Network Leadership Meeting, University of La Verne
July 16-17, 2014
Keynote Address: (video recording available)
“Crossing Campus and Community Engagement Borders Through Building Sustainable
and Democratic Partnerships”
José Z. Calderón, Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Chicano/a-Latino/a Studies, Pitzer
College
Table discussions post-keynote:
•What are the implications of the issues explored by Professor Calderon for our
work building partnerships as a national network?
•What specific challenges and opportunities does the diversity context create for K12 and college access partnerships?
•As we think about the impact of civic engagement and community partnerships on
student success, how should we take diversity into account?
In light of our shared priorities, against a backdrop of deep diversity:
•Who are essential partners for our state and regional Campus Compacts?
•What strategies will we pursue to engage our partners and build shared initiatives?
•What will be our first steps as we return to our local settings?
Full group report out from tables (See appendix for detail)
 Democratic excellences
 Move to low comfort, high impact
 Demonstrate impact
 CC national convenings
 Focus on how to develop partnerships
 What tables are already set where we should be? Where/who should we
convene?
 Knowing what partnerships are there—history
 Canvass to prevent duplications
 Focus on deliverables
 Seek partnerships who share our vision (accrediting bodies)
 Diversity in campus leadership and in our network
 NY: regents, state DOE, consortia of higher ed
 MA: neighborhood partnership convene/catalyze collaboration to facilitate
community development
 Stop trying to be everything to everyone. Develop a toolkit of best practices
that people can use like menu to solve specific issues in their individual
states/institutions/campuses. Develop useful tools that incorporate all these
words like empowerment, purpose, impact, active….
CAMPUS COMPACT STRATEGIC PRIORITIES BREAKOUT
Improve College Access and Retention:
What is the distinctive contribution CC can make in this area? How can we articulate
the rationale for CC as a contributor/partner on this issue?
 Linking CE to best practice in teaching
 Make sure CC’s mission is central—we bring the engagement/civic work
frame—“Access and Success Through Engaged Experience”
 We are higher education—that’s what we bring. Faculty, CSD, president
connections
 We are a connector/bridge
 Focus on redefining and democratizing definitions of excellence and rigor
(accepting different kinds of academic writing beyond white structures)
 Link our beliefs/values to this issue—develop a belief statement about what
we stand for in this priority area
 Ground/locate this in the public purpose and responsibility of colleges in
addressing this challenge
How can our whole network—national office, state compacts, member institutions,
work collaboratively to support and advance work in this area?
 Gather knowledge to guide implementation and sustainability from C2C and
other models
 Connect locally and nationally with college access/success networks as a
VOICE FOR CE STRATEGY in the work
 Pair college positive volunteerism and C2C (access + success)
Establish Meaningful, Reciprocal Community Partnerships:
What is the distinctive contribution CCC can make in this area? How can we
articulate the rationale for CC as a contributor/partner on this issue?
 Building a reflective, empowering space for work; democratic culture
 Anchor institutions
 Asset mapping at the state level
 Communicate with a language based on values (assets)
 Collectively talking across all different institution types
 Bridge for influencing future leaders—citizen alumni
 History of expertise—we have models/research we can share what we have
learned over the years—go back to nuts and bolts—we have been there since
the beginning
 Coordinated effort to help others bring these issues to the forefront of their
work
 We can make higher education more valuable/relevant (tear down ivory
towers) by intentionally including partners
 Open doors/front door to higher education structure; knowledge of how to
navigate
 Be strategic; streamline and focus on successful measures of achievement
 Parnterships through education spanning P-20
How can our whole network—national office, state compacts, member
institutions, work collaboratively to support and advance work in this area?
 Begin a process to audit TYPES of partnerships; what are measures of
success and strategies to begin partnerships, how are they resourced?
 Asset mapping at the state level
 Deliberately discuss partnerships with others for potential collaboration;
how do we partner
 Convene the partners
 Bring teams of partners to events
 Solve data issues that many are trying to collect/help with process
 Better communicate the intention of the heart of our work
 Deepen national partnerships with others and advance LANGUAGE being
used (CNCS)
 Help people harness energy to move the field and become part of the
work
 Reach out to people who have been involved over the years—
 Bring this work to presidential leaders through developmental programs
(or CAOS, etc)
 Political agenda/presence in DC—we are the org to push advocacy
 Share the vocab—help others understand
o Roles: National, State, Campuses; audit of plans, resources, culture
of shared practice
Enhance College Readiness in K12
We are at a critical tiem for CC: need to demonstrate our impact
 Intentionalizing a national focus: series of collective projects that we can
measure impact through community engagement project—we got X to
graduate/increase reading level
 Invest in completing the reporting out of data we have already collected—
theory of change, strategic plan, C2C
 Identify who are our allies, our desired partners, etc. How to get Andrew at
the tables where conversations are taking place with funders, thought
leaders,, etc.
