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Maryville College (Maryville, TN)
Just Connections

Summary
Maryville College faculty members collaborated with faculty from six other Appalachian colleges and with members of several rural grassroots community organizations to form, Just Connections, a regional network that promotes community-based research on social justice issues. Just Connections promotes the development of self-sustaining communities that offer equitable access to resources for local citizens. This regional network also provides training and development opportunities for faculty and community members to be more effective in their partnerships and to promote the building of community capacity.

The Practice
The idea for Just Connections emanated from a faculty conference on service-learning sponsored by the Appalachian College Association (ACA) in June 1995. Several participants expressed strong interest in sustainable development, grassroots democracy, and social justice. Energized by the conference, they enlisted the help of local citizens and formed a task force to create service-learning opportunities and community-based research (cbr) projects for the mutual benefit of communities, college faculty, and students in the mountain region. In December 2000, Just Connections incorporated, formed a board of directors, and hired a community leader as its coordinator.

Just Connections creates linkages and partnerships between colleges and communities to develop participatory learning and action opportunities, including service-learning and community-based research projects. Its board and staff use collaborative and democratic processes as a means to solve community problems, reduce inequality, and promote social justice. Just Connections strives for equitable participation among the residents and scholars involved in projects. It provides quarterly workshops for faculty and community members to attend. These workshops focus on how to establish a relationship with a community organization as well as how to do community-based research and organize a research project. In addition to cbr work during the academic year, each summer, student teams live in mountain communities working collaboratively with community members to complete research projects that the community has identified. Faculty members shared grant resources with students, students paid for their stay in the community, and community members obtained grant resources as well.

Just Connections has obtained three grants to support its mission. The first grant from the Appalachian College Association supports the use of technology in developing community-based research. The second grant from the Bonner Foundation is a national community-based research project to support developing cbr networks in several different urban areas as well as the Appalachian region. Both grants funded faculty to develop course cbr projects for students to collaborate with a community organization in doing research. The third grant from the Sociological Initiatives Foundation has supported the community organizations to visit each others’ communities and learn from each others’ experiences. The goal was to build capacity of the organizations so that they can be stronger partners with the colleges in our collaborative work.

Maryville College faculty serve on Just Connections board of directors, coordinate grants, receive course development grants, lead and sponsor cbr workshops along with faculty colleagues from Carson-Newman College, Emory and Henry College, Ferrum College, Tusculum College, Berea College, and Southeast Community College in Kentucky.

Effectiveness
Just Connections has supported over 70 course-based projects as well as a number of individual projects in the summers. Models of participatory learning and action have been established in three communities and at seven colleges. Some examples of these cbr projects are listed below (appendix A). Just Connections has held eight workshops on cbr, using technology in cbr, and organizational development. Just Connections maintains a web page, disseminates a toolbox, and sponsors an annual conference. In June 2003, Just Connections held its first conference for Community and Scholar Activists in Community Based Education in Appalachia at Emory & Henry College. A diverse mix of 130 community and scholar activists from the Appalachian region and states as far away as Illinois and Texas came together to share and celebrate their work in participatory learning & action.

Appendix A-CBR Projects

Maryville College faculty members have developed many course-related cbr projects. Examples include*:

1. Sociology of Marriage and Family students collaborating with Blount County Library to plan and implement services for school-aged children and young adults.

2. Education Senior Thesis projects: Teachers and administrators in the local school systems identified research questions and then students would select a project and work collaboratively with that school.

3. Sociology of Appalachian Culture cbr students working collaboratively with Cades Cove Preservation Association to complete oral histories of individuals who formerly lived in Cades Cove. This community was disbanded in the 1930s when the Great Smoky Mountain National Park was established, so the stories of these individuals need to be preserved before all of those individuals pass away.

4. Perspectives on the Community: a psychology faculty member developed for a general education course for freshman called Perspectives on the Community. Students interviewed people in the community who do or used to do patriotic work in their jobs, in the community, or in the military. The students then wrote up their findings in the form of a third grade reader to be used in the school system.

