Dear Town & Gown Members:

I hope each of you are doing well. It’s my pleasure to bring you news from our local community. Each year, as the

fall semester begins at Chapman, returning students are welcomed to City of Orange neighborhoods by representatives from the university’s Office of Community Relations. The goal is to educate students – many of whom are living on their own for the first time – about how to be a good neighbor.

The multi-prong outreach effort includes a “Good Neighbor” mailer sent to every student household in the communities surrounding Chapman, filled with helpful information about things such as parking, trash collection and guidelines for hosting gatherings. In addition, the Community Relations team made in-person visits to 130 houses in the community, encouraging student residents to be thoughtful and considerate, and, most of all, to get to know their neighbors. Those face-to-face interactions have the greatest impact, says Gerrard, who is overseeing the outreach for the third year in a row. Last year, complaint calls to the office dropped by almost 30%, an indicator of how impactful the student outreach program has been.

Additional efforts have included meetings with all Chapman’s athletic teams as well as the Greek Life presidents; tabling during the fall involvement fair; and a social media campaign that features videos from Orange Mayor Dan Slater and Chief of Police Dan Adams.

Photo: Malena Gordon ’26, student assistant in the Office of Community Relations, canvasses the local neighborhood as students return for the fall semester.