Alignment, Intentions, and Reciprocal Relationships in Community-University Partnerships

Abstract: Effective collaboration between faculty and community agencies is critical to mutually beneficial outcomes for community and higher education partners. This poster combines three different research studies connected to community-university partnerships. The first study shows the perspectives of non-profit organizations that work with multilingual clients and rely upon service-learning students studying a world language. The second study looks at the types of practices and strategies for community engagement that students and faculty identify based on the Social Change Wheel 2.0. The third study is a five-year action research project focused on partnership that utilized a facilitated group dialogue approach that resulted in a shifted power dynamic that yielded significant implications for collaboration. The comparison of the three studies allows for reflection on how well stakeholders understand and represent the partnerships. Join us for conversations on alignment of students to the work, intentions in types of engagement, and reciprocity in community-university partnerships.

Narrative: Effective collaboration between faculty and community agencies is critical to mutually beneficial outcomes for community and higher education partners. Quan (2021) states that

“Understanding how communities define and value impact will lead to enhanced community engagement practice including, better alignment between community engagement practices and intended outcomes, improved campus-community relationships characterized by trust and sustainability and, ultimately, an increase in the knowledge assets in higher education and communities.” (13)

This poster explores the alignment, intentions, and building of reciprocal relationships in community-university partnerships from three different perspectives.

The first study shows the perspectives of non-profit organizations that work with multilingual clients and rely upon service-learning students studying a world language. The second study looks at the types of practices and strategies for community engagement that students and faculty identify based on the Social Change Wheel 2.0. The third study is a five-year action research project focused on partnership. Built on data gleaned through traditional methods, the action research project expanded data collection through a facilitated group dialogue approach resulting in a shifted power dynamic that yielded significant implications for collaboration. The comparison of the three studies allows for reflection on how well stakeholders understand and represent the partnerships.

The Alignment of Multilingual Service-Learning Students to Community Organizations
When looking at the impact of service-learning students on organizations, the community organizations report that these partnerships increased access to resources and social capital (Rubin, 2000; Sandy & Holland, 2006), that they valued communication and relationships (Quan, 2021). Challenges included “lack of clarity on how to access university resources; student unpreparedness for community work; spotty communication; and misalignment between community engagement principles, such as reciprocity and mutual benefit, and community engagement practice” (Quan, 2021, 13). It can be assumed that this research is based on predominantly service experiences performed in English, the dominant language of the volunteers. To expand on this research community partner organizations that work with multilingual clients and world language service-learning students were interviewed to look at the research question: How do different levels of language proficiency and intercultural competency impact the service-learning experience? It was posited that the use of world languages (beyond English) would shift the experiences between the organization and service-learning student from those typically seen in monolingual volunteer settings. Organizations reported that the primary goal for working with SL undergraduate students was capacity building and to provide opportunities for student to learn. The impacts that the organizations have found most meaningful from the partnership with students are increased knowledge about community and the development of relationships. The language skills of the student volunteers enhanced the organization’s abilities for: intercultural competence, communication with clients, equity of services offered by organization, credibility in community. They report that there is a good fit (score of 3 in a scale of 4) between what the campus is offering and the organization’s needs and goals. Further research is needed to expand on findings that perhaps suggest a better level of satisfaction among community organizations working with multilingual clients and service-learning students.

Are our Intentions Clear?
Campus Compact of Iowa and Minnesota introduced the Social Change Wheel 2.0 in 2020, expanding the original version’s focus on diverse ways colleges and universities can engage with communities to advance social change by creating an “inner wheel” of strategies particularly geared to campus-based opportunities. In this spirit and to name our goals of advancing social change models of service-learning and community engagement in our courses and on our campus, Duke Service-Learning updated our mission to express intentions of promoting social equity. At the end of the fall 2022 and spring 2023 semesters, we asked SLCE students and faculty to choose the top three forms of engagement they believe grounded their work in SLCE courses from a list of the 20 strategies presented on the Social Change Wheel 2.0. Student surveys were administered by way of an end-of-semester course evaluation administered by the Arts and Sciences Office of Assessment; faculty responded to end-of-semester survey distributed by our office. Our goal was to understand are our intentions clear and consistent when we present ourselves to communities? Are students approaching engaged work understanding faculty intentions for community partnership? Survey results indicate that there is relative parity in faculty and student understanding of the kinds of practices (e.g., direct service; community building; deliberative and reflective dialogue) and strategies (e.g., student involvement and leadership development; cultivating lifelong learners and global citizens), suggesting faculty are clear in expressing intentions. Future study will require assessing stakeholder understanding of concepts elaborated on the social change wheel and the extent to which this tool is appropriate for measuring intentions and clarity of intentions.

Reciprocity through Research and Practice
Effective collaboration with community agencies is critical to mutually beneficial outcomes for community and higher education partners. However, most perceptions of community partners related to effective practices and outcomes are documented via individual interviews and surveys. These individual “conversations” tell one story but through an obscured power dynamic. This research represents a five-year action research project focused on partnership. Built on data gleaned through traditional methods, the action research project expanded data collection through a facilitated group dialogue approach resulting in a shifted power dynamic that yielded significant implications for collaboration. Partners became co-inquirers and unexpected findings about partner perspectives, interests, and shared values emerged. The data, conversations, and action research paradigm resulted in a set of agreed upon effective practices, articulated principles of partnership, and influenced future strategic plans.

Using a facilitated dialogue approach and generative activities such as the “World Café” allowed us to elicit community-partner perspectives in a power sharing model that resulted in more a more reciprocal collaborative model. Facilitated dialogue produced unexpected findings about community partner perspectives, particularly as they relate to the type and level of desired engagement with program activities and co-defining of strategic themes.

The outcome of the research was two foundation documents: a set of agreements designed to create a transparent set of partnership goals and a set of partnership principles with related corresponding skills and attributes.