Building Community

from the Ivory Tower to City Hall

Kris CortezAndrew Baalerud

Ryan JacksonGrand Valley State University

Join the conversation

The Current Environment

Sunnyvale University and Ambleside are fundamentally linked.

The University and students have a direct connection within Ambleside.

Extensive events such as the Sestercentennial present a significant management issue.

An empowered leadership team is necessary to address concerns from all stakeholders.

Set a foundationIn order to accomplishing the prevailing mission of

building improved relationships between the university and town a designated leadership team needs the latitude to have conversations and present collaborative plans to both governing boards.

The committee should be comprised a diverse set of professionals and students to generate robust and comprehensive recommendations.

To impart a collaborative atmosphere from the start, it is our recommendation that the respective communities designate appropriate representatives to meet the committee purpose.

We encourage the integration of both university and high school students. They can provide insight regarding educational initiatives and build a sense greater community at an earlier stage.

Community Engagement Committee

(The CEC)

• Purpose: o Foster communication between the town and campus communities.o Provide vision and guidance for initiatives that will promote improved

relations.o Create opportunities for stakeholders to generate opportunities for

town & gown collaboration.

• Objectives:o Develop a 5 and 10 year strategic plan incorporating practices and

strategies presented by stakeholders and community relation experts.o The CEC should consider immediate programming that supports

student develop as well as large partnerships that will enhance both communities and promote long-term collaboration.

• Central to the environment and experience that Sunnyvale is interested in promoting is opportunities for students to engage in experiential learning.

• Kolb’s(1984) theory represents an established model by which community partners and educators can promote a more robust educational opportunity and encourage students to make-meaning

Experiential Learning

Concrete Experience

Reflective Observation

Abstract Conceptualizatio

n

Active Experimentation

By creating rich experiences students have the opportunity to create meaningful relationships associated with Ambleside partners. These relationships will help foster a stronger civic connection and build a sense a value and ownership within the greater community.

A common experience

“Operation Fall Back”The university recognizes the disruption from the increased student presence within the Ambleside community. As a proactive measure, a community watch organization partnered with public safety would provide additional resources to educate students and moderate their impact.

• The university can dedicate additional public safety resources during events and to locations where increased student activity is anticipated.

• Establish a volunteer community liaison organization that can provide a direct line of communication between students and their neighborhood community members.o Similar to the Johns Hopkins University, volunteers inform students of developing

issues or complaints empowering students to address concerns before public safety intervenes.

• Designate a public safety liaison who will report town & gown related incidents to the community engagement committee.o Provide an assessment tool regarding the effectiveness of town & gown targeted

programing.

Explore your community

• Seminars partnered with career services and residence life can provide a forum for community members to share their stories/experience with students.

• Topics include relationship to the university, decision to remain in Ambleside, their vision for the community, and opportunities for students to connect.

• Additionally these seminars provide public safety an educational program that provides a face to the community affected by student disruptions.

• As overall program matures, students will have the opportunity to speak on their experience and the meaning-making.

Amble through Ambleside

• The Office of Orientation will utilize the social media app, SCVNGR (www.scvngr.com), to promote better knowledge and utilization of the greater community

• During New Student Orientation, incoming freshmen will be divided into teams based on their residence hall floors. Each participating student will download the app and follow the supplied instructions.

• The app will direct each team to various hotspots around the community. The team members will be asked to complete various challenges that will introduce them to community leaders, local cuisine, and the history of the town.

• The team to complete the most challenges within the allotted time will win a prize. The prize will be an assortment of gift certificates to local businesses, further encouraging engagement in the community.

Giving Back Day• The Community Engagement Committee will sponsor an

annual volunteer opportunity for Sunnyvale students that will directly benefit the greater community.

• Giving Back Day will allow for community leaders and local non-profits to create YouTube videos sharing their story and promote their projects and causes. Students will then vote on which cause they would like to support. The top vote getters will receive student support.

• The Community Learning & Engagement committee will work with local businesses to post videos highlighting local businesses and landmarks. These videos will be kept together on a “Get in engaged in Ambleside” page.

• Students will be encouraged and rewarded for posting their own videos about interacting with the Ambleside community.

StoryYour

YourStory• A powerful tool many programs may utilize is the linear storytelling

strategy of YouTube. This media content is ideal for personalizing an experience and conveying a content rich message.

• Within “Explore your community” and “Amble through Ambleside” students and citizens can creatively share the stories of how they are interacting/living within the community.

• As the university develops service and civic-learning opportunities, students can use this portal to share their reflections, and create meaning out of their experience and newly formed relationships.

• Additionally, both the town and university can capture partnerships and promote a healthy living and learning environment founded on collaborative ventures.

• The university can promote this community-academic message with direct presence on the homepage and many general social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Foursquare Amblin’• Utilizing the social media app, FOURSQUARE, (

www.foursquare.com) Sunnyvale will encourage students to engage with local businesses and landmarks.

• Featuring less frequented landmarks and businesses of Ambleside, foursquare will promote increased student connections within the community while also continuing to stimulate local businesses.

• The CEC can sponsor a “Who’s the Mayor?” competition encouraging students to regularly check-in at municipal events or landmarks. The student who can successfully become the “mayor” of the most locations in the greater community will win a prize pack of gift certificates from local businesses.

