Download Collective Impact Requires

Building on the Opportunities
Created by the Irish Charter
Barbara Holland
June 2014
The Irish Charter for
Civic and Community Engagement
• An action of national and global importance!
• The fates of the economy, our communities,
and our educational institutions are deeply
intertwined
• HEIs must rapidly adapt to profound changes
in approaches to research, teaching and
learning
• Partnerships between HEIs and communities
will help both adapt and progress successfully!
My Advice to Presidents!
• Community Engagement is a method of teaching,
learning and research; not a form of service
• As a method, it can be recognized and assessed
as a form of teaching, learning and research.
Invest in staff development
• CE requires infrastructure and resources to
manage logistical aspects
• They need to integrate CE expectations into
hiring, rewards, recognition; create rewards for
partners
The Engagement Advantage
• Community Engagement is increasingly seen
as a:
– Valuable tool for institutional development and
progress
– A way to attract & retain students and new faculty
& staff
– A way to renew mission and internal campus spirit
– A way to create a vibrant campus and community
relationship
– A way to transform student understanding of the
value of their education
From the Margin to the Core
Community Engagement Strategies–
Partnerships for teaching, learning and research
are proving to be a powerful response to current
change trends in higher education
And
A powerful response to local and global
challenges and opportunities.
Community Engagement must be part of
every institution’s response to current trends
and challenges.
Engagement is more strategically important
and relevant than ever.
Success depends on the strength of
alignment between institutional goals and
the focus of community engaged actions.
Trends in Engagement
• Focus on a few “Big Questions” - local, state, national
or int’l
– Move the needle; create real change
• Integrate engaged teaching and research
• International Engagement
– Engaged global experiences (local/int’l) for students and
faculty, linked to learning & research
– Targeted, long term comprehensive partnership with
specific HEIs/regions
• Enhance community voice and influence
• All supported by Monitoring & Measuring activity and
impacts
Promising Strategies
• Connect community engaged teaching/learning to
specific student outcomes/goals
• Identify 1-2 key community issues, and 1-2 specific
learning objectives
• Convene internal/external voices to develop themed
actions and strategies for engaged teaching and research
– This creates a framework for
• measuring ouputs and outcomes (descriptive and analytical)
• Publishing/ celebrating impacts/outcomes
• Raising funds to sustain/expand work
• Recruit and hire new staff with expectations of engaged
scholarship
Increasing Impact
• Are we ready to commit to this agenda as a core
strategic goal and intellectual value of our institution as
a whole?
• Challenge our students –
– Stretch them to become change makers
– Strive to engaged the unengaged students
• Deepen partner involvement
– Involve partners authentically from design to eval
– Measure partner perspective on impacts, cost/benefit
• Are we “visiting”communities? Or working at their side
to create real impacts and sustained change?
Defining
Community
CCPH board of directors, 2005
Defining “community” in community-HEI
partnerships is more about the process of asking
questions than about a strict definition of who
“is” community or “represents” community:
 Are those most affected by the topic or issue
being addressed at the table?
 Are those who have a stake in the topic or issue
being addressed at the table?
 Do they play decision making roles?
The Centrality of Partnerships
The essence of Community Engagement is
interacting with “others” outside the academy
with an intent that our interactions are of
mutual benefit:
– Better teaching, learning, research outcomes
– Greater community capacity and improved quality
of life; better community outcomes
The Centrality of Partnerships
If partnerships are so important to quality
engagement, are we doing all we should to:
– Recruit and orient partners that fit our goals for
exchange of knowledge
– Involve partners in goal setting, activity design,
expected benefits, assessment
– Use participatory research methods as appropriate
– Recognize partner role and contribution
– Monitor cost-benefit to partner
– Gather feedback regarding satisfaction/improvement
What one or two factors do you
see as being most important to
building authentic, mutually
beneficial partnerships between a
higher education institution and a
community person or entity??
Collective Impact
• Much of community engagement work is
driven by individuals or specific projects
• Large-scale social change requires
collaboration
• Monitoring & measuring increases our ability
to connect related or complementary projects
• To increase the results of CE, we need to seek
opportunities for COLLECTIVE work and thus
collective IMPACT
What is Collective Impact?
