Beyond the Classroom: Deepening Campus Community Partnerships

The Three Sisters Sovereignty Garden Initiative is a Binghamton university collaboration with the Onondaga Nation Farm in the spirit of the Two Row Wampum belt- Gaswéñdah. The belt symbolizes principles of peace, respect, and friendship, and the independent paths of the Haudenosaunee and settler colonizers. This presentation will discuss the principles of an anthropologically informed process of community engagement that established a Two Row Wampum Living Treaty as a decolonizing alternative to performative Land Acknowledgement Statements made by institutions of higher education. Indigenous insights on cycles of planting and harvesting the garden are shared to demonstrate pathways that can strengthen sustainable partnerships.

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This presentation is the culmination of an Education Grant that Seton Hill University received from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. The grant, entitled Campus Ecology: A Holistic Approach to Confronting the Climate Crisis, supported the development of a three-part workshop series for Seton Hill faculty and staff to integrate sustainability, environmental justice, climate action, and ecological service-learning into their curricular and co-curricular programming. Workshop one looked at Foundations for Ecological Education; workshop two explored a Pedagogy for Climate Justice, and workshop three provided hands-on curriculum and program development for faculty and staff. Our presentation will share the data from this grant research, specific examples of modified syllabi, assignments, or programs, and implications for the future of campus community partnerships in a time of climate crisis.
Presented by Amanda DeWitt

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Education administrators are placing greater demands on university faculty, staff, and admission counselors to enroll and retain more students. Understanding this transition and the associated challenges is important for institutions of higher education so they can better assist black male students as they navigate through college and universities.?However, research is extremely inadequate regarding the factors that contribute to enrollment and retention of Black male students. The purpose of this dissertation was to learn from men who identify as a Black male, attended a predominately White institution (PWI) and graduated with their 4-year degree what were the significant factors that contributed to their successful matriculation. This study was a phenomenological study (Creswell & Creswell, 2018) that used heuristic inquiry to investigate the experiences and perceptions of the research participants. Heuristic inquiry not only represents the exploration of the everyday human experiences of the participants but allows for the conscious or unconscious contributions of the researcher.?Ten Black males participated in this study. A 25-item questionnaire, developed by the author, was used to explore the college experiences of the participants. Using Nancy Schlossberg’s Transition Theory (2008) as the conceptual framework for this study, the transition experiences during the Moving In, Moving Through, and Moving Out phases were explored. Information was captured and cataloged using the theoretical themes self, support, strategy, and situation. Data was collected via virtual interviews and coded using MAXQDA. Potential exogenous factors such as socioeconomic status, gender, and race?that affected scholastic success of the participants were also examined. The findings of this study revealed that the transition experiences of Black men during the onset of college enrollment and moving through their college experiences were largely negative. However, this study provided evidence that when Black male students, (1) Recognize their situation, that is the environment protective and risk factors (2) receive support, (3) are involved on campus with culturally relevant activities, and (4) understand and positively embrace their student identity as being black attending a predominantly White institution, there is a greater probability of success at PWIs. Prominent themes of covert and overt racism emerged from most research participants. Their stories of racism were slightly coded and cryptic regarding casual conversations with non-Black students, staff, and faculty. Study participants explained how the integration of one’s Blackness and maleness into predominantly White spaces posed challenges to existing symbols of White standards and warranted a sense of wariness on behalf of Black students. The limitations, recommendations, and implications of this student are presented. - 

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As part of a university honors program, honors students are encouraged to engage in research with purpose and impact. Gannon University's honors program offers students the opportunity to pursue community-engaged research and learn how to better advocate for their communities. The structure of the program and affiliated honors courses guides foster this learning and education for all of its honors students. This presentation will be an explanation of the process by which research in the community was engaged by an honors student as part of their honors education. The research abstract is as follows:

Research has shown that anti-social and risky behaviors have spiked in Erie County youth after the COVID-19 pandemic. Communities are calling out for the promotion of youth development that can counterbalance these trends in anti-social behaviors. The present study is a comparative project regarding the implementation of Positive Youth Development principles within youth development programs throughout Erie County. Interviews to support this research have been conducted with the Martin Luther King Center, the TRIO Upward Bound Program at GECAC, Asbury Woods, and the Downtown Erie YMCA, and will continue to include other organizations in the county to expand the scope of the project. Gathered data from the qualitative analysis will incorporate common themes and be considered with previously developed metrics and information on Positive Youth Development. The frequency of Positive Youth Development themes in interview responses will be recorded to supplement results.

