Transformations through “Community-First” Engagement

Peter Andrée,David Peacock,Isobel M Findlay

doi:10.15402/esj.v4i2.61741

Abstract

The content in this special issue was created in the context of the Community First: Impacts of Community Engagement (CFICE, pronounced “suffice”) partnership research project, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada beginning in 2012. As you will see in this short video, our project seeks to develop strong community-campus partnerships “by putting community first”.

Highlights

As you will see in this short video, our project seeks to develop strong community-campus partnerships “by putting community first”
Community First: Impacts of Community Engagement (CFICE) was a response to the recognition that a great deal of community-campus engagement still tends to privilege postsecondary institutions by paying insufficient attention to the needs, priorities, and expertise of the communities and community-based organizations involved (Bortolin 2011; Cronley, Madden, & Davis, 2015; Stoecker & Tryon, 2009; Ward & Wolf-Wendel 2000). Responding to these critiques, CFICE began by investigating how community-campus partnerships could be designed and implemented in ways that maximize the value created for non-profit, community-based organizations participating in this work
There is already an extensive body of literature on student experiences in community service learning (see, for example, Volume 4, No 1 (2018) of Engaged Scholar Journal), but this article offers a fresh perspective by focusing on undergraduate and graduate students working as research assistants in community-campus engagement

Summary

Introduction

Over the course of two project phases, CFICE’s overarching goal has been to enhance the partnership policies and practices of communitybased organizations, postsecondary institutions, governments and funders to create more effective and valuable community-campus engagement. Responding to these critiques, CFICE began by investigating how community-campus partnerships could be designed and implemented in ways that maximize the value created for non-profit, community-based organizations participating in this work.

Results

Conclusion