The Mott Foundation has over the years devoted most of its considerable resources to joining together the school and community in the solution of educational problems facing society, but it is only within the last 20 years that it has enlisted the support of colleges and universities. The Mott Institute at Michigan State University focused its first efforts on developing a specialized preparation program for teachers of the disadvantaged. These efforts led to the development of a reading management program, Personalized Approach to Teaching Reading (PATTR), whose emphasis was on differentiated staffing, on enlisting the help of paraprofessionals and volunteers to assist the teacher at the kindergarten level. Further refinements generated the Responsive Autonomy in Cooperative Teaching (REACT) Program, whose purpose was to de-emphasize the somewhat rigid hierarchical roles usually associated with differentiated staffing. Having successfully progressed into the developmental work of these projects, the Institute's staff realized that one primary role had not yet been assumed by the Institute--dissemination. Consequently, the Institute's attention shifted from invention to innovation, from developing programs to implementing programs in real school settings. Future papers will describe these efforts. (Author/JR)