MEETING THE CHALLENGES, AND REALIZING THE PROMISES, OF HIGHER EDUCATION COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Randy Stoecker

THE PROMISE

To students: Educational enhancement Career advancement Moral/personal development

To communities: Filling of resource gaps Allyship for equity Promotion of justice

THE CHALLENGES

Lack of outcomes, or negative outcomes, for communities.

Partial problematic outcomes for students Reinforcement of stereotypes Resistance to “required volunteerism” Poverty tourism Resume volunteerism

CONSEQUENT QUESTIONS ABOUT THE PROMISE

Can we simultaneously educate students and fill community resource gaps?

Can we support students’ career prospects and promote equity for marginalized communities?

Can we support students’ moral development and support justice for marginalized communities?

DIALECTICAL ANSWERS

The more education students get from communities, the less practical benefit communities get from students.

The more that community work is used to enhance students’ visibility and status, the less visible the community and its assets are.

The more we support justice for marginalized communities, the more students may question their own privilege and/or ours.

UNPACKING: EDUCATING STUDENTS AND BENEFITING COMMUNITIES

What is a community: Geography Identity Sum+ Collectivity

What are community benefits: Problem solving Capacity building

How we engage students in communities: Individual service Decontextualized activities Minimal mentoring

How we prepare students: Lack of training in specific

issue work Lack of training in

community work

Consequence: unintended side effects

UNPACKING: BUILDING UP STUDENTS AND BUILDING EQUITY FOR COMMUNITIES

How we build up communities Taking power from

professionals Eliminating one-way

“knowledge transfer”

Dismantling hierarchies

How we prepare students: To become

professionals To transmit and

apply knowledge To accommodate

hierarchies

Consequence: The privileging of charity models

UNPACKING: STUDENT MORAL DEVELOPMENT AND COMMUNITY JUSTICE

Community justice Restorative justice Change, not charity Collective action Political analysis

Student socialization Punitive justice Charity, not change Individual achievement Depoliticized

mystification

Consequence: sewing confusion and cynicism

TOWARD A NEW PROMISE

A mission statement for higher ed community engagement: To build community capacity… To create social change… By facilitating community access to our

knowledge resources, including faculty, staff, and students

UNPACKING THE MISSION STATEMENT

What is capacity? Ability to find and keep volunteers (rather than higher

ed supplying them) Ability to develop and deploy knowledge resources Ability to be heard and understood Ability to plan and act

What is change? Full distribution of opportunities and benefits Full distribution of decision-making power

What is facilitating access? Customizing higher ed to fit community priorities Connecting communities to higher ed resources (science

shops)

A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE MISSION STATEMENT

knowledge

power

action

Inspired by Michel Foucault

Diagnose (CBR)

Prescribe (CBR)

Implemen

t (SL)

Evaluate (CBR)

DIVERGING FROM DOMINANT PRACTICES

Project-based, not hours-based Skill-based, not volunteer-based Outcome-based, not output-based Change-centered, not SL/CBR-centered Community targeted, not individual targeted Commitment to the project, not the agency Commitment to the constituency, not the

agency Focus on contributing, not leading

A NEW ETHICAL BASE Promote active and representative participation toward

enabling all community members to meaningfully influence the decisions that affect their lives.

Engage community members in learning about and understanding community issues, and the economic, social, environmental, political, psychological, and other impacts associated with alternative courses of action.

Incorporate the diverse interests and cultures of the community in the community development process; and disengage from support of any effort that is likely to adversely affect the disadvantaged members of a community.

Work actively to enhance the leadership capacity of community members, leaders, and groups within the community.

Be open to using the full range of action strategies to work toward the long-term sustainability and well being of the community.

Source: Principles of good practice, Community Development Society, http://www.comm-dev.org/

PUTTING IT INTO ACTION—IN THE COMMUNITY

1. Find constituency-led efforts......with community change goals......or help them develop goals......and identify projects......that can help achieve goals.

2. Find higher ed resources......that can support the projects......and mobilize those resources......to do the projects......to achieve the goals.

PUTTING IT INTO PRACTICE--IN THE INSTITUTION

Curricular flexibility Tenure and promotion criteria Resources for community organizing and

community technical experts Deployment of science shop strategy Training for faculty and staff in community

dynamics, popular education Expansion of classroom-based civics

education, issue education

PUTTING IT INTO PRACTICE--IN THE CLASSROOM

Projects, not hours A limited number of projects Projects developed by faculty and community

group before class starts Students apply for projects Students receive appropriate training to do

projects Technical expert mentoring (either faculty or

community)