Community-university Partnership Research Articles

The African Immigrant Dementia Education Project: A Community-University Partnership

The African Immigrant Dementia Education project is a community-university partnership with the goal of developing a culturally tailored dementia education program with African immigrants in Minnesota. In collaboration with our community partner (African Career, Education & Resource, Inc.), a project advisory board that features professionals and family members from the African immigrant community was assembled and its first meeting was held in February 2021. Preliminary discussions about content, mode of delivery and cultural considerations of an eventual dementia education intervention have begun. This presentation will offer details on the process of working with an advisory board and community partner to identify and culturally tailor an evidenced-based dementia education curriculum for a unique cultural group. Also, we will present challenges encountered during this process and offer suggestions and strategies to promote successful researcher-community partnerships.

Creating an Age-Friendly Model System Through a Community and University Partnership

The University of Massachusetts 5-campus system was the first university system to receive the Age-Friendly University designation in the AFU Global Network (Business West, 2019). Simultaneously, the town of Dartmouth and city of New Bedford became Age-Friendly Communities. This allowed for dynamic collaboration between our university and communities. This presentation highlights several examples. The Ora M. DeJesus Gerontology Center faculty and student researchers developed the original age-friendly survey items for New Bedford’s initial community assessment; and the College of Nursing and Health Sciences faculty and student researchers compiled data for Dartmouth’s survey. Community service during the pandemic has flourished. The Community Companions program, which matches students with community members in social need, went virtual. Nursing students and faculty have been on the frontline in the vaccination efforts in the town of Dartmouth. These partnerships will be presented as examples of potential opportunities for other age-friendly communities. Community-university partnerships are encouraged.

The Photography and Memory Project: Adapting an Intergenerational Program During a Global Pandemic

Since 2019, a university-community partnership has connected undergraduate students with older adults from independent living and community-based settings (i.e., library, art museum) for a photography-based intergenerational program. This study compares the implementation and impacts of this photography-based intergenerational program both in an in-person format before the COVID-19 pandemic (n=34) and an online format during the COVID-19 pandemic (n=25). Pre- and post- results from older adult and undergraduate student participants regarding social connection and evaluation comments from program participants and staff were compared between the pre-pandemic, in-person format, and the same program’s offering the next year in a virtual format. Results indicate that the benefits of this intergenerational photography program were experienced at a similar level during and before COVID-19. Findings demonstrate that intergenerational programs could effectively continue in remote formats, while also identifying potential challenges in implementation for staff regarding managing logistics and maintaining engagement among participants.

Age-Friendly Communities: Research on Promising and Innovative Practices

Abstract Age-friendly community (AFC) leaders engage with community residents, groups, and organizations to enhance social, service, and built environments for aging. Despite the growing number of AFCs, academic research remains in its nascence. During this symposium, U.S. scholars will present research on AFC implementation. The first two papers address promising practices among AFC leaders. The first paper presents results from a content analysis of American AFC progress reports. Results indicate strong evidence of progress achieved and opportunities for improving the evaluation, documentation, and dissemination of accomplishments. The second paper presents findings from a qualitative descriptive study on community events by AFC initiatives in northern New Jersey. Results indicate how age-friendly leaders use community events to enhance older adults’ social participation and inclusion, and as a tactic toward longer-term, multi-domain community change. The third and fourth papers describe the development and testing of innovative technologies to guide AFC implementation. The third paper provides an overview of Safe Routes to Age in Place, a community-engaged mixed methods study using the app MyAmble to examine the needs and utilization of alternative transportation in Franklin County, Ohio. The fourth paper provides a case overview of a university-community partnership to develop a geographical information system (GIS) analytical mapping tool to evaluate the age-friendliness of public amenities in San Antonio, Texas. The symposium will conclude with remarks from AARP Livable Communities leadership about how these studies contribute to building knowledge about AFC implementation and avenues for academic and private partnerships to translate these findings to practice.