• Locations on campus will also be registered onto FOURSQUARE. This will allow the greater community to become more informed about what services are offered by the campus.

International Town & Gown

Platform

• Short Term:o Webinars to educate and introduce Community Engagement

Committee to Town and Gown initiatives and best practices.o Encourage community and university members to join the professional

organization and cultivate a network of knowledge and expertise.o Implement small scale conference initiatives with regional institutions

and community experts , to discuss sustainable town and gown practices.

• Long term:o Sunnyvale will eventually host ITGA to promote linking campus climate

with outside community.o “The conference will provide three primary tracks, each focused around

issues critical to fostering reasonable expectations: create, collaborate and communicate. Plenary sessions will highlight the interplay between these three areas and the power and promise of collaboration within vibrant town-gown communities. (International Town and Gown Association, 2013)

The 3 C’s of the ITGA Conference

• Createo The create track provides training to help integrate Town and Gown

Relationships into the academic curricula and university mission, vision and values.

• Collaborateo This track can help Sunnyvale learn to build better connections with the

local community in terms of internship and networking with local business leaders.

o Build relationships with regional higher education institutions to insource and outsource new opportunities.

• Communicateo Sunnyvale will focus on this track to help continue promoting Town and

Gown Relations through social media and conducting collaborative meetings with Ambleside community representatives.

o Sunnyvale will also have the opportunity to showcase their social media initiatives to help attract prospective students to the academic programs.

Join the conversation• The Town & Gown Conference presents an

excellent opportunity for university and town to extend the conversation beyond the physical conference and event through ongoing Google+ Hangouts.

• Through Hangouts Sunnyvale and Ambleside can continue to invite experts to engage in conversations on specific topics with a large virtual audience.

• This media permits live streaming of many events sponsored by thecommunity, promoting increased access to knowledge and current best practices.

Community Learning & Engagement

Center

• A central hub providing resources and opportunities to connect the students to the greater community.

• Programs will focus on supporting service-learning and civic engagement learning outcomes.o Students will be able to apply curriculum in real world settings and reflect

on new experiences (Kuh, 2012).

• Provide a space for community members to engage and network with students and citizens in collaborative projecto Collaborative projects will align with LEAP goals promoting learning to solve

problems in the company of others and listening to others particularly of different backgrounds (Kuh, 2012).

• The AACU specifically addresses the concept that giving something back to the community is an important college learning outcome and will develop civic and professional skills.

Academic Integration• The members of the Community Engagement Committee will

pursue the Town and Gown certification through the International Town and Gown Association (ITGA) to help educate peers and create effective strategic planning.o The certification and formal learning process can act as supplement to

drive Sunnyvale’s long-term goal of integrating service learning and community-building into the academic curriculum.

• The creation or modification of Public Administration undergraduate and graduate programs can help facilitate this initiative such as the University of Clemson’s Master’s of Public Administration with an emphasis on Town-Gown Relations (http://www.grad.clemson.edu/mpa/). o This will help foster faculty, graduate and undergraduate collaboration

initiatives.o Develop research opportunities for undergraduate students as a High

Impact Practice.

• A Town and Gown program presents the opportunity to promote increased interdisciplinary work integrating work from public administration to geographic information systems

Sustainable Living• The Community Engagement Committee is tasked

with exploring the alignment of university and town strategic plans beyond 10 years.o Open conversations on goals and projections will assist leaders

in creating cooperative plans that continue to acknowledge the needs and goals of respective communities.

o Associated goals can be unified towards projects that serve all community members such as municipal academic building and centers, business ventures and co-ops, or open space planning.

• A collaborative environment provides the medium for new academic partnerships, stronger community identity, and successful enduring projects.

Let’s talkThe rationale for the Sunnyvale and Ambleside Town and Gown

Relation initiatives are primarily grounded in Leap Goals and experiential learning. Theory was put to practice by incorporating modern social media such as Foursquare, expertise in Town and Gown Relations and international conferences to help promote sustainability and effective student development.

The short-term goals such as “Operation Fallback” and initial use of Foursquare were implemented to confront the negative image of the university within the community and promote a quick, yet effective means of addressing the disturbances in the community. The University of Clemson helped mold many of the initiatives because of their large role in developing and promoting the ITGA Conference and creating other sustainable Town and Gown Relation programs.

The proposals for Sunnyvale and Ambleside represent programs that have been implemented at other institutions as well as new, assessable programs molded to meet the needs of this community.

References• Alexander, W. A. (1999). Student involvement: A developmental theory

for higher education. Journal of College Student Development, 40(5), 518-518.

• Baxter Magolda, M. B. (2004). Making their own way: Narratives for transforming higher education to promote self-development. Sterling, VA: Stylus.

• International Town and Gown Association. (2013, February 13). ITGA Call for Conference Papers. Retrieved from www.itgau.org.

• Kuh, G. (2008).   High-impact education practices: What they are, who has access to them, and why they matter.  Washington, DC: AAC&U.

• Kolb, D.A. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as a source of learning and development. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

• Seidman, A. (2005). Minority student retention: Resources for practitioners. New Directions for Institutional Research, 125, 7-24. doi: 10.1002/ir.136

• Super, D. E. (1980). A life-span, life-space approach to career development. Journal of Vocational Behavior 16(3), 282-298.