 Assessment of our collective impact/common indicators
 Report out in language others understand
Reflection piece: what are we sharing about our time at the NLM and what are we
taking back
 Assessment is essential
 Clarity around benefits of membership (state/value of national network)
 Celebratory but manage expectations in message
 Keynote theme focused on advocacy; keynote theme focused on engagement
of students; keynote theme focused on cultivating leaders in our work
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Engaged learning is transformational!—keynote
We took time to think/spent time thinking together
Considered issues of diversity and engagement
Modeled experiential learning/site visits
Org is at a critical, hopeful time
Quality of partnerships is key
We need to be clear about our values and build values-based/driven
partnerships
MEETING OF STATE DIRECTORS AND NATIONAL STAFF
July 15-16, 2014
Plan and committee overview
o Committee charter review (see network only)
o MAC: focus on network meeting planning; hand out for framing ideas for
MAC consideration (see network only)
o NOC: focus on minimum standards (info to be distributed via listserv soon)
Cutting Edge programs
o Pen to Paper
o Asset-based Community Engagement in Higher Education
o Diving Deep in Community Engagement publication
Handouts available
--discussion around alignment of content (i.e. Diving Deep/Diving In pre-cons
for all regions)
Anarchy to Anthology
o Collection of state activities, grouped
Annual Update Process
o Overview of process (see Standards Overview on network only)
o Minimum standards will be online
o Will receive a link and instructions at the end of July when it will be live;
due September 1
o States provided feedback on areas of anticipated support/questions for
Network Operations Committee
Best Practice Showcase
o Discussion focused on best practices/innovation among members and how
we best share that work
Assessment
o Resources for the upcoming year: second edition of Campus Compact
assessment book, annotated bibliography of assessment tools (developed as
part of the engaged campus group work)
o Annual survey update: October implementation (see Network Only for
timeline and resources)
APPENDIX: TABLE DETAIL
Table 2: Question 1
 Keynote: this is not the work that colleges/univ. like to take on
 Don’t feel comfortable with activitst work
 Continuum of service
 High comfort (volunteer)—low comfort (social policy/activism)
 How do we move from high comfort to low comfort
 Think about historic relationship betwn higher ed and communities of
color—how does it become a partnership? Long term relationship with
faculty is key to sustainability
Table 2: Question 2
 Specific challenges/opps for K12/Access conversation
 Community engagement seems to have bigger impact on students of color
(retention)
 ORCC uses language of racial justice and equity
 SL doesn’t work for students of color—equate it to punitive service
 “this is for everyone” leaves out communities of color
 Need to build capacity between faculty and community—faculty go home at
night.
 Long term vs. drop in and drop out
Q3
 1/3 of legislators in OH have college degrees. How do we sell value of
higher ed to them?
 K12 is common ground for connecting with community, legislators
 Concordia Univ. School of Ed is in local K12 schools raising capital
campaign money for K12 school of college of Ed—presidential leadership
driving this
 How do we use changing demographic to our advantage—influence P&T
 Relationships/transitions—challenges to sustaining work
 Engage middle leadership on campuses
 Create a faculty mentoring network across the country
 Encourage campuses to work with multi-cultural centers on campus.
 Silos don’t work. How can we fix this.
Q4
 Essential partners—state commission, DOE, higher ed groups, legislators,
accrediting agencies
 Rebuild relationships with ECS—how influential are they?
 AGB—Association of Governing Boards
 Engage CIRCLE
Table 4
Q1:
 Advocacy—professor= possible administrators=difficult due to local politics
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Q2
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How do we reach out to partners to be allies
Different message for different audiences—social justice, business
community
Campus Compact needs to sopt trying to be all things to all people
Impact matters
Opportunity = toolkit-reflective of diversity approaches to generate access,
approach=based on core values/beliefs
Second tier is getting to students who could be successful if identified and
supported for college courses
Challenges = high standards, transporation, not enough teachers for dual
enrollment programs, lack of diverse faculty, need for faculty training to
relate to diverse students
Some colleges not ready for diversity
Identify community leaders who can be advocates/stand with higher ed
leaders
How do we get the sciences/all disciplines to embrace social justice/diversity
principles? Make the case with data
Partners:
o DOE
o Education alliance
o Career tech/votec training
o Governors council on workforce development
o Nonprofits
o Local com networks/alliances
o State legislative mayors, governors
o National league of ciites
o Foundation networks
o Partnerships depend on focus/priorities = what are we trying to do
o Find out state priorities and use language that is relevant to
workforce development
o State volunteer commissions, CNCS state office
o Media
o Corporate community
Strategies:
o Prioritize based in data
o Cultivating communication
o Listen better, less talk
o Impacts!
