A. Introduction: Campus-Community Partnerships

1. Goals

The community development goal of the Bonner Scholars Program is:
To have campuses, students, and communities partner to address needs and mobilize assets in building stronger, healthier communities.

In the sections below, we describe: (a) the comprehensive service placement model to be used for both the school year and the summer, and (b) the steps involved in a collaborative, community problem-solving process. Taken together, these two processes are fundamental strategies for achieving our community development goals.

2. Service Placement Model

The traditional focus of a campus-based service program has been on service “for others.” We refer to this model as the “community service placement” model. In this model, a student project coordinator organizes and connects others to a host of community service opportunities. While this model has been successful in recruiting and placing large numbers of students into the community, rarely have these placement-oriented projects led to a sustained community building relationship between the campus and the community at-large or a distinct community agency. Hence, the Bonner Scholars Program attempts to build upon and enrich the traditional model through building a campus-based infrastructure that will support sustained partnering (see chart below).

This approach has several advantages:

• It addresses project continuity and sustainability by establishing long-range project goals, leadership succession, and peer mentoring strategies that exceed the duration of any one student or member who may leave;
• It offers feedback and assessment strategies that are responsive to the short- and long-term needs of a community;
• It promotes an integrative learning and developmental strategy for students and their community partners alike.

This approach complements the experiential and service-learning models described above, bringing to the forefront consideration of the community’s stated needs, while placing greater emphasis on the skills and knowledge acquired while engaged in this collaborative process.

3. Collaborative Problem-Solving Model: The Community Partnership Process

The Bonner Scholars Program encourages the development of a “problem-solving” approach on a campus by promoting the development of “collaborative problem solving teams.” These team should be composed of key stakeholders who are directly impacted by the services or activities undertaken. Although not the only combination, the inclusion of a community agency director, an experienced student leader(s), a service recipient, and a faculty and/or staff member will ensure a healthy level of diversity. The chart below offers examples of the roles the team would take in the Bonner Scholars Program.

In designing strategies below, we have sought to create contextually-appropriate ways to ensure that the Bonner Scholars Program maintains quality community outreach programming that enables:

Bonner Scholar Students to:

• establish a sense of understanding for their distinct placement by understanding better what is expected of them;
• identify and engage the skills they bring with them to the placement;
• systematically record and evaluate the activities in which they engage;
• develop the skills they need to increase their responsibility levels in current and future community service roles;
• participate in the evaluation of their performance;
• create a portfolio of learning experiences and accomplishments;
• continually clarify, critically reflect, and move forward as they respond to their community service and personal learning goals and community action plans.

The Bonner Scholar Program Director and Coordinator to:

• manage and access information needs of the student placement & agency partnerships;
• distribute administrative and managerial workloads among community partner-agency personnel, students, and campus staff;
• analyze and report on student & community outcomes;
• set up an infrastructure (technological and methodology) that supports the campus’ management and development.

The Community Partners to:

• recruit students with specific competencies & experience;
• enhance communication with students, the campus, and the BSP;
• elevate level of student accountability towards placement and subsequent projects;
• connect the goals, objectives, and action plans of the organization with that of the student and campus;
• provide for structured opportunities to discuss student performance and offer suggestions for refining or clarifying goals and work plans of students; and
• utilize a system that has a built-in assessment process.

In summary, the community partnership processes described in this handbook seek to help the community partner, campus staff, and student effectively manage workloads and performance, identify key areas of responsibility, establish objectives, and encourage learning, accountability, evaluation, and supervisor-student interaction that enhances mutual understanding of the needs of community partners, the members of a team, and the community.

Resource Documents

• Community Service Placment (Powerpoint)
• Strategic Community Partnerships (Powerpoint)
• Community Partnerships Implementation Guide