The university's communication major in Cuenca has started to work on a community involvement project in the "El Vecino" neighborhood in order to determine its problems and needs and then find solutions.

The project called "Construcción de ciudadanía y memoria colectiva del barrio El Vecino (ciudad de Cuenca)" will be a joint effort between the university and the neighborhood to find possible solutions to the neighborhood's problems; they will also work with the municipality of Cuenca on insecurity, space and public health. 

During the first part of the project students are in charge of learning about habitants' needs through surveys. According to the first results, neighbors say the main problem is disorganization and this does not allow improvements. 

For Jorge Herrera, president of the "El Vecino" neighborhood, the project will mainly focus on reducing problems of insecurity which have become an obstacle for promoting it as a tourist attraction despite being one of the traditional neighborhoods of the city.