The Urbana Police Department community engagement team is partnering with Urbana School District 116 and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School to launch a school supply drive for local students in preparation for the upcoming school year. 

At Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School, 89% of students qualify for free lunch, according to a press release from the City of Urbana. The city wrote that donations are “especially meaningful for families facing financial challenges as they prepare for the new academic year.”

The drive, called “Stuff the Squad,” aims to fill an Urbana Police Department squad car with classroom items. Community members can donate school supplies at the UPD from Aug. 1-14, 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.

“Every child deserves to start the school year with confidence and the supplies they need to succeed,” the Urbana Police Department community engagement team said. “Whether you donate one notebook or a backpack filled with supplies, every contribution helps ensure our students are ready to learn, grow and thrive.”

Urbana police community engagement: A history

The discussion of community engagement within the UPD has been ongoing for years as part of efforts to develop alternative responses to public safety beyond solely enforcement. One alternative response was that the department builds connections with the community.

In December 2023, Police Chief Larry Boone asked Urbana City Council for $569,198 to fund four new positions, including three officers in a proposed community outreach department. The council deferred the decision until BerryDunn, a national consulting firm hired by the city, finished its report detailing its findings on alternative response options. The relationship between BerryDunn and the city ultimately fell apart, with the two parting ways after only two of the three review phases were completed. The split was due to differences in meeting style, with the city wanting them public and the consultants wanting to keep them private, according to then-Urbana Mayor Diane Marlin.

According to records from a city council meeting in May 2024, Marlin’s sentiment was that “the City of Urbana has not been able to create community engagement Teams within the UPD because of understaffing,” while expressing support for Police Chief Boone’s budget requests. In June 2024, despite pushback and delays in funding a community engagement team, Urbana allocated funding for a three-year pilot program for the community engagement team, starting fiscal year 2025.  

In November 2024, the community engagement team’s location was chosen, and lease negotiations were in progress, according to city records. Despite that, records from June 2025 noted that the team was still unrealized. In a city council meeting, Boone cited retention issues within the department as the reason the two officer positions within the team were not filled. 

This sentiment was echoed by Mayor DeShawn Williams, who wrote in a letter to the community prefacing the 2026 annual budget that staffing shortages in patrol made it difficult to implement the community engagement team, despite the initiative already being included within the budget.

According to WCIA, the community engagement team finally launched in February 2026. In March, Lt. Matthew McKinney, Sgt. Antwan Funches and Community Liaison and Services Supervisor Lashaunda Cunningham presented a report on the community engagement team. They stated that the team would not be used for enforcement and would focus on connecting people to resources, and that community engagement officers will have different uniforms and vehicles. 

The department is still seeking to fill positions within the community engagement team. A job posting notes that the city is looking to hire a community engagement liaison with a starting annual salary of $72,470 to $94,211. On July 16, the department said it was still looking to fill the liaison position and select an additional officer to join the team, according to a Facebook post. However, the post said the department had “already reached 58 community events and nearly 580 hours of engagement,” and would be on pace to exceed community engagement from the previous year. 

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