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COMMUNITY
PARTNERSHIPS
Partners as
Co-Educators
[1] Background and Purpose
As you know from the main descriptions
of the Bonner Foundation and program’s philosophy about
community partnerships, the Bonner Program brings campus and
community leaders together on equal footing to forge a new
vision of what campus and community partnerships can achieve.
This supports our community development goal to have campuses,
students, and community partners address needs and mobilize
assets in building stronger, healthier communities. The spirit
of collaboration ensures a channel of communication in order
to more effectively respond to the evolving needs of the community
and help close the often prevalent (e.g., town-gown) or historical
divide between campus and community.
The Bonner Program emphasizes the quality and investment of
relationship that can happen when students and their campus
make long term, meaningful commitments to the community. In
turn, we invite community partners to enter into and maintain
a sustained relationship with our on-campus programs. As part
of this, we aim to engage partner agencies, including their
leadership and staff, in playing the role of an active co-educator
of Bonner students. In practice, we know from our Student
Impact Survey and from the stories that Bonner students and
alumni share with us that it is often through the service
experience that the most meaningful and not easily forgotten
lessons, skills, and knowledge is gained. To build on this,
we aim to intentionally invite our partners to be involved
in the educational mission in a more intentional way.
[2] Benchmarks or Guidelines
In this area, there are a few simple guidelines
and benchmarks that can make a significant difference.
- Formally share the Bonner Program’s developmental
model and your own campus’s educational goals with
partners in an intentional way. Discuss with partners how
they might utilize this information in shaping the students’
placements and roles in their agencies or programs. Discuss
with partners how their own educational philosophies and
intended outcomes, if they have them, mesh with the Bonner
model.
- Use the resources available to you to make this sharing
of information easier. For example, to share the developmental
model, you may utilize the following:
1.
Brochure for Community Partners: a two-page sample
brochure covering the background, Bonner Scholars Program,
Bonner Leaders Program, Common Commitments, and campuses
created graphically in Pages for use by programs
2.
Introduction of the Bonner Foundation for Community Partners:
a four-page word document covering the background, Bonner
Scholars Program, Bonner Leaders Program, Common Commitments,
and campuses that can be modified (adding in campus program
history and information)
3.
Powerpoint of the Bonner Model: a 21-page Powerpoint
of the Bonner Model that can be modified and used for
presentations
4.
Introduction to the Bonner Program Student Developmental
Model: a seven-page word document covering the 5 E’s,
Common Commitments, skills, campus roadmap (to be customized),
student profiles, and things Community Partners can do
to support student development and community impact
Encourage partners to set high expectations
for students and their roles.
- Provide an avenue through which community voice can shape
the implementation of student development in your program.
For example, you may consider the following to start your
thinking:
o Invite the partner to be involved in
an All Bonner Orientation, Retreat, Meeting or other event
to share information and knowledge.
o Invite the partner to present to your class
(if you are faculty) or connect with a faculty
member to speak in a course setting.
o Gather information from partners about topics
that they would be willing and able to provide training
on, at the site only, for a class of Bonners,
or for the entire Bonner Program.
o Encourage a partner to help articulate an
agenda for research or shape the project for
a community-based research course or CBR initiative.
o Gather information from partners about what
skills and topics they would like to see students trained
in, before and during their ongoing work with
the agency. Share your developmental roadmap and training
calendar with partners, and get their feedback.
- Have an advisory board of community partner agency staff
and stakeholders.
[3] Examples of Excellence & Innovation
- Partner Orientation/Retreat: An example
of excellence for providing information to partners about
the Bonner model and program is to have a partner orientation
or retreat. Berea College is an example of a campus that
has done this.
- Engaging Partners in Academic Readings: Another
excellent example of truly engaging the partner as a co-educator
was adopted at Mars Hill. There Bonner Program staff invited
partner organization leaders (supervisors) to read Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail and
other core readings from a required general education course.
Partners were asked to discuss the reading with the students.
This effort was a great success, both in engaging students
in applying the concepts from this reading to their own
work in the community and also in re-energizing partners
in their roles both as educators and as nonprofit leaders.
At Mars Hill, this was part of broader effort at making
service-learning and academic connections, part of an initiative
for which the campus received grant support from Learn &
Serve America. See the attachment here for help thinking
through these connections: LifeWorks
Partners as Co-Educators Handout
[4] Campus Examples and Resources
Talk to:
- Mars Hill College — process for
engaging partners as co-educators through academic readings
and the creation of videos regarding training. See the attachment
here for help thinking through these connections: LifeWorks
Partners as Co-Educators Handout
- Emory & Henry — process for
inviting the voices of community partners into a communication
structure that addresses issues of concern to the community
- Guilford College — process for
meeting with partners to sketch out shared goals. See Community
Partner flier with goals.
[5] Action Steps to
Get This Started
- Identify partners with whom you are ready to engage in
this way.
- Formally provide materials and information in person (meetings,
Orientation) or in writing (binder, letters, etc.)
- Determine 1-2 strategies to incorporate community voice
into your developmental model for this year.
- Identify a few innovations that you want to pursue and
a strategy for each (e.g., meeting with a faculty member,
convening faculty member and partner representative, identifying
a student leader) for this year.
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