Service-Learning Community Partner Impact Assessment Report

In the summer of 2017, VCU’s Office of Service-Learning conducted an evaluation of the impact of service-learning on community partner organizations. This assessment aimed to collect actionable feedback from partners and to inform improvements to service-learning courses at VCU that successfully address partners’ concerns. An external researcher conducted phone interviews with a representative sample of 22 community partners. Partners were asked how a specific service-learning course impacted their organization in three areas: organizational capacity, economically, and socially. Partners were also asked about faculty interactions and the likelihood of recommending the service-learning course to other organizations like their own. This report presents the findings of this community partner impact assessment, outlines an assessment model for a three-year continuous improvement cycle, and offers key recommendations and next steps that emerged from this assessment

Community gardens: Exploring race, racial diversity and social capital in urban food deserts

Study purpose. The study examined race and racial diversity in community gardens located in Southern urban food deserts, as well as the capacity of community gardens to generate social capital and promote social justice. Methods. A mixed-methods approach was used to describe characteristics of gardeners and community gardens located in urban food deserts, and test Social Capital Theory hypotheses. A convenience sample of 60 gardeners from 10 community gardens was obtained. Data was collected using surveys and semi-structured interviews. Analyses. Univariate and bivariate statistics were used to describe gardeners and gardens. Leader rationales for garden characteristics were analyzed using thematic analysis. Cross-level analyses were used to examine individual and organizational characteristics on gardeners’ social capital in multivariate regression models. Results. Gardeners were racially diverse across the sample; however most community gardens were racially segregated. The majority of gardeners also appeared to be middle-class. This study indicated that community gardens could indirectly enhance community food security, largely through the efforts of people of color, and less so directly as few gardeners involved were food insecure. Community gardens also exhibited limited potential to advance social justice, based on the few resources that could potentially be exchanged between gardeners. Implications. This study calls for: greater dialogue around gentrification concerns; the development of culturally appropriate engagement sensitive to historical trauma rooted in slavery; increased focus on entrepreneurial opportunities; and, obtaining the missing voices – those from non-participating low-income residents – to better understand how to create community gardens located in food deserts that benefit multiple communities

Council for Community Engagement Grants Impact Report 2007-2012

As Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) takes its place among the nation‟s top 50 public research universities, our guiding principles have been an abiding focus on student success at all levels, unparalleled innovation through research, and a university-wide commitment to human health, and engagement and empowerment in our communities. To that end, VCU has named community engagement as a key focus area in its strategic plan with the aim of developing collaborative university-community partnerships that yield creative and relevant solutions for community-identified needs. These mutually-beneficial partnerships not only support the public good, but they also support our mission to advance knowledge and student success through teaching and learning, scholarship, and outreach efforts. The Council for Community Engagement (CCE) Grants is one way that VCU supports the development of sustainable, mutually-beneficial partnerships. Under the direction of the vice provost for community engagement and the vice president for health policy and community relations of the VCU Health System, the Council provides oversight for the CCE Grants. The CCE projects are designed to enhance and increase university engagement with the community and contribute to community-engaged scholarship. One-year seed grants of up to $20,000 are awarded to proposals that demonstrate the involvement of faculty and students, address community-identified needs, and demonstrate substantive collaboration with at least one community partner. Over the past 7 years (2007-2014 grant years),$581,871 has been awarded to fund 51 community-based scholarship projects, which have involved 107 faculty from 19 academic and academic support units, representing 68 different departments and over 76 community partners (Appendix A). These projects have largely focused on improving health & wellness (34%), education (26%), environmental sustainability (14%), positive youth development (14%) and other (12%). This evaluation examined the impact of the seed grant program from 2007-2012 grant years (2007 – 2011 calendar years) from the perspectives of the community partners, PIs and students. Two overarching questions guided this evaluation: 1) do the grants facilitate successful community-university partnerships, and 2) can seed grant money be a catalyst for long-term partnerships. Although not included in the current evaluation, it is worth noting that two recently funded (2012-13) CCE grantees have already demonstrated successful impact. VCU‟s School of Nursing recently received a $1.5 million grant from the US Department of Health and Human Services to expand the CCE grant, “Community Health and Wellness Program for Older Adults”. In addition, the “CMoR Learning: Developing Interdisciplinary Partnerships for an Inclusive Learning Community” CCE grantee has been ranked in the nation‟s top 10 as a model for children‟s learning museums

