Each semester the seminar focuses on a neighborhood near the University. Students research conditions and needs in the neighborhood, then undertake a project in partnership with people in the neighborhood to improve conditions there.

Hazelwood

In spring 2010 the seminar focused on Greater Hazelwood, a community about two miles up the Monongahela River from Duquesne University. Students researched conditions and needs in the community and produced a report (pdf) of their investigations.

The Hill District and Uptown

The seminar focused on the Hill District or adjoing Uptown (some say that Uptown is part of the Hill District) in fall 2000, spring 2002, and spring 2004. In spring 2006 students worked in Uptown and in spring 2009 in the Hill.

From 2000 to 2004 students in the seminar contributed to a brief description of the Hill District and Uptown during that period.

Photos from the fall 2000 seminar's visit to the Hill District and Uptown illustrate certain features of the communities at that time.

Students in the spring 2006 seminar wrote a profile of Uptown.

The spring 2009 seminar began by studying Kevin Perkey and Shawn Sheridan's Developoment and the Hill District (report and appendices A-E and appendices F-Z, both in pdf format), commissioned by the Bank of New York Mellon. They then researched and wrote "The Life of the Hill: The Story of Pittsburgh's Hill District," with the following sections:

• Introduction
• Origins and Immigration
• Jazz, Baseball, and the Glory Days
• Neighborhood Churches
• Urban Renewal
• The King Riots
• Drugs and Crime
• The Hill House
• Employment
• Education
• Current Developments
• Landslide Community Farm
• Conclusion
• References

They then created an asset map of the Hill District and documented the neighborhood with a collection of photos.

Seminar Members' Observations and Research Findings about the Hill, Uptown, and West and South Oakland

From 1993 to 2003 Duquesne University was involved in community development efforts in the Hill District and Uptown through its University-Community Collaborative Project and a Community Outreach Partnership Center funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The South Side

The seminar focused on the South Side, directly across the Monongahela River from the university, in the spring 2005 and spring 2008 semesters.

Students in the spring 2005 seminar wrote a profile of the South Side, which students in the spring 2008 seminar updated and expanded.