*BCPIA, Ferrum College, and Emory & Henry College have also developed memorandums of agreement to maintain long-term relationships to include placing students with BCPIA for service and cbr projects.

Many course-based projects have been completed at other colleges as well.
Examples include:

1. Larry Osborne, professor of psychology at Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City, TN, developed a project for students to create a presentation for the local school system on the Underground Railroad as anti-racism intervention for a course in Psychological Research. In a different semester the project for this course was a study on community strengths and needs, including information on how community-based research at CNC can help. This was accomplished through community leadership interviews with the results published locally.

2. Emory & Henry College’s (Emory, VA) Spanish Professor Deanna Mihaly’s work with two Spanish courses. Elementary Spanish II students conducted community surveys related to Spanish language and human service providers in the local county. Spanish Prose II students completed a Spanish language translation project.

3. Emory & Henry’s Professor Steve Fisher has developed several projects for different courses in the Public Policy and Community Service major. Projects for the Senior Seminar included setting up parent-student reading groups; working with the Crossroads Medical Mission to provide free health care in Meadowview, VA; establishing a Friends of the Library Group in Saltville, VA; writing grants for the Bonner Leaders Program at Southwest Virginia Community College; and planning an Economic Development Conference for Congressman Boucher.

4. Ferrum College’s Political Science Professor Frederic Torimiro’s work collaboratively developing an educational reform research project with Big Creek People in Action for Political Science Research Methods.

Resources
The most accessible resource is the Just Connections website. It includes the toolbox of materials developed and collected by Just Connections participants. This includes definition and explanation of cbr, sample course syllabi, reflections on experiences developing projects in courses, and sample forms to use in doing research for informed consent, tape release, etc. Also, there are reflections and advice from community people as participants in cbr, information on how to develop a workshop, and a list of the lending library we have developed available on loan through the mail. Also, links to other resources on cbr are available. Just Connections workshops, held by the participants three to four times a year, are a resource for those interested in attending. Just Connections participants also hope to produce a second conference in the summer of 2005 and host it at Maryville College.

Susan Ambler, Associate Professor of Sociology, Maryville College, Maryville, TN. Treasurer of Just Connections. Coordinator of ACA Grant, 2000-2003. She has experience in developing service-learning and cbr projects for courses and summer experiences.
susan.ambler@maryvillecollege.edu

Marie Cirillo, Organizer and Board Member of Clearfork Institute and Woodland Community Land Trust, Eagan, TN. President of Just Connections. She has long-term experience in community development and organizing, creating nonprofit organizations, and doing cbr.
marie@jellico.com

Steve Fisher, Director of Appalachian Center for Community Service, Professor of Political Science, Emory & Henry College, Emory, VA. He has long-term experience in developing and administering a campus center for service-learning and cbr. He has extensive experience in collaboratively developing course and individual student projects with community orgs.
sfisher@ehc.edu

Helen Lewis, Retired Sociologist and Professor, Morganton, GA. Former Staff Member at Highlander Research & Education Center. Past President of Appalachian Studies Association. Consultant to Just Connections. She has many years of experience doing workshops with community organizations, doing cbr, and publishing research and analysis of Appalachia.
hvmlewis@tds.net

George Loveland, Reference Librarian and Bonner Director, Ferrum College, Ferrum, VA. Vice President of Just Connections. Coordinator of ACA Grant, 2003-present. He is organizer and administrator of the community-based research publications collection.
gloveland@ferrum.edu

Franki Patton-Rutherford, Director of Big Creek People in Action (BCPIA), Caretta, WVA. Coordinator of Just Connections. Coordinator of Bonner Learn & Serve Community Based Research Grant. She has extensive experience developing and implementing community projects, hosting students and classes, and negotiating agreements between colleges and BCPIA for long-term relationship.
frankipr@hotmail.com

Contact Information
Susan H. Ambler
Associate Professor of Sociology
Maryville College
502 E. Lamar Alexander Pkwy
Maryville, TN 37803
Phone: (865) 981-8232
susan.ambler@maryvillecollege.edu