A Relational Approach to Transforming Power in a Community-University Partnership

We use a relational understanding of power to analyze power dynamics at the institutional and interpersonal levels in our multi-year Co-Education/Co-Research (CORE) partnership between Tufts University Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning (UEP) and Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI). Power in community-university partnerships is often examined only at the institutional level, conceiving of power as a resource to be balanced and shared. Indeed, CORE has advanced institutional shifts through co-governance, equitable funding, co-production of curriculum and cross-flow of people. While institutional policies and practices are critical, they alone do not transform deep-seated hierarchies that value university knowledge, practices and people over community. To understand how intertwined interpersonal and institutional practices can reproduce or transform these cultural and ideological dynamics, we use a relational approach, understanding that power flows in and through all relations. As community members, students and faculty, we reflect on the contradictions we have encountered in CORE. We examine how we reinforce the dominance of academic over community knowledge, even as we leverage institutional power to further community goals. These tensions can be opportunities for shifting, disrupting and transforming towards more equitable relations, but they can also reproduce and reinforce the status quo. Through reflective practice and a relational ethic of care, we can try to recognize when we might be shifting power relations and when we might be reproducing them. This is messy work that requires a lot of communication, trust, reflection and time. A relational approach to power provides hope that we can be part of the change we seek in all of our relations, every day. And it reminds us that no matter what we have institutionalised or encoded, our individual beings, organizations and communities are always in a process of becoming.

Navigating the Boundaries of Youth Violence Prevention and Reduction: Reflections on Power in Community Engaged Scholarship


 
 
 Community-engaged scholars grapple with power asymmetries in community-university partnerships, generally working from the assumption that deliberate practices are required to moderate the researchers’ power vis-a-vis that of the community. In this article, we suggest that this dyadic framing masks the complexity of power dynamics within communities, of which the university is just one part, and examine how power is negotiated in the boundary zones of a partnership. We use Third Generation Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) as a conceptual framework to analyse the structural and cultural dimensions of the boundary zone in which research, learning and action in our partnership occurred (Engeström 1996). A brief story sheds light on our boundary work which uses research and data to span, broker and shake institutional boundaries for the purpose of youth violence prevention and intervention. Our analysis illuminates the potential and limitations of our power to foster transformational change. It also allows us to show that underestimating power differentials and the diversity of values and cultures within an organisation and between a university and a community partner, and certainly across multiple institutions in the case of a cross-sector partnership, can slow down and even thwart work to address societal problems.
 
 

The Impact of COVID-19 on Human Service Agencies in Houston, Texas: A Preliminary Assessment and Emerging Opportunities

The COVID-19 pandemic changed the socio-economic fabric of communities around the world. To determine the emerging needs of human service agencies our research team conducted agency assessments within the greater Houston metropolis. A convenience sample of agencies (n=17) currently providing social work internship placements was surveyed between April 2021 and July 2021. Results revealed emerging needs that schools of social work should consider during the COVID-19 response. Some include the need for interdisciplinary intern teams, technology training for social workers, dual degrees, and macro-level skills. We recommend enhancing university-community partnerships to meet the emerging humanitarian and workforce needs of the community.

Relevance of the Historically Black Colleges and University (HBCU) and Land Grant Model for Inclusive Transformation in Federal Nepal

The institutionalization of federalism has created a space for Nepal with an opportunity to transform into a more inclusive and equitable society with a vibrant economy. Towards this transformation, adoption of the elements of the Land Grant model in the higher education system of Nepal can be a key to break the long-stagnant agrarian economy characterized by persistent inequality, structural poverty, and stunted economic growth. This paper attempts to present a perspective analysis of US-based Land Grant Universities/ Institutions (LGUs/LGIs) and Historically Black Colleges and University (HBCU) mission and its possible implications in the agrarian landscape with priority laid on the inclusive agrarian transformation of Nepal through consideration of these models in the spirit of social inclusion and agrarian justice as envisaged in the constitutional provisions, policies and the structural features of country’s stagnant economy. The grand design of American higher education in the context of the initiatives of LGUs and HBCUs could be an eye-opening lesson for the academic institutions, especially, the new provincial universities of Nepal for engaging the community beyond academic function, building a strong university-community partnership, relationship, and aligning their educational endeavors toward optimizing the use of available natural and human resources in society. A community based inclusive transformation could be coordinated and aligned with the local, provincial and national governments and leaders in line with their political and social aspirations so that the local resources could be leveraged to catalyze local initiatives and promote indigenous innovation while consolidating the commitment to social diversity and inclusion for the overall societal transformation of federal states of Nepal through concerted higher education reforms in lines of LGU and HBCUs.

