Cooperative Extension Program Development and the Community-University Engagement Movement: Perspectives from Two Lifelong Extension Professionals

For over 100 years, Cooperative Extension has been bringing university research and resources to communities to help them address critical issues. Historically, Extension was one of the first university engagement models in the country. In the last 20 years, community-university engagement models on campus have intersected and competed with Extension work. These engagement models are challenging Extension’s long-established Program Development Model. Extension is only one vehicle or methodology for engagement work. For Extension to continue to leverage an important place in community-university engagement, it must more fully align the Program Development Model with the standards for assessing successful community-university engagement. Extension professionals also need to examine the program development process with an eye toward the scholarly process for doing engaged work, as well as understand and practice program development in the context of today’s academic and community environments. Recommendations are provided to advance quality Extension program development within community-university engagement models

Inside view IV.2.1. Community University Engagement in South Africa

Peer Reviewe

Doing the Tough Work: Care and the Dynamics of Community-University Engagement

Many colleges and universities offer their commitment to partnering with local communities, and often do so with the goal of addressing societal needs. A growing field, such engagement between higher education institutions and community partners continues to evolve, including the purpose and rationale for this work, how engagement is accomplished, theoretical contexts, and how success is viewed by stakeholders. A qualitative case study was undertaken with the following questions at the fore: how does a self-described “engaged” university center function when viewed through the prism of an ethic of care? What are the characteristics of engagement efforts undertaken by staff, faculty and community partners associated with this center? What is a cultural description for the work associated with this center? The case studied was the Center for Community Research and Engagement (CCRE) at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Data collection included a combination of participant-observation, document analysis, and open-ended interviews. Overall findings point toward many aspects of an ethic of care that can be understood to be prominent characteristics of CCRE, including the dynamic of relationships, longevity, and a focus on needs and attention paid. Further, acknowledgement of care is not one-directional, with undergraduate students, and by proxy the university, recipients of care. Findings suggest that relationships are the tough work, easily overlooked because they are difficult to quantify and capture in forms other than the perceived experience between people. The challenge of funding is also an ever-present reality, and contributions by university staff is a new and novel finding given the previous focus on faculty and students. A description of CCRE necessitates an understanding of context, core center efforts, and additional cultural dynamics that include a changing university. Findings from this research contribute to the theoretical development of engagement through the consideration of Care Theory, and also deepen understanding of community-university engagement by describing the complexity of human relationships

Catalyst for Democracy? Outcomes and Processes in Community-University Interaction

Regional colleges and universities are unique in their historic commitment to serve the economic, social, and cultural interests of particular communities. Drawing on the findings of a multi-site case study of two regional institutions, this paper outlines the goals of community-university interaction, then focuses more specifically on the processes of collaboration as distinct from the participants’ desired outcomes. Separating goals from process in this way allows us to explore the civic/democratic impact of these initiatives beyond their economic impact. Findings suggest that when community-university engagement initiatives focus too narrowly on economic development goals, project leaders sometimes neglect the potential of engagement initiatives as catalysts for participatory democracy, thereby limiting input from traditionally under-represented groups. Scholars and practitioners can draw from community development literature, as well as the scholarship related to community-university engagement, allowing simultaneous attention to the nature of relationships between universities and the communities they serve and the process of building inclusive relationships

Needs and readiness assessments: Tools for promoting community-university engagement with Aboriginal communities

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is an important means of connecting the perspectives of community members with critical social issues, such as health and wellness. As beneficial as CBPR can be, effective engagement with community members remains a difficult goal to achieve. In this article, we draw on the international literature around needs and readiness assessments to explore their potential for establishing solid foundations for engaged research. We examine the stages and dimensions identified in the literature, and use these as a framework for a needs and readiness assessment project undertaken with a Métis Settlement community in Alberta, Canada. We share how the needs and readiness assessments helped to foster the emergence of community priorities, informing the next steps in research design, program content and evaluation methods, and heightening community-university engagement. It is our hope that our example of engagement, which focuses on the role of needs and readiness assessments in strengthening community-university partnerships, will better inform engagement approaches so that they become relevant, culturally appropriate and community specific. Keywords: Métis, Aboriginal, community-based participatory research, needs assessment, readiness assessment, community-university partnershi

Building Capacity to Improve Latino Health in Rural North Carolina: A Case Study in Community-University Engagement

In North Carolina, health disparities for the emergent Latino population are well documented. Between 2005 and 2009, a community-university engagement model with Latino leaders and university faculty and students in rural eastern North Carolina worked to address solutions to health disparities among Latinos. Based on principles of community-based participatory research, this model focused on partnership formation and capacity building. Community partners acquired leadership and research skills. University partners gained a local understanding of Latino health through collaborative community and systems-level initiatives. Mutual benefits were achieved in partnerships established, resources leveraged, and community members reached. These strategies can be replicated in other communities that have an immigrant Latino population, community-oriented, bilingual health professionals, and a university committed to engagement

Choice, power and perspective: The neglected question of who initiates engaged campus-community partnerships

To address society’s complex challenges, campus-community partnerships are increasingly being undertaken by academia. As a result, questions of how to ensure that these partnerships succeed have taken on a new urgency. This urgency has led to an emphasis on the creation of ‘how to’ guides focused on the mechanics of building effective partnerships. This article argues that this focus is premature and attention instead needs to be directed to the neglected but ultimately more fundamental question of who is ‘allowed’ to initiate the partnerships. It is argued here that the seemingly simple and straightforward issue of who initiates the partnership leads us into the complex problems of choice, power and perspective which bedevil campus-community partnerships. Until these problems are fully addressed, the partnership approach is unlikely to achieve its status as a central means by which community-university engagement can be realised in academia. Keywords: campus-community partnerships, community engagement, partnership initiation, research, knowledge creation, reciprocity

Choice, power and perspective: The neglected question of who initiates engaged campus-community partnerships

To address society’s complex challenges, campus-community partnerships are increasingly being undertaken by academia. As a result, questions of how to ensure that these partnerships succeed have taken on a new urgency. This urgency has led to an emphasis on the creation of ‘how to’ guides focused on the mechanics of building effective partnerships. This article argues that this focus is premature and attention instead needs to be directed to the neglected but ultimately more fundamental question of who is ‘allowed’ to initiate the partnerships. It is argued here that the seemingly simple and straightforward issue of who initiates the partnership leads us into the complex problems of choice, power and perspective which bedevil campus-community partnerships. Until these problems are fully addressed, the partnership approach is unlikely to achieve its status as a central means by which community-university engagement can be realised in academia