Cultural Humility: A Framework for Local and Global Engagement

Many institutions of higher education have implemented local and global engagement opportunities as a way to expose both students and faculty to different cultures and further their knowledge of those cultures. One of the primary goals of these cultural experiences is for students and faculty to become more culturally competent. However, it is possible that our current way of thinking and promoting cultural competency within education specifically may not go deep enough and could be considered limiting in the ways we partner, collaborate, and interact with people groups different than ourselves. Cultural humility, a construct currently accepted in some professional preparation programs in the medical field, may be the foundation from which to shift our thinking and practices about cultural competence within education and provide a deeper meaning and understanding to our work around the globe. This article describes the experiences and reflections, as well as personal and professional applications of three faculty members from George Fox University as we have participated extensively in global engagement experiences. Each faculty member addresses three questions that we considered which directly related to our experiences and learning journeys: (1) How have we changed our perceptions or assumptions as a result of our interactions within the context of these opportunities? (2) Have we changed our practices or thinking? (3) Are we more culturally competent as a result of these experiences than before we embarked on our global engagement initiatives

Insights and Lessons: Community Arts and College Arts - A Report to The Kresge Foundation

This report examines two pilot initiatives, Community Arts and College Arts, launched during the 2008 economic downturn. After the completion of the multiyear initiatives, the Kresge Foundation commissioned a report on the effort. The qualitative analysis offers lessons and insights on the theme of art-based civic dialogue and community revitalization

Utilizing the Human Rights Framework: Lessons Learned from the From Poverty to Opportunity Campaign: Realizing Human Rights in Illinois

In response to the growth and deepening of poverty in Illinois and the collateral human rights consequences, in December of 2006, Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights initiated the "From Poverty to Opportunity Campaign: Realizing Human Rights in Illinois". Working in collaboration with a coalition of community members, advocates, organizers, faith-based institutions, and policy leaders, the campaign advocated state-wide for an improved response to the growing problem of poverty in Illinois. This paper documents some of the lessons Heartland Alliance has learned while using the human rights framework to build and advance a campaign to eliminate extreme poverty in Illinois

Supporting Parent Engagement in Linguistically Diverse Families to Promote Young Children’s Life Success

This paper examines research that can inform policies aimed at building the capacity of early care and education programs to promote parent engagement in linguistically diverse families. The key questions addressed include:1 )What factors affect linguistically diverse families’ access to early care and education programs?; 2)What do we know about linguistically diverse families and how parents in these families support their young children’s learning and development?; 3) What features of early care and education programs appear to contribute to high levels of parent engagement in linguistically diverse families?; and 4) What policies can help increase the capacity of early care and education programs to support parent engagement in linguistically diverse families

Social Equity and COVID-19: The Case of African Americans

Emerging statistics demonstrate that COVID-19 disproportionately affects African Americans. The effects of COVID-19 for this population are inextricably linked to areas of systemic oppression and disenfranchisement, which are further exacerbated by COVID-19: (1) healthcare inequality; (2) segregation, overall health, and food insecurity; (3) underrepresentation in government and the medical profession; and (4) inequalities in participatory democracy and public engagement. Following a discussion of these issues, this article shares early and preliminary lessons and strategies on how public administration scholars and practitioners can lead in crafting equitable responses to this global pandemic to uplift the African American community