Using the Arts to Support the Arts: A Creative, Community-University Partnership Approach to Building Arts Inclusivity in Economically-Deprived Communities

Obwohl es Belege fur den positiven Impact von Kunst auf Gesundheit und Wohlbefinden gibt, gehen viele Forscher*innen davon aus, dass die Armsten in einer Gesellschaft weniger bereit sind, sich mit Kunst zu befassen als die Wohlhabenderen. In diesem Artikel beschreiben wir eine kreative Community-Universitats-Partnerschaft zwischen dem Hangleton & Knoll Project und der Universitat Brighton, mit der wir diese Kluft erforschen und uberwinden wollten. Ausgehend von der partizipativen kunstbasierten Methode kollaborativer Dichtung fanden wir, dass die Beteiligten entgegen der Behauptungen in der wissenschaftlichen Literatur unterschiedliche Kunstformen wertschatzten und nutzten; zugleich war ihr Zugang u.a. begrenzt durch finanzielle Ressourcen, Reisemoglichkeiten und Krankheit. Indem wir diese Befunde zahlreichen Stakeholdern kommunizierten, stimulierten wir deren Bereitschaft zu hoheren Investments und zu Vorgehensweisen, kunstbasierte Projekte auf den Weg zu bringen und zu etablieren. Anhand von Ergebnissen aus unserer Arbeit kritisieren wir ein reduktionistisches Verstandnis der (Nicht-) Teilhabe-Kluft und demonstrieren das Potenzial, das entfaltet werden kann, wenn Universitaten und lokale Akteur*innen als gleichberechtigte Partner*innen zusammenarbeiten.

Successes and Failures of the University-Community Partnership: A Case Study of Imbali Semi-Rural Settlement

Universities should conduct research and provide services to the society in their environment. In this article, the relational leadership model was used to evaluate a University-Community partnership in a semi-rural context in South Africa. The relational leadership model is an aspirational model supporting a healthy, ethical, and effective group. It comprises five components necessary for sustainable positive change in an organization. The model advocates for five components of which four were used to evaluate the project which the article is based on. Data were produced through interviews with two main university leaders of the project and the results show that the partnership has lost momentum in recent years based on non-conformity to some of the principles of the components suggested by the relational leadership. Through the rich experiences from participants, the article reflects on methods and recommendations in which the threads facing the partnership can be circumvented.

A Critical Approach to University-Community Partnerships: Reflecting on the Diverse Realities

Postapartheid South Africa has seen a greater focus on community engagement by universities, and its inclusion as one of the core focus areas of higher education in addition to teaching and research. This focus on engagement with the community was ignited by a requirement to enhance the university's social responsibility through establishing partnerships with the communities it serves. Higher education institutions have traditionally positioned themselves in engagement projects as the singular organisation that has knowledge to offer when compared to what the community can offer. In this paper, we propose a critical engagement process to enhance collaboration in engagement projects. Our qualitative study resides in a critical theory paradigm, and we used drawings as well as narrative free writing to reflect and explore our perceptions regarding community engagement. We used the collaborative self-study methodology because it provides opportunities for critical and self-critical reflection that could lead us to discovering valuable insights, as well as provide suggestions on how to enhance university community partnerships. Our findings suggest that, despite legislation and efforts to enhance university community engagement, this remains a contested space where power relations, inequality, and claims to knowledge ownership continue to pose challenges.

Innovative strategies for reintroducing a sleeping language: How a community-university partnership supports the revitalization of Kaurna, the language of the Adelaide Plains, South Australia

Innovative strategies for reintroducing a sleeping language: How a community-university partnership supports the revitalization of Kaurna, the language of the Adelaide Plains, South Australia

Community-University Partnership in Water Education and Linkage Process. Study Case: Manglaralto, Santa Elena, Ecuador

