will fund related, complementary technology.

GIS software captures, stores, analyzes, manages, and presents data in a way that illustrates patterns, relationships, and trends that otherwise are not readily apparent or easily analyzable. Two faculty members in Gannon’s criminal justice program, Maria Garase, Ph.D., and Clairissa Breen, will develop a pilot program with the Erie City School District and Erie Bureau of Police. The program will allow the district and the bureau to more thoroughly and effectively track, monitor, and map cases of truancy, identified as a concern by district officials.

Though the school district currently tracks truancy, officials ideally would like to move beyond the “raw numbers” of student absences and strategically implement programs that will increase school attendance.

“The technology can help to identify hot spots in which truancy is more prevalent,” said Gretchen Fairley, director of Service-Learning, Gannon University. “By analyzing the relationship between areas with high truancy rates and high crime rates, Gannon can help the school district take its existing prevention programs to the next level.”

Ultimately, the goal of the pilot program will be to use the GIS mapping software to reduce unexcused student absences. Ideally, the pilot program will lead to other collaborative, mutually beneficial projects with the Erie School District and the Erie Bureau of Police, Gannon officials said.

In addition, Gannon hopes to use the GIS software to partner with local non-profit agencies and organizations to generate more advanced research data related to their existing programs, services delivered, and areas served. The technology’s ability to display geographic patterns can help agencies and organizations better serve their constituents.

Specifically, Gannon’s Office of Service-Learning intends to work with the non-profits and government agencies to identify which of their existing projects could benefit from GIS technology and to match faculty members and students with agencies in need of volunteers. Using the software will help Gannon students develop 21st century skills in field research and data analysis while also enhancing the University’s contributions to the local community.