Measuring & Monitoring Impact of Community Engagement at Virginia Commonwealth University

This report provides a summary of existing and developing enterprise data mechanisms that track and assess Virginia Commonwealth University’s engagement with our communities. The activities included here are limited to those efforts with which the DCE is actively involved. The Division of Community Engagement (DCE) undertook this effort and published the original document in fall 2014. This 2015 report has been updated to reflect progress that has been made during the 14-15 academic year

Nonprofit Sector Needs Assessment Survey: A Report of Findings for the Richmond Metro Area

This nonprofit needs assessment was initiated by a student from the Wilder School and was further developed in collaboration with Nonprofit Learning Point www.nonprofitlearningpoint.com and Division of Community Engagement www.community.vcu.edu. The purpose of this study was to broadly understand these issues from a nonprofit perspective as well as inform how universities can better meet current needs while proactively anticipating future needs of the nonprofit sector within the Richmond region

Measuring & Monitoring Impact of Community Engagement at Virginia Commonwealth University: A Brief Review of Existing and Planned Systematic Data Collection Mechanisms

As a major research university in an urban environment, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is an anchor institution for Greater Richmond, contributing to the economic vitality and health of the entire region. As VCU takes its place among the nation’s top 50 public research universities, determined by The Center for Measuring University Performance, our guiding principles have been an abiding focus on student success at all levels, unparalleled innovation through research, a university-wide commitment to human health, and engagement and empowerment in the communities we serve. VCU strengthened its position as a top-ranked urban, public research university and earned “Research University, Very High Research Activity” status and the elective community engagement classification from the Carnegie Foundation (one of only 28 national public research universities with academic medical centers that hold both distinctions). In building on its commitment, the current strategic plan emphasizes community engagement as a priority and includes community engagement as a means to providing high quality learning experiences and advancing excellence in research (http://www.quest.vcu.edu). Partially due to its commitment in community engagement, the university is one of 60 institutions with a NIH-sponsored Clinical and Translational Sciences Award (CTSA). As the size, mission and complexity of the modern university has grown, so has the need for information to support its decision-making and to describe its efforts and impact. This dynamic store of information is commonly referred to as “enterprise data”. This report provides a summary of existing and developing enterprise data mechanisms that track and assess VCU’s engagement with our communities. The data collection mechanisms for the following metric areas are summarized: Service-Learning; Service Hours; Community-Engaged Research; University-Community Partnerships

Identifying Regional Priorities and Opportunities

During 2014-2105, the Division of Community Engagement collected and reviewed publicly available community assessments to gain a better understanding of community-identified priorities. Twenty-four (24) reports from the past 10 years (2005-2015) were reviewed for their geographical focus, explicit population of interest, data collection methods and stated priorities. The common priorities that emerged from this review are included here, along with the associated recommendations from the assessments. This effort was not intended to replace other assessments, rather as a means to understand the overarching priorities that have been identified through these various community assessments

ASPiRE Partner Report: Assessing the Impact of ASPiRE from the Perspective of Sustained Partners

The purpose of this evaluation was to assess the quality of ASPiRE\u27s partnerships from the perspective of partners. In addition, this effort also gathered preliminary information about partners\u27 perspectives on VCU as a whole and functioned as a pilot test to inform future efforts for collecting partner voice about VCU\u27s partnerships across the university

Community Engagement and Regional Impact: A Review of Systematic Data Collection Mechanisms

This report provides a summary of existing and developing enterprise data mechanisms that track and assess VCU\u27s engagement with and impact on our communities