On July 28, 2021, City of Carson Mayor Lula Davis-Holmes and California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) President Thomas A. Parham signed the Town and Gown Promise agreement paving the way for meaningful advancement in the relationship between the university and city.
The signing ceremony was held in front of CSUDH’s newly completed Innovation and Instruction Building, one of the three major new buildings on the campus. Parham remarked on the shared history between the university and Carson and pointed out that the first buildings opened on campus in 1968, the same year that Carson was incorporated.
“Our history is inextricably interlinked.” said Parham. “We are reimagining and recharacterizing our relationship with the City of Carson. We want to embrace what a relationship between a city and a university ought to look like.”
Davis-Holmes, who is also a CSUDH alumna, amplified Parham’s remarks.
“We are one community, we are one university, and we are one people,” said Davis-Holmes. “It is important that we carefully plan in unison to enhance our projects and programs while moving the City of Carson forward.”
As the first formal agreement of its kind between the Carson and CSUDH, the Town and Gown Promise focuses on three areas of partnership:
1) Lead and manage operational relationship between the city and university;
2) Establish a task force comprised of city and university executive leadership to implement mutually benefitting projects, programs and initiatives for the enhancement, enrichment and progression of the community and university;
3) Elevate communication between the community and campus.
The ceremony was also attended by City of Carson Mayor Pro Tempore Jim Dear, Councilmembers Jawane Hilton and Cedric L. Hicks, Sr., the CSUDH administration and members of both the campus and the community.
After the signing, Parham presented Davis-Holmes with a crystal Toro bull in recognition of the promise. In return, Davis-Holmes gifted CSUDH with a key to the City of Carson.
“The Town and Gown Promise will strengthen our relationship with the university, ensure that we have mutually enhanced beneficial pursuits and secure our future unlimited,” Davis-Holmes said.
