As campuses seek to prepare students for work, life, and citizenship and to contribute to positive community change, Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) deserves more attention. The idea is simple: whether working to reduce health disparities, support youth development, or expand economic opportunity in urban and rural areas, the most powerful approach builds relationships and partnerships grounded in the strengths of every individual, association, and institution involved. This collection of essays and case studies addresses both the potential and challenges for asset-based community engagement in higher education. "This book is a treasure chest of experience and advice from the best theorists and practitioners in the field. Invaluable." John McKnight, Co-Director, Asset Based Community Development Institute, Northwestern University
This book offers a conceptual re-think of how university community engagement functions as a lifelong learning resource for communities. While having a specific focus on the South African context, it has important implications for other universities which are concerned with their communities, and makes a compelling argument for the university as a public good, in spite of current trends towards marketization and commodification of higher education. The book draws on a theoretical framework of capabilities, asset-based community development, and the adult learning concept of dialogue, to propose a model whereby the boundary walls of the university become metaphorically ‘porous’, so that community members feel free to interact with the university as equal members of society. A historical outline of African universities is provided, as well as an exploration of the evolution of terms for community engagement, service learning and learning cities; and an examination of the policy and practice implications for the ideological model of a porous university.
This timely Research Handbook offers new ways in which to navigate the diverse terrain of community development research. Chapters unpack the foundations and history of community development research and also look to its future, exploring innovative frameworks for conceptualizing community development. Comprehensive and unequivocally progressive, this is key reading for social and public policy researchers in need of an understanding of the current trends in community development research, as well as practitioners and policymakers working on urban, rural and regional development.
There seems to be renewed interest in having universities and other higher education institutions engage with their communities at the local, national, and international levels. But what is community engagement? Even if this interest is genuine and widespread, there are many different concepts of community service, outreach, and engagement. The wide range of activity encompassed by community engagement suggests that a precise definition of the “community mission” is difficult and organizing and coordinating such activities is a complex task. This edited volume includes 18 chapters that explore conceptual understandings of community engagement and higher education reforms and initiatives intended to foster it. Contributors provide empirical research findings, including several case study examples that respond to the following higher educaiton community engagement issues. What is “the community” and what does it need and expect from higher education institutions? Is community engagement a mission of all types of higher education institutions or should it be the mission of specific institutions such as regional or metropolitan universities, technical universities, community colleges, or indigenous institutions while other institutions such as major research universities should concentrate on national and global research agendas and on educating internationally-competent researchers and professionals? How can a university be global and at the same time locally relevant? Is it, or should it be, left to the institutions to determine the scope and mode of their community engagement, or is a state mandate preferable and feasible? If community engagement or “community service” are mandatory, what are the consequences of not complying with the mandate? How effective are policy mandates and university engagement for regional and local economic development? What are the principal features and relationships of regionally-engaged universities? Is community engagement to be left to faculty members and students who are particularly socially engaged and locally embedded or is it, or should it be, made mandatory for both faculty and students? How can community engagement be (better) integrated with the (other) two traditional missions of the university—research and teaching? Cover image: The Towering Four-fold Mission of Higher Education, by Natalie Jacob
While an increasing number of universities have or are committed to engaging their campuses in their surrounding communities, many recognize they lack the strategic focus and resources to maximize and sustain their impact on those communities. Place-based community engagement provides a powerful way to creatively connect campus and community to foster positive social transformation.In developing community engagement strategies, most universities and community organizations face significant challenges in deciding who to partner with and why. Frequently this leads universities and community organizations to say “yes” to too many opportunities which significantly limit their ability to pursue long-term impact. Focusing on an established geographic area can make it much easier to decide where to deploy resources and which partnerships to prioritize and thus increase their ability to form strong and sustainable partnerships that are of greater value to all stakeholders.This book presents the emerging model of place-based community engagement as a powerful process for attaining more positive and enduring results in their local communities as well as stimulating wider engagement by campus constituencies. Drawing upon the concept of collective impact and using data-driven decision making, place-based initiatives build long-term partnerships based upon a shared vision. Done thoughtfully, these place-based initiatives have attained impressive results.Drawing upon the case studies of five institutions that have implemented place-based community engagement initiatives, the authors provide guidance on the opportunities, challenges, and considerations involved in putting a place-based approach into effect. By sharing the experiences of these five institutions, they describe in detail the routes each took to turn their place-based initiatives from concept to reality, and the results they achieved.