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Discover ideas for how educational technologies can be used to extend learning and provide opportunities with global partnerships and collaborations. We will explore innovative digital tools and platforms that broaden access, deepen engagement, and foster collaboration among educators, students, and others beyond campuses and around the world.

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The Little Knights Clinic (LKC) pediatric pro-bono clinic at Gannon University (GU) has taken strides this year in community partnerships. We have partnered with the Mother Teresa Academy (MTA), a mission based private school, to provide occupational therapy services to students. The school had not offered any OT services as part of its academic programming until the GU OT program partnered with them. The clinic has focused on this partnership through the help of grant funding to expand the ground clinic on GU’s campus further to serve students in need with a supplied treatment space. Through this community connection, the clinic can evolve and provide more services to children. Interventions include sensory based supports, attention skill development, visual motor skills (handwriting), fine motor skills, and social skills appropriate to the academic context. This connection allows LKC student volunteers to work closely with school staff, especially teachers, as they refer their students. This community connection allows free school-based OT services and follow up is provided to include progress and any carry-over to the classroom to optimize outcomes. Our partnership with MTA is helping to expand the LKC and raise awareness of the pediatric pro-bono services we provide for our community. The LKC has opportunities to expand further to local catholic schools who do not provide OT services and support the LKC mission of serving the children in need and provide GU OT students hands on experience serving the Erie community.

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At Cabrini we have worked to develop particularly strong partnerships with non-profit and community organizations, emphasizing collaboration, creativity, mutual benefit, and long-term commitment in our work. The Wolfington Center supports these partnerships by matching faculty and students with community organizations, facilitating community-impact programs and projects, and securing financial and other resources needed for these initiatives. Because of these institutional commitments and our place in the University, our Center has a unique perspective on what it means to wind down our community relationships. The first case presents the NextSteps AmeriCorps service and mentoring program. It will examine the role of service in creating community in the midst of transitions on campus, the effect of the closure on students’ appetite for service, and thoughts on the place of service in students’ lives after closure of the University (e.g. through years of service, alumni-community networks, and ongoing commitments to service).

The second case study presents the GEARUP-Puentes tutoring and post-secondary success collaboration with Norristown High School.  It will highlight the importance of clear communication with community partners regarding the closure from the very beginning, our efforts to introduce new educational institutions into the partnership, and to strengthen connections between community organizations between which we had played a connecting role.

Our closing reflection will make three recommendations for deepening campus community partnerships, as viewed from the perspective of the University closure.  First: Don’t underestimate the deep value of community partnerships and service on the student experience, even in unexpected areas. These range from building social skills (especially post-COVID) and encouraging leadership abilities, to strengthening political acuity and facilitating interfaith understanding.  Second: Track your partnerships, especially ones anchored by faculty members or student groups, since changes in personnel can present some of the same challenges as a closure (only in miniature).  And finally: Don’t wait until the end to learn about the other institutions active in your community space, or to say thank you to your partners. Make the most of the opportunity to work with these institutions and show your appreciation for these partnerships.

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In an age where policy makers suggest that anything not in the STEM area doesn't matter, public history suggests differently. In the fall of 2023, Mercyhurst University public history students teamed up with the Multi-Cultural Resource Center (MCRC) to produce history-based projects with the potential to truly impact lives in Erie. This presentation will cover the process of collaboration, share the student projects, and discuss their potential impact on the Erie community.

