Community Partnerships

Ability to reflect on and articulate one’s relationship to the community/communities with which one aims to partner, including attention to how similarities and differences in experience, status, professional affiliation, or identity may shape dynamics of collaboration

Guiding questions:

• What is your relationship to the communities with which you are partnering? What is your role in facilitating the partnership?
• What similarities and differences in experiences and social identifications (e.g., racial, cultural/ethnic, institutional, socio-economic, gender, sexuality, ability, generational, educational, etc.) may exist among stakeholders in the partnership? In what ways might power dynamics inherent in these social differences influence and shape the role you will play in entering, developing, facilitating, and sustaining partnerships over time and across social difference?
• What issues might you need to negotiate and monitor in the partnership to assure it is one characterized by “closeness, equity, and integrity” (Brindle et al. 2009)?

Ability to familiarize yourself with the community’s history and histories, its past experiences with your institution, the network of assets that promote the community’s strength and functioning, and the short-term and long-term agendas and goals of community partnership members

Guiding questions:

• What strategies did you pursue to familiarize yourself with the community’s histories, its past experiences with your institution, and the network of assets within the community that promotes its strength and functioning?
• What processes did you undertake to ensure an adequate and inclusive understanding of the short- and long-term agendas and goals of community stakeholders in the partnership?
• What strategies or processes did you follow to encourage or “coach” other partnership members (e.g., students, faculty, staff, organizational stakeholders) to familiarize themselves with the community’s history(ies), assets, and agenda/goals for the partnership?

Ability to initiate and design partnerships, build collaborative relationships based on trust and mutual respect, and sustain partnerships over time

Guiding questions:

• What were the motivations behind partnering? What were the goals that each partner entered with, and to what extent and through what processes were these goals transformed into shared outcomes?
• What processes or strategies were utilized to design the partnership, build collaborative relations based on trust and mutual respect, and sustain the partnership over time? What was your role in each of these collaborative stages? [Note: A discussion of some of the key tasks inherent in initiating and maintaining campus-community partnerships can be found in Eddy 2010]
• What strategies were pursued to discuss how the partnership would be governed, including how power, authority, resources, and decision-making would be shared? Who participated in this process and what was your role?

Ability to understand and propose an asset-based approach to partnership development (as opposed to needs-based); ability to play a role in facilitating the mapping of community assets (local knowledge, skills, resources, organizations, and networks) to assure partnership activities build on community strengths; ability to utilize partnership language that avoids deficit-based terms (such as a needs, issues, problems, and challenges) but instead emphasizes affirmative ones (such as goals, aspirations, and vision)

Guiding questions:

• What strategies were pursued to assure the partnership would build on the assets of the community, and what role did you play in that process?
• How and to what extent were partnership stakeholders (faculty, students, staff, community organizations, and residents) involved in the exercise of identifying the assets that could be connected to support and achieve partnership goals and desired outcomes? What specific efforts were undertaken in this regard? [Note: a useful discussion of the principles and strategies of asset-based community engagement can be found in Hamerlinck and Plaut 2014].

Ability to actively listen and be open to the diverse views and voices of others as you steward campus and community stakeholders in partnership work

Guiding questions:

• How were the voices of community stakeholders heard and incorporated in the partnership development process? Were there particular opportunities to hear the voices and ideas of under-represented residents and identity groups? What listening strategies were developed before, during, and after the partnership activities? What was your role in assuring an inclusive “listening orientation” in the partnership?
• How was information shared with stakeholders throughout the partnership? What various forms did communication take and through what venues? In retrospect, do you feel more may have been done to ensure direct, clear, and inclusive communication?

Ability to plan for and design opportunities to check-in and reflect with partnership members about what is working and what may need to happen differently to ensure that partnership goals are being met and that members feel respected and valued; ability to create conditions where partnership members can candidly share input, including critical feedback; ability to assess with partnership members whose goals were accomplished, which were not, and what next steps might look like.

Guiding questions:

• How were opportunities designed for partners to check-in and reflect upon their work together before, during, and after the partnership’s activities? Was this outlined in an MOU or other partnership agreement? How were check-ins moderated or facilitated? What role did you play in the reflection and assessment process? What do you feel was accomplished in these opportunities?

Ability to monitor and facilitate communication and shared work among people with different organizational and personal norms, interests, expectations, and operating practices in order to ensure the quality of relationships and validate the input and authority of each partner; ability to mediate, mitigate, or resolve conflicts as they arise to assure inclusive, collaborative participation throughout the partnership

Guiding questions:

• Did any conflicts (big or small) arise during partnership activities? If so, among whom and with what effect(s) on the partnership? What do you believe were the sources of the conflict(s) and what factors do you believe were at play? What process or strategies were used to address the conflict(s) and work toward resolution? What principles and practices of conflict resolution were employed? What was your role in helping partners navigate conflict and work toward resolution? What did you learn through this process?

Willingness to participate and invest in the community you seek to engage (this could include making commitments to attend community meetings, frequent businesses, participate in community events and festivals, serve on organizational boards, engage in community planning processes or undertaking other activities meant to foster a more enduring level of authentic community participation); ability to participate in community life with sensitivity and care, entering as a learner, listener, and guest.

Guiding questions:

• In what ways, if any, have you chosen to participate in the communities with whom you partner beyond your specific institutional responsibilities?  What critical or ethical commitments have informed your choices? What have you taken from your broader community involvement? Have you faced obstacles or challenges in your ability to participate more actively and authentically in the community? How are you managing those challenges?

Willingness to recognize and reflect on power relations within and between stakeholders

Guiding questions:

• As you look back at your partnership-building experience(s), how successful was it (they) in achieving its goals and desired outcomes? Can you identify any challenges or obstacles you faced in establishing a partnership characterized by closeness, equity, and integrity? In retrospect (and looking forward), is there anything you may have done (or would do) differently to address power relations and cultivate a more inclusive, equity-based partnership?