The ambitious goals of the Engaging Communities and Campuses Program included assisting campuses in expanding and deepening their commitments to experiential learning and their community partnerships, while simultaneously addressing community-identified needs.
     A national advisory committee of experts, including Edgar Beckham of the Ford Foundation, Nadinne Cruz of Stanford University’s Haas Center for Public Service, Maureen Grant of Marymount Manhattan College (NY), Robert Korstad of the Sanford Institute of Public Policy at Duke University, Mark Langseth of Minnesota Campus Compact, John Ott of Partners in Innovation, and Edward Zlotkowski of Bentley College (MA) helped set goals and outline a road map to achieving the grant program’s goals. The committee’s work was captured in a working paper that outlines the initiative’s conceptual framework, written by CIC Executive Vice President Russell Garth.
     The paper identified four key areas of work:

Participants in the Engaging Communities and Campuses Program attend a session, “Exploring the Relationship Between Community Partners and their Partnering Institution’s Academic Culture,” at the final conference in February in Miami, Fl.

• faculty knowledge and skills (assisting faculty members in developing new experiential learning knowledge and skills);
• academic culture (creating a campus culture supportive of faculty members’ work with experiential learning pedagogies);
• institutional infrastructure (establishing infrastructure to work with community organizations); and
• partner relationships (strengthening institutional partnerships with community organizations).

     The grant program, under the direction of CAPHE Executive Director Michelle Gilliard, grew out of CIC and CAPHE’s more than ten years of experience in working with and supporting collaborations among colleges, universities, and community organizations.
     Grant awards ranging from $63,000 to $80,000 each were made in February 2001 to 13 institutions in support of their activities with nearly 30 community partners (see list of institutions and partners, page 10). A team of national consultants provided ongoing advice and assistance to each grantee, and provided leadership on monitoring the learning associated with the four key areas of work. Over the life of the grant program, the team included Jon Rubenstein (focus: partner relationships), Jo-Ann Sipple (focus: academic culture), Kelly Ward (focus: institutional infrastructure), Edward Zlotkowski (focus: faculty knowledge and skills), and John Ott (focus: partner relationships).
     In order to establish effective community/campus partnerships, Gilliard said the program’s modus operandi was to help institutions develop reciprocal relationships with their community partners based on mutual trust, respect, accountability, and the equal treatment and distribution of resources. The program was administered through an institution’s project director, who was encouraged to implement the grant initiatives in concert with the guidance of a local advisory board of campus and community representatives. “The engagement literature is replete with recommendations and admonitions that successful partnerships, in large measure, are affected by the creation and nurturing of reciprocal partnerships,” Gilliard said. “Although such partnerships can be difficult to develop and require the investment of a considerable amount of time and effort, we know that the results are well worth it.”
     Over the life of the program, nearly 98,000 people—388 faculty, 2,560 students, and 94,000 community residents and organization staff—have been involved in a myriad of community-related activities.
     “The grant program has had a substantial impact on the campuses and communities involved, and has provided valuable information about the interaction between community-based experiential learning opportunities and the nature of community/campus partnerships,” said Gilliard. She said a comprehensive evaluation, to be completed by the end of the year, is examining the successes and challenges that community/campus partners face in meeting their goals (see “Two-Year Study Evaluates Collaborations").

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Last updated: March 2003
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