The commitment of a group of important actors
from different sectors or organizations to a
common agenda for solving a specific problem.
Collective impact is different from collaboration!
Collective impact requires a structured process
and leadership that binds all participants to
work together on a complex issue.
(Kania & Kramer, 2011)
Collective Impact Requires
• Common Agenda – Shared view of:
– The problem – Change goal – The Joint approach
• Shared Measurement – consistent data
ensures efforts remain aligned/accountable
• Mutually Reinforcing Activities – Different but
complementary through a shared action plan
• Continuous Communication
• Backbone support – Dedicated infrastructure
(Hanleybrown, Kania, Kramer, 2012)
Partnerships are Contextual
Are you partnering with:
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Education
Government
Business/industry
Non-governmental/community-based organizations
Neighborhoods or individuals
Local, remote, international
Formal organizations or informal groups/coalitions
Large, medium, small
Mature? Or recently formed?
See Sockett’s “Typology of Partnerships” (1998)
Sockett’s Partnership Types
• Service relationship – fixed time, fixed task
• Exchange relationship – exchange info, get access for
mutual benefit, specific project
• Cooperative relationship – joint planning and shared
responsibilities, long-term, multiple projects
• System and Transformative relationship – shared
decision-making/operations/evaluation intended to
transform each organization
Hugh Sockett, 1998
Democratic Partnerships
•
•
•
•
Asset –based
Relational and contextual
Co-creation of knowledge
Academic institution as ‘part of the landscape’ of
community problem solving rather than exerting
primacy of academic knowledge
• Multidirectional flow of knowledge
• Evidence of community benefit from the work
Jameson, J., Clayton, P., & Jaeger, A. 2010
Current Core Challenges?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Curse of the advisory committee model
Power distribution
Cultural competence
Language differences
Resource distribution
Evaluation strategies and their uses
Commitment: individual/institutional
Leadership challenges: transitions, renewal, longevity
Visibility of the work: internal and external
Policy barriers: internal and external
HEI/Community Partnerships
Program
Modification
Summative
Assessment
Program
Evolution
Institutional
Capacity,
Goals and
Interests
Learning &
Planning
Community Capacity,
Goals and Interests
Assessment
Feedback Loop
Shared
Agenda
Capacity
Building
Project
Proposals
Funding
Secured
Project
Implementation
Barbara A. Holland
2003
Learning is the Connection
Learning:
– About each other’s capacity and limitations
– About each other’s goals, culture, expectations
– To develop students as active citizens
– To exchange expertise, ideas, fears, concerns
– To share control and direction
– To adapt based on evaluation and documentation
– To experiment; to fail; to try again – To Trust!
Today is Tomorrow
The work we do today to deepen partnerships
across education and community sectors is the
foundation that will support a growing variety of
collaborative endeavours.
All will benefit from understanding that
knowledge, innovation and progress are the
products of collective action in a context of
equity and respect for all sources of wisdom.
Research on Partner Motivations
• “Our common ground is a profound commitment to
students”
– Partners want to understand the learning goals for students
– They also want to help students understand how their organization
works – culture and context; and
– Help students understand how communities work
• Deep understanding of academic institution’s goals
• Partners value the relationship with the institution
but also with specific people
• Hope for access to additional services
Sandy and Holland, 2006
Partner-Reported Benefits
• Interactions with students and staff improve
processes and outcomes
• Enhanced organizational capacity
• Students inspire and energize other workers;
fresh energy and new ideas
• Access to academic expertise
• Leverage financial and human resources
• Identify future employees
• Build new networks
Sandy and Holland, 2006
Partner Ideas for Improvement
• Partnerships are personal relationships; meetings
are valued
• Partners want direct involvement in planning and
goal-setting
• Offer recognition and celebration of our role
• Concern about “fairness”…who gets to be a
partner – how are choices made?
• Hours are a meaningless measure
• Partners want some involvement in evaluation
and feedback
• Drink more coffee!
Sandy and Holland, 2006