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George Kuh's research on high-impact practices (2008) has been well documented and has spurred institutions to reevaluate their curricula and co-curricular activities to ensure that they offer meaningful and impactful experiences for students. Three of Kuh's list of eight HIPs are embedded into a First-Year Seminar at Hobart and William Smith Colleges titled "Exploring Community – Relationships, Happiness, and Service. Students lived on the same floor of a residence hall and had a weekly service-learning commitment. Although this course has only been taught once with plans to teach again in fall 2024, assessment instruments on learning communities and service-learning will be shared. An interactive discussion will focus on harnessing expertise in the room to explore ways to improve the experience and help others develop similar opportunities. https://www.aacu.org/publication/high-impact-educational-practices-what-they-are-who-has-access-to-them-and-why-they-matter

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Rural White settler allies in the North Country are organizing for racial justice. They come from many backgrounds, professions, age groups, and genders. What are there genesis stories of coming to allyship? If we knew the type of stories that break through or at least weaken White supremacy socialization, educators could support aspiring allies or those considering allyship with a path to consider. In my facilitated discussion I will share emerging findings from my dissertation research, pose questions to participants, and facilitate dialogue in an interactive manner. My project has implications for student leadership development, pathways to civic engagement, and partnerships with Indigenous communities. I will begin by sharing my emerging identity as an activist scholar, the context of my research, original framing and theoretical frameworks, and methods, before turning to what I am seeing presently in the over 75 hours of interviews I have conducted with 15 White allies from June 2022 to December 2023. I will end by creating space for participants to consider a “Now what?” for them to take action around specific to their role and work. In an attachment that accompanies this proposal I share more context of my project. Outline of brief presentation Context: who am I, what is development studies/Cornell, where are we in time (are we at a new conjuncture)? • Haudenosaunee and the Two Row agreement • Self/why this project (example introduction points) o Self, student, activist o My scholarship must be of benefit to my participants, their communities, and their activism o As an activist scholar I desire to strengthen grassroots organizing already happening in that place as a way to strengthen democracy o I see myself and my purpose in my participants o Indigenous solidarity must be strengthened for the survival of humanity • Associated projects that emerged in the course of research My project: what I have done (interviews) • Methods and definition: dialogue, sharing half-finished stories, object/songs/places • How I identified dialogue partners (research participants) • Definitions: Settlers, White and whiteness, settler colonialism and white supremacy, Allies Genesis stories • Examples; the commitment, vision, and hope that my participants offer to seeming intractable dilemma of moving White people to action around racial justice • Storytelling: stories reveal our assumptions about how the world works and what is important to us. I am interested in interrogating Western storytelling to reveal the devices we use that reinforce domination or open people up to listen. Preliminary noticings on ally genesis stories • “Aha!” moments while in dialogue • “Extrapolating oppressions and allyships” • Privilege-informed trauma vs exploitation-informed trauma • Power of stories: storytelling can break through dualisms to create fertile ground for relationship building Implications for campus

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It’s all about taking informed action. Civic Engagement is a cornerstone of the social studies discipline to help develop community-minded participants and an active citizenry. The aspirational goal that “enables students not only to study how others participate but also to practice participating and taking informed action themselves” (NCSS, 2013, p. 31) inspired an informal service-learning project by graduate students at SUNY Buffalo State University, Buffalo, New York. Graduate students participated in an informational field trip and walking tour of the Black Rock Historical District to learn more about a campus neighbor just minutes away from the university, yet sometimes overlooked by other more trendy Buffalo neighborhoods, like the Elmwood Village or Canal Side. The Black Rock neighborhood is bordered to the north by the Beltline, to the east by Elmwood Avenue, to the south by the Scajaquada Creek, and to the west by the Beltline and the Lower Black Rock neighborhood. According to the United States Census Bureau (2021), the median age of Black Rock is 30 years old and white-collar workers make up 76.12% of the working population in Black Rock, while blue-collar employees account for 23.88%. The median household income sits at only about $32,186 per year, with 5% of the population falling below the poverty line. The graduate project meets the conference theme of community engagement modeled through experiential learning, which is an inquiry-based instructional strategy for social studies education graduate students. The experience offered graduate students the opportunity to take informed action with a local stakeholder, the Buffalo Black Rock Historical Society. The learning objectives were to understand, assess, and apply a potential solution on behalf of a group of people or for an issue. Three graduate students and one undergraduate student, working in two groups, decided to apply their civic pedagogical knowledge for the course final assessment project. The project assessed dimension four “Communicating Conclusions and Taking Informed Action” of The College, Career, and Civic Life Framework (C3) by the National Council for the Social Studies (2013). Each group researched and networked with the Buffalo Historical Society and businesses to learn more about the neighborhood in order to assess stakeholder needs and collegiate students’ needs regarding “places” to socialize. “Third Places” refers to spaces where people connect with a social base outside of their home and work/school (Oldenburg, 1999). One group interviewed owners of Black Rock music and restaurant establishments to gain insights into the music history, and culture while the other group assessed the neighborhood for best-fit locations for third places. Next students created a plan that outlined potential next steps to revitalize the Black Rock historical district that focused on young people’s needs and Black Rock neighborhood priorities. 

