Community-university partnerships are a critical vehicle for promoting sustainability, and the partnerships themselves can be sustained by ensuring that participants achieve mutual benefits in terms of their respective goals and missions. Although the literature emphasizes mutuality and reciprocity, fewer studies investigate community partners'…

This playbook provides ways in which Governors and teams can blur the lines between high school, postsecondary education, and the workforce. Governors play a significant role to Raise the Bar for student success by developing an "education-to-workforce system" that focuses on Unlocking Career Success.

Mental health challenges for youth continue to be a growing concern. Youth-serving organizations have the potential to play a significant role in recognizing the signs and symptoms of mental health challenges in youth. The Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA) training course is widely used to equip adults working with youth with skills to support…

Child- and family-serving programs in community-based settings wield tremendous power for improving the lives of infants and toddlers. In this article, three authors, from Ohio, Montana, and Sierra Leone, describe the principles of adaptive leadership and will share their real-world applications. Their stories explore critical questions for…

Community coalitions play an important role in community-wide strategies to promote health and wellbeing, and Extension professionals may provide leadership, technical assistance, and other support to coalitions. Extension professionals across a Midwestern state were invited to participate in an online survey about their coalition involvement and…

The nation's 1,200 community colleges are well positioned to strengthen the workforce of one of America's most critical sectors--health care. They can provide training and credentialing for incumbent workers in health care and to prepare new workers to succeed in and meet the workforce demands for this sector--expanding individual opportunity and…

Nature education is an important part of early childhood education. As young children develop, the natural world offers concrete and authentic learning experiences. Activities focused on nature support learning in all developmental domains. Children develop physically through hiking in natural terrain, climbing hills and trees, balancing on logs,…

The recent appointment of a new superintendent, the need for priority-setting in the face of dramatic state budget cuts, and increased national attention on school reform have elevated the performance of the Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) to the forefront of local media and civic attention. Consequently, the need for an understandable and commonly…

Spurred both by fiscal realities and momentum from the U.S. Department of Education's agenda for school improvement, local and state education leaders are moving forcefully and quickly to make big changes to districts and schools that have long struggled with low test scores and graduation rates. In Kansas City, Missouri, the school board voted…

Residents of East Cleveland are fighting to improve the quality of public education and access to vocational opportunities. "White flight" (Frey, 1979, p. 425), economic disinvestment, and ineffective political leadership have led to the disadvantages faced by East Cleveland (Kathi & Cooper, 2005). Nearly 1,200 vacant structures…

A community school is a place and a set of partnerships connecting a school, the families of students, and the surrounding community. A community school is distinguished by an integrated focus on academics, youth development, family support, health and social services, and community development. The community school strategy is central to efforts…

This study of one neighborhood stabilization effort is based on interviews with 312 residents of an Akron (Ohio) neighborhood which changed from 11 percent to 57 percent black in the past decade. The results of the survey of residents' concerns in this racially changing neighborhood confirmed Hunter's theory that organizations (in this case, The…

Local genealogical societies and libraries have a common interest in providing genealogical researchers with materials and expert assistance. Societies and libraries can cooperate to meet genealogists' needs in several ways: (1) collection development, access, and creation; (2) indirect reference service (societies as a referral resource; (3)…

A number of items used in the Ohio Right to Read program or prepared by the program staff are collected in this document. One item describes the task definitions of state commission members, the state director, the state consultants, and the school district directors. The goals of the state training conference to prepare school district resource…

Examines the scope of volunteer efforts in Coldwater, Ohio, a small rural community of approximately 4,400 people. Describes how diverse volunteer organizations developed to address community needs and their impact on community improvement, local activities, and area schools. (LP)