This timely book addresses assumptions and challenges inherent within community engagement as a catalyst for developing students’ sense of civic responsibility at a time of rampant social polarization. Promoting academic development and life skills through the high-impact practice of service-learning, the book explores a new ecological framework for reflecting on and improving practice. This book describes new models such as the #CaliforniansForAll College Corps, offers advice on coalition building, and presents the narratives of community-engaged professionals and faculty, offering a sense both of tensions inherent in this work and examples of initiatives in local contexts. Chapters primarily reflect on what action is required for fulfilling our public purpose and what’s holding us back. This book provides guidance, examples, and benchmarks for best practices in community engagement that are particularly relevant to this time of crises and unrest and will be relevant to community-engaged professionals, higher education faculty, and college administrators.
This collection presents essays on service-learning and its role in the education of first-year college students. Following a preface by John N. Gardner and an introduction by Edward Zlotkowski, the chapters of section 1, "Making the Case for Service-Learning in the First Year of College," are: (1) "High School Service-Learning and the Preparation of Students for College: An Overview of Research" (Andrew Furco); (2) "Service-Learning and the First-Year Experience: Outcomes Related to Learning and Persistence" (Lori J. Vogelsang, Elaine K. Ikeda, Shannon K. Gilmartin, and Jennifer R. Keup); and (3) "Service-Learning and the Introductory Course: Lessons from across the Disciplines" (Edward Zlotkowski). Section 2, "Looking at Today's Students," contains: (4) "Look Who's Coming to College: The Impact of High School Service-Learning on New College Students" (Marty Duckenfield) and (5) "A Matter of Experience; Service-Learning and the Adult Student" (Tom O'Connell). Section 3, "Learning from Practice," contains: (6) "The University of Rhode Island's New Culture for Learning" (Jayne Richmond); (7) "Institutional Strategies To Involve First-Year Students in Service" (Julie A. Hatcher, Robert G. Bringle, and Richard Muthiah); (8) "Inquiry as a Mode of Student Learning at Portland State University: Service-Learning Experiences in First-Year Curriculum" (Dilafruz Williams, Judy Patton, Richard Beyler, Martha Balshem, and Monica Halka); (9) "A Positive Impact on Their Lives: Service-Learning and First-Year Students at Le-Moyne Owen College" (Barbara Frankle and Femi I. Ajanaku); (10) "Service-Learning in a Learning Community: The Fullerton First-Year Program" (Kathy O'Byrne and Sylvia Alatorre Alva); and (11) "Writing as Students, Writing as Citizens: Service-Learning in First-Year Composition Courses" (Thomas Deans and Nora Bacon). The final section, "Summing Things Up," contains one essay: "What, So What, Now What: Reflections, Findings, Conclusions, and Recommendations on Service-Learning and the First-Year Experience" (John N. Gardner). An appendix contains profiles of 4 additional programs. (SLD).
This book explores the finer nuances of community engagement in Indian higher education, ranging from theory to practice. It contextualizes the concept and practice of community engagement in the contemporary context, capturing global experiences, insights and varied standpoints. The volume also identifies gaps present in the system and recommends solutions for the successful implementation and scaling up of the practice of community engagement not only in India but also at the global level. It also brings to the forefront; opinions, perspectives and experiences of stellar women and their valuable scholarship with the aim of addressing the gender gap in the field of knowledge production on community engagement. The book will be of interest to scholars, teachers and researchers of education, higher education and sociology of education. It will also be useful for academicians, think tanks, higher education administration, policymakers, civil society organizations, higher education institutions and those interested in the study of community engagement.
Providing concrete examples for citizens and government officials, Diers describes a successful program to support community self-help projects and a community-driven planning process that involved 30,000 people.
This book is a companion guide to Campus Compact’s successful publication The Community Engagement Professional in Higher Education. In the first text, Campus Compact Research Fellows - led by award-winning scholar-practitioner Lina D. Dostilio - identified a core of set of competencies needed by professionals charged with leading community engaged work on college campuses. In this companion guide, Dostilio teams up with Marshall Welch to build on the initial framework by offering guidance for how a community engagement professional (CEP) should conceptualize, understand, and develop their practice in each of the original competency areas. Over 10 chapters the authors address questions for those “brand new to the role” and interested in how to start a community engagement unit or center, or from people who are considering jobs doing the work on a campus, or from individuals “are trying to navigate the political environment on their campuses to expand and deepen their unit’s reach.” The Guidebook offers a rich and deep dive, breaking down the essential components of a professional’s work. From mentoring faculty research, leading campaigns to build civic engagement curriculum on campus, to managing the staff who support community engagement units, Dostilio and Welch tackle the breadth of the CEP’s work by drawing on key resources and their own decades of experience in the field. Throughout the book, readers will encounter “Compass Points” that call for personal reflection and engagement with the text. These interactive moments combine with end-of-chapter questions to prompt thinking about a CEP’s critical commitments, to create a powerful and engaging toolkit that will be essential for any person doing community and civic engagement work on campus.