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Building trust is critical to the healthy functioning of society. In addition, trust is vital to personal growth and education. Being trusted and accepted is a common desire of all people. The process of building trust can be especially daunting for individuals who are new to a culture. Research has shown that the decision to trust a specific person is based on the potential trustor’s perceptions of that person’s ability, goodwill, and integrity. Erie, Pennsylvania is known for welcoming individuals from around the world. Individuals have come for a variety of reasons. Some are refugees while others have come to study. This wonderful opportunity to enrich our community has come with challenges. These challenges are not insurmountable, and the benefits far outweigh the efforts. One of these challenges is acclimating our new arrivals and helping them build trust in the groups of which they are a part. Faculty in the Gannon University Dahlkemper School of Business MBA in Data Analytics Program are leading an initiative to collaborate with the Erie School District to help prepare newly arriving students to become acclimated and build trust thus setting a foundation for success in their new home culture. The collaboration is truly a win-win situation. Students in Gannon University’s GMBA 655 Socially Responsible Leadership class, who are primarily international, are coaching new international arrivals in the Erie School District’s seventh grade. Approximately 135 students are involved, 60 Gannon graduate students and 75 Erie School District students. Themes include building trust through understanding in areas such as communication, interpersonal interaction, foundations of faith, and personal care. Coaching has been found to be more effective when both the coach and the person being coached share common experiences. Graduate students have the opportunity to lead new arrivals through acclimation and trust-building processes they themselves have experienced. Trust is accelerated when the person being coached perceives their coach understands them. Coaching is conducted in a group environment replete with a variety of hands-on engaging learning activities. This groundbreaking initiative seeks to fulfill Gannon University’s mission by addressing challenges in a way that enriches the lives of everyone involved.

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The Great North American Total Eclipse swept from coast to coast across the United States on April 8th, 2024 passing directly over the city of Erie, PA. Erie will not experience another total eclipse until 2144. This presented a singular opportunity not just for scientific research but also for public education and community outreach in the region. During my presentation, I will discuss my major campaign to engage and educate local institutions, schools, media, and the public at large on safe observing methods and the science of the eclipse. I will discuss the challenges to outreach and making meaningful connections within the community to embark on such a campaign. I also convey tips and strategies on scientific event planning, community engagement, and effective methods of communication for both safety messaging and science education. I will include direct data and discussion from my experiences in over 60 public, private, and media appearances related to the total eclipse from the 2023-2024 period.

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Students in the senior-level capstone course in the Advertising Communication and Public Relations programs in the School of Communication and the Arts at Gannon University each year create a comprehensive promotional plan for an area non-profit organization. This year the class worked with the Mult-Cultural Resource Center. The students prepared a plan that addressed the organization's challenges for the coming year and proposed a variety of tactics to meet the requirements of the challenge, including advertising, public relations, and digital media strategies. The end product was over 150 pages and included tactics such as events, social media, a slogan, a logo, media, signage, and much more. Students undertook primary and secondary research in an effort to properly identify proposed target audiences and objectives. Once the plan was completed the students pitched their creative ideas to representatives of MCRC who then were given all of the materials to use. Over 20 classes have worked with various non-profit agencies in the Erie area. There is never a cost to the non-profit for any of the work produced.

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According to recent US Census data (2022) children in poverty are only half as likely as those who are not to be involved in extracurricular activities. Additionally, the Center for Disease Control (2022), suggests living in a community with access to safe, engaging, after-school programs and activities is a protective factor against child abuse. “The Winter Warrior: What’s a Kid To Do?, Winter 2023 – Spring 2024” brochure project was designed to provide Butler County families with a comprehensive list of free and low-cost winter activities. Working diligently for more than one month, student associates from the Institute for Nonprofit Leadership at SRU developed this brochure that was distributed to more than 1500 families. The construction of the brochure drew on students’ research, graphic design, and social media skills and required students to engage with more than 15 nonprofit and social service community partners for distribution. The brochure was funded by the Butler County Prevention Council. Mayol-García, Y. (2022, July 26). Girls Take Lessons, Join Clubs More Often Than Boys But Boys Play More Sports.

