A survey of 100 urban universities across America revealed that the overwhelming majority offer community-engaged coursework and have centralized offices dedicated to partnerships with their communities.
According to research by Thriving Cities Lab at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia, 90 percent of schools sampled offer community-engaged coursework for students and 95 percent have central offices that work intentionally on community collaborations.
Additionally, 69 percent had dedicated funding for faculty and student community-based research while the importance of community service was articulated by 68 percent of the institutions’ presidents, 74 percent of the institutions’ mission statements and 95 percent of their strategic plans.
“This is a long-term movement that has been trending in this direction and evolving as a field of practice,” said the project’s lead researcher and report co-author, Dr. Josh Yates. “Over the past three decades, urban university-community partnerships have moved from dispersed and provisional ad hoc relationships to intentional and systematic institutional commitments. It’s not just a good thing, it’s a vital thing.”
The study comes at a time when institutions of higher education are facing heightened public scrutiny and some skepticism about the value of a college degree amidst high student loan debt and scandals around admissions practices and other issues.
“Given the rise of public concern over inequality and of public cynicism about public institutions, the degree to which we see universities actively institutionalizing a commitment to community partnership across their executive, curricular, and research functions is encouraging,” said Yates. “It’s a story that needs to be told and that the public needs to hear.”
Michaela Accardi, a former research program officer at Thriving Cities Group – a nonprofit partner of the lab – co-authored the report, and a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation supported the field guide.