Communities Engaged in Resisting Violence

"Communities Engaged in Resisting Violence" documents a new movement in Chicago that seeks to end violence against women through community engagement and accountability, rather than solely social services and criminal justice. This report documents the innovative approaches, structures and strategies of sixteen community-based initiatives from across Chicago that are changing the way that we deal with violence against women in this society.Why do we need new approaches? The women's movement against violence has accomplished much over the past 35 years. There are now many local, regional and national organizations that provide support, advocacy, and educational resources. And yet, violence remains an omni-present fact of our day-to-day lives. The report looks at 6 limitations of the mainstream anti-violence movement:- One size fits all model, with standardized definitions, options and strategies- Over-reliance on the criminal legal system- Reliance on state funding- Exclusive focus on interpersonal violence- Exclusive focus on individual intervention- Professionalization of antiviolence workThe report then examines groups, approaches, structures and strategies, providing concrete suggestions of how individuals and communities can take action to end violence against women and girls.How anti-violence groups develop their approach: The report examines how groups have broadened the definition of violence; rethought the roles of survivors and perpetrators of violence; and identified systems of oppression as root causes of violence.How anti-violence groups structure their projects: Rather than copy the structures of the mainstream nonprofit system, groups are creating new structures and negotiating the older ones. The report looks at how groups ground their work in communities; how they grapple with the non-profit industrial complex; and how they build safe communities within the movement, including responses to acts of violence within the social justice community. Strategies to end violence: The report examines six strategies to end violence against women and girls: community engagement; community organizing; arts and performance; popular education; harm reduction and partnering with men

What is it like to learn and participate in rhizomatic MOOCs? a collaborative autoethnography of #RHIZO14

In January 2014, we participated in a connectivist-style massive open online course (cMOOC) called "Rhizomatic Learning – The community is the curriculum" (#rhizo14). In rhizomatic learning, teacher and student roles are radically restructured. Course content and value come mostly from students; the teacher, at most, is a curator who provides a starting point and guidance and sometimes participates as a learner. Early on, we felt that we were in a unique learning experience that we wanted to capture in writing. Explaining #rhizo14 to others without the benefit of traditional processes, practices, roles, or structures, however, presented a challenge. We invited participants to contribute narratives to a collaborative autoethnography (CAE), which comprises an assortment of collaborative Google Docs, blog posts by individuals, and comments on those documents and posts. This strategy afforded insight into what many participants found to be a most engaging course and what for some was a transformative experience. In discussing the findings from the CAE, our intent is to benefit others interested in rhizomatic learning spaces such as cMOOCs. This authoethnography specifically addresses gaps both in the understanding of the learner experience in cMOOCs and in the nature of rhizomatic learning

Higher Education Collaboratives for Community Engagement and Improvement

Our society is in a period of dramatic change with the transition from an industrial-based to a knowledge-based economy, as well as technological advances, fiscal challenges of higher education, and cultural shifts in society as a whole. Increasing collaborations between communities and universities in order to influence the public good becomes paramount during this time of dramatic change. As frustratingly slow as the movement to strengthen the relationship between higher education and society sometimes seems to be, few social institutions are better situated than colleges and universities to stimulate significant community improvement. Individually and collectively, institutions of higher education possess considerable resources—human, fiscal, organizational, and intellectual— which are critical to addressing significant social issues. Additionally, these institutions are physically rooted in their communities. Therefore, investing in the betterment of their immediate environments is good for both the community and the institution. However, it is recognized that higher education institutions often fall short of making a real impact in their home communities. Therefore, a conference was convened to examine the current and evolving role of higher education institutions, particularly those operating within the context of coalitions, consortia and state systems, to catalyze change on issues affecting communities and society as a whole. Specifically, the focus of the conference was to develop and strengthen an understanding of how higher education might work more effectively with communities and we believe that consortia or collaboratives of higher education institutions, along with community partners, can learn from one another. Cooperation between efforts is important. The papers offered in this monograph are the result of the Wingspread Conference on Higher Education Collaboratives for Community Engagement and Improvement, conducted on October 27-29, 2004, in Racine, Wisconsin. The conference, the second of a three-part series, was sponsored by the National Forum on Higher Education for the Public Good at the University of Michigan School of Education, the Johnson Foundation, Atlantic Philanthropies, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The first conference in the series held in October 2003 and titled Public Understanding, Public Support and Public Policy focused on higher education’s role in society and the concluding conference will be held in the fall of 2005