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After a snapshot of the contemporary public response to food insecurity, particularly within and near universities, this presentation provides an introduction to the self-perpetuating ‘hunger industrial complex’ and the proliferating alliances among charities, businesses, and social policy. We conclude by promoting the role of universities in the Food Justice Movement, including but not limited to, such examples as the student-led CoFed, and Union of Concerned Scientists, the Hope Center, and the global advocacy organization Food Tank.

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This presentation provides a solution to the challenge of assessing students by applying classroom techniques beyond basic questions or case studies. Through a semester-long project, operations management students are introduced to the content, and the knowledge is applied to a community partner project. Working with community partners can be challenging but very rewarding. This presentation explains the acquiring and vetting process of community partners, the scaffolded assignments that culminate with a presentation and paper, and how each phase is assessed. The final product to the community partner summarizes their current processes, provides a variety of improvement options, and final practical recommendations. This model can be applied to other disciplines where the ability to apply the knowledge is paramount.

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CrowdDrive is a collaborative project between the Erie Technology Incubator (ETI) and the Dahlkemper School of Business (DSB) at Gannon University. The overall objectives are to provide a pre-seed-funding tool for early-stage startups in Northwestern Pennsylvania through the development of a micro-crowd ecosystem and to expose business students to the fundraising environment as project partners with the area’s small businesses. In pursuit of these goals, the ETI-DSB collaborative will develop a sustainable project offering pre-seed-funding opportunities to area startups. CrowdDrive was developed from a 2022 project funded by Ben Franklin Technology Partners, which raised $36,565 for three successful crowdfunding campaigns. That project ended in December 2022 but evolved into CrowdDrive, which is a more comprehensive project that involves the active development of community members as potential donors. As of January 2024, CrowdDrive had received the support of $30,000 from The Erie Community Foundation and is in the process of contracting with four small businesses as its first clients. The Problem: Startup owners are challenged with raising capital to fund their dreams. According to the Kauffman Foundation, most obtain initial funding from personal sources. In Northwestern Pennsylvania, there were 3,266 business formations in 2022 in Erie (2,557), Crawford (497), and Warren (212) counties. While other avenues to pre-seed funding exist, the need clearly dwarfs available resources. Crowdfunding is a viable means of raising pre-seed funding; however, many startup owners lack the expertise, skills, time, and resources to launch and close a successful campaign. Crowdfunding consultants can assist, but they generally charge between $2,000 to $10,000 per campaign. Target Population: CrowdDrive will target startups in Northwestern Pennsylvania interested in pursuing crowdfunding opportunities to raise awareness, earn pre-seed funding, and substantiate proof-of-concept. CrowdDrive more specifically will target women and minority-owned businesses. As per a Forbes report, Latino-owned businesses represent only 2% of venture capital investment. The situation is similar for angel investment too, with women representing only about one-quarter of the angel market and African Americans 10%. These groups are also more challenged in providing personal sources of financing. Activities: CrowdDrive will engage in the following activities over the initial 24 months, beginning in spring 2024 to develop its sustainable ecosystem of micro-crowd investors. • Community Engagement and Education: CrowdDrive will mobilize donors and creators (entrepreneurs) through awareness campaigns and educational workshops on the importance of early-stage investments for startups. • Crowdfunding Platform Development: CrowdDrive will develop an online platform to facilitate crowdfunding activities.

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Colgate's co-curricular community engagement office, the COVE, piloted a leadership certificate program this past Spring 2024 semester. We offered students an opportunity to deepen their understanding of leadership in community engagement settings, using critical reflection and dialogue as methods to ask the following questions: What are the systemic challenges or barriers to social change in service work? How do we critically reflect on our definition of civic leadership, as well as our identities, values, and motivations? Students had the opportunity to select their own direct service experience, as well as travel to nearby cultural and historical sites that work to advance ethical and justice oriented communities. This presentation will discuss the design, implementation, initial results, and future of this program.

