Albion College’s Community Collaborative (AC3) is featured in this Inside Higher Ed column by Vicki L. Baker titled “Reimagining Community Engagement for a Post-COVID World.” The article “offers four lessons that colleges should consider in developing these partnerships and programs.”
“Higher education was forced to face the uncertainties of the pandemic’s wrath in 2020. For many academics, that meant rethinking their approaches to teaching and learning, as well as how key campus and community partners contribute to those processes. The pandemic also drove the creation of programs geared toward re-emphasizing higher education’s civic engagement efforts.
“While the notion of community engagement is not novel, evolving approaches to community engagement are now more necessary than ever as we look toward a post-pandemic higher education. We must reimagine how such college and community partnerships can progress to meet the changing needs of our institutions and the communities in which they are situated.
“At Albion College, the Albion College Community Collaborative (AC3) looks to encourage that evolution in community engagement. AC3 offers high-impact learning opportunities open to all Albion College students and faculty as it seeks to contribute to solving unscripted, real-world problems in service to our local and surrounding communities. Other notable organizations and programs that advance this commitment to public purpose include Campus Compact, a national coalition of higher education institutions committed to public purpose and building democracy, and the Bonner Scholars Program, which can be found at institutions across the country.”
Read the full article and the four lessons here.