Albertus Magnus College provides a values and liberal arts-based education rooted in the Dominican tradition, inspired by the Four Dominican Pillars of Study, Prayer, Community, and Service. Albertus has been recognized for its experiential learning curriculum that helps students polish classroom learning into real-world skills that employers value – and our alumni across nine decades are proof that our method is successful. Learn more about our Accelerated and Graduate Degree programs.
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The Coffee with a Cop program allows for honest conversation with the local community without barriers.
My name is John Ventura and I am enrolled in the Master of Public Administration Program here at Albertus Magnus College. I also serve as the Deputy Chief of Police at the Wallingford Police Department.
Module One introduced me to the concept of ‘policy implementation’ in Dr. Patricia Birungi’s Implementing Public Policy course. A task assigned as part of the course was to identify an organization and highlight a program that they have implemented; specifically focusing on the challenges faced when attempting to successfully implement a program. I selected the Adelante program put on through the Spanish community of Wallingford (SCOW). In researching this program, I was fortunate enough to have access to Program Coordinator, Daisy Lopez, and SCOW Executive Director, Adriana Rodriguez. In speaking about the Adelante program with them, we began a dialogue about policing in Wallingford and relationships between the Latino/a community and the Wallingford Police Department. A suggestion of mine was to introduce a program started at the Wallingford Police Department called Coffee with a Cop to members of SCOW. The concept of the program is to put forth an environment where people feel comfortable talking with officers.
“The MPA program is based on an interdisciplinary approach that provides students with an in-depth understanding of the role of public administrators in the public policy making process, while equipping them with the practical skills essential to leading, implementing public policy, solving problems, and improving effectiveness in any position within all three sectors.”–Dr. Patricia Birungi
On October 9, 2020, the first Coffee with a Cop event was held at SCOW and it was a tremendous success! Officers were able to hear from the Latino/a community about current issues significant to them and conversations about important subjects were able to occur in a safe and open environment. This relationship in the Wallingford Community was strengthened due in large part to Dr. Birungi’s Implementing Public Policy course and we, as an agency, were so grateful for the opportunity to interact with our community members.