These brief remarks delve into the essence of community as purposeful connection. Through collaborative design interventions, it explores what it means to build relationships within communities in pursuit of environmental justice. The author shares his experiences from two research projects, which offer insights for community-based researchers…

This chapter reflects on how the Michigan Center for Student Success (MCSS) has leveraged its position within a membership organization for community college presidents and trustees to engage in statewide student success efforts in a state with a unique higher education governance structure. With no formal higher education governing body to set…

The Traveling Loom is an example of community-based art therapy in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was designed to foster connections in a city that experienced social, cultural, political, religious, and socioeconomic challenges. The community-based format of The Traveling Loom provided space for interaction amongst community members, thereby helping…

This article reports on four synthesis findings from the Credentials to Careers (C2C) initiative -- a consortium of seven community colleges working to create and implement innovative programs to train or retrain unemployed and displaced workers for STEM, advanced manufacturing and health-care-related careers. These are 1) collaborating with…

Founded on the principles of place-based education, land-based learning collaboratively engages learners and community members in a four-step process of identification, understanding, intervention, and evaluation to enhance the sustainability of community-based agricultural systems. While scholars have provided the philosophical foundation for…

Graduate students newly embarking on community-engaged scholarship often find themselves in a unique context, wherein as students they may enjoy a wealth of opportunities but a dearth of other resources that contribute to quality community-engaged research. This reflective essay explores how three ecological-community psychology doctoral students…

Employing an institutional case study approach, this manuscript features two high-impact learning opportunities open to Albion College students who seek to contribute to solving real-world problems in collaboration with local and surrounding communities: Albion College Community Collaborative (AC3) and Human Rights Lab. The programmatic approach…

Wax, taffy, immigration. Removal, alien, roots, belonging. Screendance. These apparently unrelated words were the inspiration for "Uprooted," a screendance project that addresses issues of immigration through movement and metaphor. Developed with a cast and crew of college students, "Uprooted" became the nucleus for community…

Children need life-affirming and authentic relationships; genuine deeply felt inclusion comes when we share our humanity openly and honestly. This article draws on the research of author Peter W. Cookson Jr., who recently completed a study of success strategies for educating children living in deep poverty. An inclusive school is one where every…

This article traces a community-based participatory action research (CBPAR) project which engaged local non-profits and the immigrant community in Flint, Michigan, USA, to identify areas for growth in support of local immigrant-background residents. Collaborative data-gathering began in 2015 with the creation of a community asset map which…

This case study examines the efforts of the Michigan Agricultural College (Michigan State University, hereafter MAC) to promote agricultural science and agricultural education. It promoted both, simultaneously, by collaborating with farmers' organizations to conduct agricultural education (extension) through, most notably, institutes, bulletins,…

Background: Social community may play a role in how successful undergraduate engineering mentoring programs are in increasing diversity, retention rates, and graduation rates. However, there is minimal research about how mentoring programs influence the development of the social community outcomes of connectedness, satisfaction, social capital,…

Although research shows early intensive behavioral intervention is efficacious when delivered in university or private intervention centers, little is known about effectiveness or feasibility of disseminating early intensive behavioral intervention to larger communities. The Michigan State University Early Learning Institute was developed to…

"Green" jobs that contribute to preserving the environment are among the fastest-growing careers in the U.S., according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. With the rising need for workers to fill these positions, and surging interest among students in environmental careers, community colleges are creating new courses, certifications and…

With enrollment down, competition increasing from company training and university associate degree programs, and people's perceptions of community colleges still lagging the robust reality of what they have to offer. Community colleges need to tell their own stories so that others do not do for them. Community colleges are often a misunderstood,…