Partnerships with community organizations create increased opportunities for universities to promote community-engaged research, teaching, and service. Virginia Commonwealth University’s (VCU) mission states that the university is committed to sustainable, university-community partnerships that enhance the educational, economic, and cultural vitality of the communities VCU serves. In recognition of its efforts, VCU is among a small number of institutions to be designated as very high research activity and community-engaged by the Carnegie Foundation. It is also a recipient of a NIH-funded Center for Translational and Sciences Award, which promotes community-engaged research.
In pursuit of the university’s goal to become a national model for community engagement and regional impact, the Division of Community Engagement (DCE) and Office of Planning and Decision Support (OPDS) – with representatives from across the university - sought to identify current community-university partnerships during 2012-13. The team developed a Pilot Inventory of Community Partnerships (PICP) to test a university-wide data collection process. The findings are presented along with recommendations for improving the long-term ability to count and describe the university’s partnerships. (This effort parallels the VCU Health System’s plans for a similar pilot to identify and document outreach efforts.) The resulting baseline information presented here helps to achieve the University Level Initiative 4 strategy, Define and collate community partnerships and determine measures to leverage assets. The information gathered will provide a resource to our VCU and Health System communities to collaborate, build on existing efforts, and identify gaps
