MOULTRIE — An outreach program that started in Colquitt County has received regional recognition and is on a short list of competitors for a national award.

The University of Georgia was recently awarded the 2009 Outreach Scholarship W.K. Kellog Foundation Engagement Award for its Archway Partnership program. By receiving the award, the Archway Partnership is one of four regional programs invited to compete for the national 2009 C. Peter Magrath University Community Engagement Award.

UGA started the Archway Partnership as a pilot program in Colquitt County in 2005, and it has since grown to five other sites around the state. Archway is an initiative to strengthen UGA’s land-grant mission by taking a grassroots approach to meet locally identified community and economic development needs by creating “portal” communities through which the university’s teaching, research, and service missions can address community driven issues, according to a press release from the university.

In a nutshell, Archway is a framework in which a community identifies needs and the University of Georgia brings its resources in to help the community address those needs.

Moultrie was the first such “portal” community. Others are Sandersville and Tennille/Washington County, Brunswick/Glynn County, Clayton County, Hartwell/Hart County, and Americus/Sumter County. The Hawkinsville/Pulaski County community set to begin operations on July 1, according to Archway Partnership Director Mel Garber.

The Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, formerly known as the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, declared the Archway Partnership award to be “the single most prestigious university/community engagement award” for the Southern Region, the UGA press release said.

Emily Watson, Colquitt County director of the Archway Partnership, emphasized the role the local community played in shaping Archway, especially since Colquitt County was the pilot for the whole program.

“Athens and Clarke County for years and years have reaped the benefits of being next to the University of Georgia,” Watson said. “We’ve been able to get those resources to South Georgia.”

Most recently, Archway sponsored its second annual Leadership Summit, which this year brought the leaders of the county’s smaller towns together with the City of Moultrie, Colquitt County, the Board of Education and other agencies to discuss their needs.

“A meeting of that kind had never happened before,” Watson said. “All of our small communities are really facing the same problems.”

Knowing that, Watson can access resources at UGA that can address overall issues, not just a little here and a little there.

Similarly, other Archway portal communities are facing some of the same problems Moultrie is, she said. The Archway directors in those communities can call Watson to see how Moultrie addressed an issue, and she can call them to learn of their experiences.

The APLU is a voluntary, non-profit association of 186 public research universities, including 74 land-grant institutions and 27 state university systems that enroll more than 4.7 million students.

In addition to the Archway Partnership, regional winners were from Arizona State, Michigan State and Penn State universities. For details on their programs, click the link attached to this story at www.moultrieobserver.com.

The Archway Partnership and the other three regional award programs will be showcased during the National Outreach Scholarship Conference Sept. 28-30 at the University of Georgia, and the Magrath award winner will be selected during the conference, with the winner being announced during the APLU annual meeting Nov. 15-17 in Washington, D.C.