Universities have the mission to serve society by being pragmatic, diverse, and multidisciplinary. Similar to society in general, these centers have a common challenge: finding a way to articulate projects that favor the demands and needs of vulnerable rural sectors. In this case, the community-university partnership is based on the interaction of the Manglaralto population, represented by the Junta Administradora del Agua Potable Regional de Manglaralto and the Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral (ESPOL), both from Ecuador. Specifically, it is based on a collaborative relationship since 2005, through the Centro de Investigación y Proyectos Aplicados a Ciencias de la Tierra (CIPAT) of the ESPOL. This work aims to evaluate the community-university partnership through the results obtained in community work projects. In addition, it describes the resolution of problems reached on the sustainability of water resources in the parish of Manglaralto (Ecuador). The methodology was based on (i) the description of the existing community-university interaction framework, (ii) the analysis of the community projects that CIPAT developed in the period 2017–2020, and finally, (iii) the evaluation of the impact of the actions carried out on the sustainability of the coastal aquifer. The community-university partnership has generated relevant information (e.g., water reserves, extraction processes, aquifer recharge, and care of the resource) for the community and has allowed for the strengthening and transmitting of knowledge in different specialties (education, culture, and environment). In the 2017–2020 period, four community projects were carried out with students, researchers, and the inhabitants of the rural area of Manglaralto. These projects allowed wells for water extraction and engineering structures such as dikes and green filters that help the use and recharge the aquifer. In addition, the initiatives carried out made it possible to inform the population of the importance of the sustainable exploitation of water resources. In general, this work made it possible to identify a natural laboratory of human interaction in which the results obtained are based on the collaboration and contribution of all the participating actors.

A Model of Action Research for Advancing Community-University Partnerships

This article describes a four-phased action research project that emerged over a six-year period, eventually leading to a $600,000 investment by local government in a new neighborhood park. We demonstrate, through our community-university partnership, how we built on each phase of action research initially by establishing and developing relationships, increasing participation levels in the neighborhood organization and neighborhood sponsored events, and building long-term participation, which enabled the establishment of a collective vision. This ultimately led to increased social capital and strengthened local power through political voice. We argue that by connecting four phases of action research, we were able to achieve significant community change in partnership with local neighborhood residents and that this form of a long-term and multi-based approach can address some of the common challenges inherent to community-university partnerships.

SARS-CoV-2 PCR and antibody testing for an entire rural community: methods and feasibility of high-throughput testing procedures

BackgroundEarly in the pandemic, inadequate SARS-CoV-2 testing limited understanding of transmission. Chief among barriers to large-scale testing was unknown feasibility, particularly in non-urban areas. Our objective was to report methods of high-volume, comprehensive SARS-CoV-2 testing, offering one model to augment disease surveillance in a rural community.MethodsA community-university partnership created an operational site used to test most residents of Bolinas, California regardless of symptoms in 4 days (April 20th – April 23rd, 2020). Prior to testing, key preparatory elements included community mobilization, pre-registration, volunteer recruitment, and data management. On day of testing, participants were directed to a testing lane after site entry. An administrator viewed the lane-specific queue and pre-prepared test kits, linked to participants’ records. Medical personnel performed sample collection, which included finger prick with blood collection to run laboratory-based antibody testing and respiratory specimen collection for polymerase chain reaction (PCR).ResultsUsing this 4-lane model, 1,840 participants were tested in 4 days. A median of 57 participants (IQR 47–67) were tested hourly. The fewest participants were tested on day 1 (n = 338 participants), an intentionally lower volume day, increasing to n = 571 participants on day 4. The number of testing teams was also increased to two per lane to allow simultaneous testing of multiple participants on days 2–4. Consistent staffing on all days helped optimize proficiency, and strong community partnership was essential from planning through execution.ConclusionsHigh-volume ascertainment of SARS-CoV-2 prevalence by PCR and antibody testing was feasible when conducted in a community-led, drive-through model in a non-urban area.

Mobilizing and Activating Haíɫzaqvḷa (Heiltsuk Language) and Culture Through a Community-University Partnership

The sharing of existing linguistic resources through online platforms has become an increasingly important aspect in revitalization projects for Indigenous languages. This contribution addresses the urgency of such work through the lens of a partnership in support of one language, Haíɫzaqvḷa (Heiltsuk), a critically endangered Wakashan language spoken in and around the traditional Heiltsuk territory of Bella Bella, British Columbia. Alongside immediate community needs for language preservation and reclamation—informed and guided by Heiltsuk values and goals—lie important ethical and practical questions about how best to activate historic recordings of Elders and knowledge holders who have now passed. Our partnership was explicitly structured around the objective of helping to mobilize the large body of existing languagedocumentation and revitalization materials created in and by the community to support broader community access through digital technologies. Working within the fast-changing digital environment requires agility in order to respond to time-sensitive goals and the strategic needs of the community. Ensuring that such work is grounded in respectful collaboration requires ongoing care, consultation and consideration. The digital landscape is still a new and exciting space, and the opportunities to use online tools and technologies in service of language revitalization are ever increasing. We believe that the strategies, approaches and modest successes of the Heiltsuk Language and Culture Mobilization Partnership may be informative for other community-based language reclamation projects. We hope that outlining ourexperiences and being transparent about the challenges such partnerships face may help others engaged in this urgent and timely work.

