Center for Community-Based Learning

Northside Living-Learning Community

About the Program

The Northside Living-Learning Community is a year-long LLC dedicated to sustainability and community engagement within Spartanburg's Northside. As a cohort of 12 students, participants live together in Milliken House at Northside Station while enrolled in a linked course each semester. The program seeks to expand the classroom by giving these 12 students the opportunity to live, learn, and work in the Northside. In partnership with Northside stakeholders and community partners, students will tackle Spartanburg's largest concerns and get first-hand, real-world experience dealing with the topics they discuss in class. Through this direct engagement, students will learn from and give back to the Northside community.

Linked Courses

As part of the LLC, students will enroll in two linked courses, one in fall and one in spring. These courses, taught by a rotating lineup of professors from diverse disciplines, will each encompass aspects of sustainability and community-based learning, seeing students get involved in the Northside to bolster their classroom experience with real-world experience.

The 2025-2026 Northside Living Learning Community (NLLC) will bring together the disciplines of anthropology and chemistry to critically examine space, place, and history within the Northside neighborhood. In the Fall, students in Dr. Handelsman’s Urban Anthropology course (ANTH 206) will conduct interviews and focus groups with residents of various ages to explore the histories of place names, neighborhood development, and how these histories intersect with contemporary lived experiences. This course will fulfill the Social Studies (SS) General Education requirement. In the Spring, Dr. Schwartz’s introductory chemistry course (CHEM 103) will involve hands-on environmental chemistry to deepen students’ understanding of the interconnections between local histories, environmental issues, and daily life in Northside today. This course will fulfill the Science in Context (SC) General Education requirement. Across both courses, NLLC students will engage with local organizations and residents, particularly the Cleveland Academy of Leadership, gaining a deeper understanding of the neighborhood’s strategic development plans and actively participating in community-based learning that extends beyond the classroom. 
    • Fall 2025:

    ANTH 206: Urban Anthropology: Neighborhoods in Focus
    Instructed by: Dr. Alysa Handelsman

      • Spring 2026:

      CHEM 103 (no lab): 
      Instructed by: Dr. Grace Schwartz

        Milliken House

        Members of the cohort live together in Milliken House at Northside Station which consists of 6 two-bedroom apartments, each with a full kitchen, bath, and balcony. The space also houses a dual use classroom/common area. Just a few minutes’ walk from campus, Milliken House offers students the perfect launchpad for work in the Northside while still being able to enjoy all the amenities of on-campus living. Upon acceptance into the program, your housing will be assigned to Milliken House for the 2025-26 academic year. 

          

        Join the Northside LLC

        The application is now closed and students for the 2025-26 cohort have been selected. The application will reopen in the Spring of 2026.

        About the Northside

        For more than a decade, Spartanburg’s Northside has been the focus of the most ambitious neighborhood revitalization in the city's history. Click here to acces three City of Spartanburg podcasts in a series titled Northside Rising with Spartanburg-based writer, Will Rothschild, detailing more about the Northside, its neighborhood origins, and the journey towards inclusive development through the Northside Initiative.

        Some Northside Stakeholders

        If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Tytajha Robinson at robinsonte@wofford.edu.

        Frequently Asked Questions