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Are student persistence and retention important priorities on your campus? Aligning community engagement with these and other institutional priorities is not only possible but critical. Campus priorities and concerns often drive decision-making and resource allocation, and it is important to ensure that community engagement supports campus priorities. This workshop will explore how presenters at Buffalo State have effectively collected and analyzed data to demonstrate the impact of community-engaged learning on persistence and retention and create opportunities to disseminate and demonstrate how our work positively contributes to these institutional priorities. Small group work and presenter sharing of replicable action steps will help each of us to strengthen our understanding of impacts, expand support for community engagement, and create high impact engagement efforts.

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Abstract Summary: We have all noticed that the higher education landscape (and the non-profit volunteer landscape) has changed rapidly in recent years. The pandemic, enrollment cliffs, the great resignation, and similar events have all united to change the face of higher education, resulting in many professionals finding themselves in new roles. We have lost colleges and colleagues to closings and layoffs, and it has all had a huge impact on our work as community-engaged learning professionals. Our panel focuses on how we can support CEL professionals through career transitions during this dynamic time in higher education history. Our panel features three different perspectives on the importance of professional development for community-engaged learning professionals. Specifically, we will talk about our own recent career transitions in order to reflect upon how our field can support new professionals in community-engaged learning work—or, more specifically, professionals who are now engaging in community-engaged teaching and learning from new angles (such as faculty to staff, or faculty to community partner). Our session outline: • Alice Villaseñor will frame the conversation by providing a brief overview of why this topic matters (expanding on the points mentioned above). She will then delve into her own transition two years ago from a CEL faculty practitioner in her role as Associate Professor of English at Medaille College to Associate Director of Community-Engaged Learning at SUNY Buffalo State. • Lisa Kragbé will talk about her transition from working with faith-based non-profit organizations into higher education (first at Medaille College, and, more recently, at SUNY Buffalo State). • Kristy F. Tyson will talk about her shift from her roles as Assistant Professor of the Practice and Program Director for the Master’s in Organizational Leadership Program at Medaille College to her current community partner role as the Director of Diversity Education for The National Federation for Just Communities of Western New York. Our proposed session hits on several conference themes, especially: • Community-Engaged Teaching and Curricular Engagement (What kinds of support do community partners who are new to working with higher education need to contribute to CEL course design?) • Creating Sustainable Strategic Community Partnerships (How do we support new community partners in this work? New CEL professionals?) • Scholarship of Engagement and Research (What are good ‘first steps’ into scholarship for community partners new to higher education? Community-engaged learning professionals from a community partner background? CEL faculty teaching in their own disciplines as they become staff or administrators thinking about CEL pedagogical strategies more broadly?) • Community-Engaged Course Design, Implementation, and Assessment (How might we better utilize the unique perspective of former faculty members who are now in the role as non-pr

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Studies show that Americans spend an average of 90,000 hours in paid employment throughout their lives and that workplace burnout directly impacts your physical and psychological health. Research also indicates that how employees and partnerships are managed has about four times as much influence on engagement & well-being. Join us as we discuss the importance of workplace wellness and enhancing your institution's community impact. Participants will acquire knowledge of the causes and impact of workplace burnout and evidence-based mitigation strategies to cultivate and enhance long-term community partnerships.

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The indispensable role of data in confronting community challenges is profound, offering novel perspectives for addressing issues prevalent in metropolitan colleges and universities. My presentation introduces a hands-on learning experience, enabling attendees to grasp the fundamentals of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and data analysis. It outlines a comprehensive method leveraging data analytics and technology to identify, analyze, and tackle significant community concerns such as public safety, walkability, and environmental sustainability. By integrating diverse data sources—including census, CDC data, community-based data, and various spatial data—participants will learn to extract actionable insights conducive to informed decision-making and precise interventions. This proactive strategy not only aids in effectively tackling existing issues but also in foreseeing and mitigating potential future challenges. The session aims to showcase the impact of data-driven service-learning projects on enhancing public health, reducing crime rates, ensuring student safety on school routes, and illuminating environmental issues. This hands-on approach in the presentation will illuminate the transformative power of data in driving service-learning projects, showcasing its impact on community engagement and problem-solving.

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