The Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) and its grantmaking unit, the Consortium for the Advancement of Private Higher Education (CAPHE), in March awarded 13 private colleges and universities grants of up to $80,000 each to participate in a major national initiative, Engaging Communities and Campuses (please see list below).
    Grantees were also invited to the Washington, DC area in March for a conference on the program, which is aimed at assisting independent colleges and universities to establish partnerships with community organizations to enhance experiential learning activities while simultaneously addressing community needs.
    A total of $1,006,500 is being awarded to 13 institutions and their community partners, selected from among 113 colleges and universities that submitted proposals.
    "The Engaging Communities and Campuses program is a multi-year initiative that builds on current and past CIC initiatives on service-learning, college/community partnerships, and colleges' urban missions," said CIC President Richard Ekman. "These grants will help private colleges and universities work with off-campus community organizations both to enhance student learning and to assist community organizations and residents in addressing critical issues."
    Teams from each of the 13 campuses, including their community partners, participated in a three-day conference sponsored by CAPHE March 1-3 in Alexandria, VA. The conference helped teams to deepen their understanding and commitment to their plan and each other, offered technical assistance on implementing the plan, and provided opportunities for teams to learn with and from each other.
    Beyond the grants competition and recent conference, the overall initiative includes an effective practice exchange and last year's sponsored regional teaching and learning workshops. The program is based on the premise that to prepare students for a lifetime of contributions to society, colleges should enable students to connect with the world beyond the campus-and the interests of those communities-while still enrolled in an educational program.
    "The program seeks to strengthen the processes by which colleges and community organizations collaborate for mutual gain," said Michelle Gilliard, executive director of CAPHE, in announcing the grants. Conference facilitator Mark Langseth, executive director of the Minnesota Campus Compact (a coalition of college presidents seeking to encourage student and institutional involvement in community service), said small, private colleges "are uniquely suited to providing leadership on service-learning collaborations. These institutions have a stake in being a part of their local communities and, because they are smaller and more nimble than larger colleges and universities, they can move service-learning initiatives to an institutional level more rapidly."
    Institutions selected for the Engaging Communities and Campuses program will work to build institutional capacity in one or more of the following ways: assisting faculty members in developing new knowledge and skills, establishing an infrastructure for work with community organizations, creating a campus culture supportive of faculty work with experiential learning pedagogies, and strengthening partner relationships with community organizations. Following is a brief outline of some of the specific activities.

Faculty Knowledge and Skills
Augsburg College will develop an annual training institute for faculty members on experiential education pedagogy. Calvin College will include faculty-community partnerships focusing on experiential learning and cross-cultural skills. Mars Hill College will provide course design workshops for faculty that will focus on experiential learning pedagogy. Otterbein College will develop and implement curriculum and programming related to civic engagement. Saint Joseph's College of Maine will develop a database of tools to identify, describe, and evaluate outcomes of community-based service learning experiences.

Institutional Infrastructure
Chatham College is enabling its staff to support service-learning initiatives as well as institutionalizing its program designed to give new students a thematic and multidisciplinary experiential learning program in the city. Loyola University New Orleans will establish an office of experiential education whose focus will be to develop and institutionalize a service-learning program. Madonna University will institutionalize a certificate program in community leadership for participants in the service program as a "value-added" educational credential for students majoring in any field. St. Thomas University will develop sustainable internal structures that will link student learning and community needs and interests.

Academic Culture
Emory & Henry College will establish a partnership program designed, among other things, to increase the involvement of faculty members in community-based learning. Wartburg College will identify faculty incentives and rewards for implementing experiential education in the curriculum.

Partner Relationships
Bates College and its community partners will establish an applied research center whereby research topics will be determined both by the faculty and the community. Tougaloo College is collaborating with its community partner on the development of a community technology center, which will be staffed by students and community residents.

• Augsburg College (MN) and Project for Pride in Living
• Bates College (ME) and LA Excels
• Calvin College (MI) and Grand Rapids Area Center for Ecumenism
• Chatham College (PA) and Communities in Schools, Conservation Consultants, Inc., and the East End Neighborhood Forum
• Emory & Henry College (VA) and Washington County Schools, People Inc., and Washington County Office on Youth
• Loyola University New Orleans (LA), Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeast Louisiana, Inc., and Young Mens
• Christian Association (YMCA)
• Madonna University (MI) and All Saints Neighborhood Center
• Mars Hill College (NC) and the North Carolina Juvenile Evaluation Center
• Otterbein College (OH) and the Westerville Chamber of Commerce, Communities In School, First Link, and the Columbus Foundation
• Saint Joseph's College (ME) and Crooked River Elementary School,Windham Family Resource Center, and the Standish city government
• St. Thomas University (FL), Florida Memorial College, and the Campus and Community Alliance for North Dade
• Tougaloo College (MS) and United Way of the Capital Area, Inc., Tougaloo Community Civic League, Jackson Public Schools, Tougaloo Community Center
• Wartburg College (IA) and Bartels Lutheran Retirement Community, Waverly-Shell Rock School District, and Bremwood Lutheran Children's Home
  

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Last updated: May 30, 2001
Copyright © 2001 The Council of Independent Colleges