Transcript The Wisdom of Community

The Wisdom of
Community-Campus
Partnerships
Barbara A. Holland
Senior Scholar, IUPUI
Director, National Service-Learning
Clearinghouse
The State of Engagement
• Lots going on; hard to get a grasp on quantity,
quality, logic, impact of partnerships
• Growing institutional differentiation
• Over-reliance on soft money
• Growing academic legitimacy; e.g., accreditation
standards; Carnegie classifications
• plateau of faculty participation and interest
State of Engagement #2
• We understand partnership characteristics;
questions remain about reciprocity, power,
shared resources
• Infrastructure, curriculum and partnerships are
fundamental to institutionalization
• Engagement as response to current fiscal crisis
• Academic culture changing globally –
engagement is core to the future
Community College Challenges
• Growing enrollment
• Declining funding
• Renewing mission and identity in
increasingly diverse communities
• Development of new leadership
• Retention/completion/transfer success
• Responding to changing student needs
AAHE, 2005
Can a greater commitment to engagement
and service-learning help address these
challenges?
To what degree should service-learning be
part of the experience of our students?
Education for civic responsibility,
development of job skills, and
preparation for transfer to a fouryear institution are not mutually
exclusive outcomes.
Louis Albert, 2005
In combination, these outcomes
strengthen the college and
community as well as the student.
Barbara Holland, today.
Partnership Wisdom
• Effective campus-community partnerships
can transform students, institutional quality
and spirit, and community capacity.
• Partnerships are fundamental to
successful engagement and servicelearning.
• Truth-telling: Partnerships are high
effort/high benefit!
Effective Partnerships (HUD)
• Joint exploration of goals and interests and limitations
• Creation of a mutually rewarding agenda
• Operational design that supports shared leadership,
decision-making, conflict resolution, resources
• Clear benefits and roles for each partner
• Identification of opportunities for early successes for all;
shared celebration of progress
• Focus on knowledge exchange, shared learning and
capacity-building
• Attention to communications patterns, cultivation of trust
• Commitment to continuous assessment of the
partnership itself, as well as outcomes
CCPH Partnership Principles
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Mission, values, goals, outcomes
Trust, respect, commitment
Focus: strengths, assets, areas for improvement
Balanced power, shared resources
Clear, open communication
Roles, norms, processes (mutually designed)
Feedback for continuous improvement
Shared credit for accomplishments
Investment of time needed to develop and
evolve
CIC Core Elements of
Partnerships
• Mutually-determined goals and processes
• Shared resources, rewards, risks
• Roles reflect partner capacities and
resources
• Respect for expertise of each partner
• Sufficient benefits to justify cost/effort/risk
• Shared vision/excitement/passion
• Accountability for carrying out plans
• Commitment to benefits for all partners
Partnership Types
• Service relationship – fixed time, fixed task
• Exchange relationship – exchange info for
mutual benefit, specific project
• Cooperative relationship – joint planning and
shared responsibilities, long-term, multiple
projects
• System and Transformative relationship –
shared decision-making/operations/evaluation
intended to transform each organization
Hugh Sockett, 1998
“Partnerships, at any level, have to be seen
first and foremost as moral frames within
which individuals meet, work, and
establish common purposes, not as
pragmatic political treaties between
institutions.”
Hugh Sockett, 1998
Learning is the Connection
• Learning:
– About each other’s capacity and limitations
– About each other’s goals, culture,
expectations
– To develop students as active citizens
– To exchange expertise, ideas, fears, concerns
– To share control and direction
– To adapt based on assessment and
documentation
– To experiment; to fail; to try again – To Trust!
Partner Perspectives
• Motivations
– Teaching students about CBO world and the
issue-at-hand
– Inspiring an activist spirit
– Keeping students in the community
– Positive impact on clientele, especially youth
– Access to special expertise; capacity/skills not
otherwise available
Partnership Perspectives
• Partners want to:
– Ensure student meet learning objectives
• Distinguish SL from other experiential forms
– Align activity with student ability
– Collaborate with faculty
– Contribute to student evaluation
– Understand their roles/responsibilities
– Enhance impact on their mission
– Meet other partners
Benefits to Institution
In ways aligning with current challenges
• Resonates with adult and first-gen students –
active learning with consequences
• Greater and more diverse local enrollment
• Retention
• Career/major choice
• Connects student, faculty and community in
work toward a common good
• Strengthens public support – postsecondary
education as a public good
Current Core Challenges?
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Greater attention to reciprocity
Power,Culture/Race
Resources: sources and distribution
Evaluation/documentation strategies
Visibility for this work: internal and external
Institutionalization – Leadership commitment,
faculty development, hard-funded infrastructure,
curricular connections
Ways to Move Ahead
• Increase visibility-internally & externally
– Assess, document, publicize
• Recruit allies – PR, development, IR, alumni,
community leaders
• Celebrate successes- Let partners and students
tell their stories
• Be political – searches, curricular reform,
accreditation, strategic planning
• Link to learning goals & faculty development
• Link to public support - demonstrate education’s
role in creating public good
Contact Information
Barbara A. Holland, Ph.D.
Director, National Service-Learning Clearinghouse
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Senior Scholar
Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis
Phone: 503-638-9424
E-mail:[email protected]
www.servicelearning.org