Supporting Independent Living Through Interdisciplinary Service Learning

Service learning within independent living facilities may be a highly effective means to address the service gaps that challenge older adults and people who are disabled. We present a new approach to service learning by leveraging opportunities for community–university partnerships. The Community Collaborative Model (CCM) represents synergy between organized independent living and higher education at Arizona State University and led by the School of Social Work. The CCM is a unique collaborative service learning program aligned with current thinking about independent living, supportive services, and community-based service learning. We share lessons learned from the challenges of establishing this program, which included institutional hurdles, maintaining adequate physical space, student-focused planning, varying levels of preparedness, and stigma related to service use. In conclusion, we recommend means to (1) build interprofessional teams, (2) seek support and commitment of faculty partners, (3) ensure sustainability via community liaisons and clinical supervisors, and (4) create space for reflective practice.

Community organization feedback about an undergraduate medical education service learning program Rétroaction d'un organisme communautaire sur apprentissage en milieu de travail d'un programme d'études médicales de premier cycle.

BackgroundIn 2016, Service Learning (SL) became a curricular requirement for undergraduate medical education (UGME) students at the University of Manitoba. Students partner with a community-based organization for two years to engage in non-clinical activities in community settings. Significant feedback has been collected from students re: their SL experiences. This project specifically collected feedback from community organizations involved with SL.MethodsIn June 2019, an electronic survey was distributed to the 36 community organizations involved with SL.ResultsTwenty-seven organizations completed the survey. Feedback was grouped into two main themes: 1) Logistics and 2) The SL Experience. About half (52%) of respondents indicated it was “easy” to schedule students for SL; however, students’ busy schedules and differences between hours of organization programming and students’ availability were highlighted. Most respondents described students as “engaged” (70%); respondents indicated SL raised students’ understanding of power and privilege (56%) and systemic oppression (63%).ConclusionsCommunity organizations shared valuable insights to inform the SL program. Results identified specific aspects of the SL program to address moving forward, such as sharing learning objectives with community partners. Ensuring processes are in place to obtain feedback from community partners is an essential step to improve SL programs, and to strengthen reciprocal community-university partnerships.

Essential facilitators in building university partnership with ethnic minority communities

Recently, universities have paid attention to partnership with local communities for mutual benefits. However, this partnership is a complex and challenging process because it brings two different organizations to work together. Many challenges encountered often produces dissatisfying results and distrust among all participants. Using the BRAVE youth violence prevention program as a case study, this study describes the essential facilitators affecting the university partnership with disadvantaged poor ethnic communities in Chicago. Identified facilitators are: agreed mutual benefits, trust relationship, open and transparent communication, shared missions and interest, equal power in decision-making, empowering organization’s sustainability, flexibility, and cultural activities. Building on the lessons from this case example, this study presents that the university-community partnership demonstrates a shared responsibility of the university to serve community members and of the partner agency’s commitment to strengthen the community’s capacity to prevent youth violence.

Students as Change Agents for Community–University Sustainability Transition Partnerships

While higher education institutions play a role in regional sustainability transitions, community–university partnerships for sustainability may be underdeveloped and fraught. Moreover, the specific role of students in building and strengthening those partnerships remains little explored. This research occurred in Laramie, Wyoming—the first community to resolve to pursue carbon neutrality in the top coal-producing state in the U.S.—amidst declining state revenue and absent any formal community–university sustainability partnership. Drawing on a community resilience framework and the social-theoretical construct of agency, we examined an informal, multi-year partnership developed through a project-based, community-engaged Campus Sustainability course at the University of Wyoming. Through a chronological sequence case study, we synthesized autoethnography, document analysis, and semi-structured interview methods involving community and university stakeholder and student participants. We found that students, rather than other university actors, played a vital bridging role in absence of a formal community–university sustainability partnership. They also served in a catalyzing role as change agents alongside community stakeholders, providing the potential to develop stronger community–university partnerships and advance sustainability transitions across other Wyoming communities. Findings suggest a need to keenly attend to power dynamics and whose agency is driving higher education institutions’ roles in regional sustainability transitions in specific contexts.