In response to continued calls for research centering community perspectives in service-learning and community engagement, this mixed-methods article examines the experiences of community fellows who were a part of a university service-learning development program. The purpose of the program was to train faculty and community partners in…

This research study aims to validate the typology of process variables salient in service-learning projects proposed by Snell and Lau (2022) with empirical evidence. The study employed a qualitative approach by interviewing partner organization representatives (PORs) from 11 local and two international community partner organizations (CPOs), which…

Civic engagement has become an important part of the educational landscape at institutions of higher education in the United States. The development of mutually-beneficial community-university partnerships has become a common interest for practitioners and researchers as the rise in civic engagement across higher education has grown. Institutions…

This article considers contested conceptions of community and trajectories toward full participation in research-practice partnerships (RPPs) as key analytical aspects for studying a productive politics of participation. RPPs, as methodology and infrastructure for community participation, frequently surface the character of participation in…

The COVID-19 pandemic set higher education institutions on an unprecedented path requiring of them to identify alternative strategies and implement various initiatives to sustain their academic projects. With the widespread devastation of the pandemic, the purpose of universities within their communities were again in the spotlight. A sensibility…

Universities recognize they have a civic responsibility to engage and enrich the community in which they reside. This study looks at a community engagement project undertaken at one university that was intended to address significant recreational needs within the community while also furthering academic initiatives. As part of the appeal to…

Greater Hazelwood, a neighborhood located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, saw a decline in residents, businesses, and services at the steel industry's decline. Residents, philanthropic organizations, advocates, health centers, schools, universities, and community-based organizations continue collaborating to revitalize the Greater Hazelwood…

Purpose: This paper aims to examine the broad concept of university-community partnerships as it applies to creating sustainability initiatives. The benefits of university-community partnerships are increasingly recognized, and this paper offers direct insights from community stakeholders on the principles, functions and activities they see as…

As part of a 5-year study to develop and validate an instrument for measuring success in long-standing community-based participatory research (CBPR) partnerships, we utilized the Delphi method with a panel of 16 community and academic CBPR experts to assess face and content validity of the instrument's broad concepts of success and measurement…

This scholarship-to-practice paper examines the importance of engagement among college students and highlights a partnership between two online institutions -- a two-year community college and a university -- dedicated to fostering diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. Guiding this work is the premise that higher education should be…

Community engagement and service-learning programs have become staples in the curricula of colleges across the United States. While the intentions behind many of these programs are altruistic, they can often unwittingly replicate oppressive power dynamics with the communities they seek to serve. This dissertation explored how feminist community…

Background: COVID-19 inevitably affected community-based learning. Though the literature has begun to explore the impact on higher education and community partners, more information is needed about how their partnerships have been operating. Purpose: This study investigated the perspectives of both community partners (n = 145) and higher education…

Drawing upon a long-term partnership between a university and a Title I middle school, we outline relational principles that guided our justiceoriented approach to collaborative research. We conceptualize relational principles as intentional strategies for equitable relationship cultivation and infrastructure development, grounded in the values…

Urban policymakers, city officials, and community residents utilize neighborhood revitalization initiatives to establish safe and empowered neighborhoods. In 2016, leaders in Columbus, Ohio, launched a neighborhood revitalization effort designed to improve safety, access to opportunities, and economic development in the historically underserved…

Service-learning has, arguably, gained significant currency as a pedagogical and engagement mechanism within the broader discourse of universities and their role in community development. However, less emphasis has been placed on the human development dimensions of service--learning for community members, with the focus largely being on students'…