o May not need new initiatives, focus on deepening existing work
o Tie education/student engagement to priorities
o Align with accrediting bodies
Create partnerships based on specific sets of deliverables
Canvass current practices to avoid duplication
Seek credible partners who share our vision
Table 5:
Q1:
o Connections between CC and national networks
o Keynote examples were localized
o Do good intentions lead to lasting change? How do we go beyond the
academic exercise? Social action agenda, real engagement
o Can we use state offices to build relationships between state campuses for
issue exploration and action (i.e. MI students concerned about youth refugee
issue)
o Look at concrete advocacy opportunities that relate to ur mission and work,
eg. All students register to vote when they register for school
o CC as boots on the ground for crucible moment
o Passing on the legacy from one generation to another
o Data collection
o Diversity education: find somewhere to dig deep, internal to CC and with
other networks, partners
o Who is going to lead the discussion? Intellectual activism—don’t allow
reverse programs
o Change from services only pathway to allowing for exposing multiple
pathways to engaged citizenship
o MNCC social change wheel as example
o Information v. assumption—let students discover and teach us
Q2
o Parnertship opps with K12—true and deep
o College board, similar question, point of redefining
o K12 college access, some states are close with CANS others not
o CC has been reactive; need to be proactive
o Fixation by DOE on K12
o Unions as partners/allies
o CAN goal of 60% by 2025, depends on campus engagement for success,
retention and completion
Q3
o Civic engagement and community partnerships are an element of diversity
o Throw over from charity model—those who have, serve
o Opp for a new model for comm. Colleges
o Building empathy first doesn’t work for people who have lived there all their
lieves
o Cultural humility
o Distance mentoring as a model to promote information sharing
o Recognize all sources of knowledge—community educators
o Community partners can be individuals, not always just nonprofits
o Corporations who are paying attention to common issues? How do we
engage them as partners?
o One big thing: real commitment on the part of CC—big picture of social
change; defined partnership with K12
Q4 essential partnerships
o College Access Network
o Humanities Council
o Everyday Democracy—Kettering
o College and university Council
o State Associations (public/private, two year, four year)
o College admissions
o Commission on volunteer service
o Student Personnel Association/NASPA
o College student and commission
o Who are partners outside of nonprofit/service partners
o Business/corporate council
o Bd of regents
o Community foundations
Strategies
o Define our niche
o When do we say no, how can we say yes
o Re-engage member institutions beyond activities to bigger picture
o Share info as part of orientation—a list of who is doing what; categorize and
share so we can strategize our approaches
Table 6
o We need a research-based approach—takes us from bleeding hearts,
provides validity
o Tackle policy issues
o Partner with groups who provide leverage (rotary)
o Organize around values and mission—imagining America, democracy
commitment
o Creating a shared meaning
o How does CC lead the conversation: extend the invitation to partners, play
the role of neutral convener, provide the space to hash out the shared agenda
o We need to ensure all students (international students) understand
democratic engagement and practice
o Different agendas—some feel they are beyond diversity, need to view the
world from different perspectives (economic)
o Cultivating empathy (CE as proven pedagogy for this)
Essential partners
o AACU (leap initiative)
o K12, AASCU
o Regional reserves and regional HUDs
o Rotary
o Govt—all levels
o United Way
o YMCA
o Stem Ed
o Churches
o Cities of service
o Hands on Network Leader orgs together for a think tank led by CC
o Idea of team approach within cities
Strategies
o Action plan
o Convene meetings around important questions
o Identify need—issue based
o Find successes
o Tackle low hanging fruit
Table 7
Q1
o How do we re-engage state directors with national office and vice versa?
o How do we deal with absence of funding
o Distribution network is our great asset
o Championing local efforts and connecting with national narrative
o Connect with student outcomes and HIP focus
o Increase outcomes
Q2
o Pay attention to faculty demographics/diversity
o Claude Steel—your identity affects your performance
o Can we be intentional about our partners
o How can we get more students involved in this work
o Importance of cost and finance to higher ed
o How can we link achievement and diversity