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Building Towards Reciprocal Campus-Community Partnerships

By: Kelly Nguyen and Diana Estime

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Goals of the Workshop

Network with people outside your campuses
Identify challenges of campus-community partnership reciprocity
Tips for success in a campus-community partnership

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About The Presenters: Kelly Nguyen

Alma Mater: University of Vermont
MA Campus Compact (MACC) VISTA

Tufts University in partnership with two local high schools

STEM Education/Awareness
College Access

MA Campus Compact VISTA Leader

Support a corps of 24 VISTAs across the state

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About the Presenters: Diana Estime

Alma Mater: Suffolk University
MA Campus Compact VISTA

Lesley University in partnership with a local tutoring non- profit, Tutoring Plus

College Access
Near peer mentorship
Middle school literacy

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Please Separate Yourselves Into Groups!

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Please Introduce Yourselves in Your Groups!

Name
Position or Title
Organization/University affiliate
Favorite Thing About Winter

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Swinging Doors

Created by the New England Resource Center for Higher Education

Helps identify common issues and solutions in campus-community partnerships

Each group will receive the a scenario, a worksheet, and flipchart paper
Please assign one note taker and one reporter

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Directions - Part I

Please read the scenarios . Answer the following questions in your group:

What is the story? What are the perspectives of each stakeholder?
What are your initial reactions to the scenario? How does this connect to other things in your experience?
What are some of the issues in this partnership?
What steps could be taken by each stakeholder?

Time Limit: 20 minutes

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Directions - Part II

Please read both scenarios . Answer the following questions in your group:

What are the goals of Frank? Of Marta? What goals do other stakeholders have?
What are some of the issues in the partnership?
What are some of the assets in the partnership?
What does this partnership have going for it?
How can Frank and Marta work better together?
What additional information do you need?

Time Limit: 25 Minutes

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Tips for Building Reciprocal Campus-Community Partnerships

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It Takes Time to Build Trust

Kelly

When I was at Tufts, one of my community partners was my old high school, and the department chairs we were working with at the high school were my old teachers. For me, since I still had pretty good relationship with both of them, I figured it would be easy to get these projects up and running. And I realized through the way that it wasn’t easy. In the particular schools we worked with, other partnerships or programs have failed. It took many meetings and time for them to trust me as a professional doing this work. That’s important about community partnerships as a whole. It takes time to build that trust. You won’t get access to the grades of the youth you are serving immediately to see if your program is effective. You are able to build that deeper connection to get to know those students and staff personally, which may lead you to those grades.

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See Each Other as a Resource: Use an Asset Based Approach

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Communication is Key!

Kelly

Many campus-community partnerships are struggling with communication for many different reasons, but in order to build a sustainable partnership, there needs to be effective communication. In my partnership, I was having difficulty with communication for the first few weeks of school. It took me a while to figure it out how to communicate with them efficiently. For me, if I needed e-mail responses, I needed to e-mail at 3 specific times: before 7 AM, around noon, or around 2:20 PM, when school was out. We made an agreement that I would e-mail around those times, and I should expect communication within 2-3 business days. There are many times where school administrators, teachers, and non-profit don’t have the luxury of checking their e-mails often. If this is the case, what are your alternatives? Does it make sense for you all to meet bi-weekly? Do check-in phone calls weekly work? Is there an agreement you can make with the community partner about how to keep up with communication.

What happens if there is a breakdown in communication?

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Accountability: Who is Responsible?

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Students are Important Stakeholders

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Contact Information

Kelly Nguyen

knguyen@masscampuscompact.org
P: 617-553-5534

Diana Estime

destime@lesley.edu
P: 617.349.8196

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Please Rate us on the App!

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The End!

Questions?