Impacting Community Well-Being in Lafayette, Indiana, in the Midst of a Pandemic

For the past five years, Dr. Jason Ware has centered community-based research and service-learning courses around local community partners’ needs as they focused collectively on community well-being issues. The nature of their work has prioritized qualitative research methods such as narrative inquiry via in-depth interviews and ethnography via immersive observations within varying service-providing institutions such as the Hartford Hub and the Hanna Community Center. COVID-19 and the constant threat of its transmission meant that Dr. Ware, his students, and their community partners had to approach their work differently. They responded with a pivot. They turned to mining large publicly accessible and proprietary data sets, such as United States Census data, Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data, the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) data, and the Polk Directory data. The pivot served as a direct response to the City of Lafayette’s need for useful data that could inform decision-making related to neighborhood revitalization, affordable housing, and homelessness intervention. This different approach impacted the co-authors’ learning and scholarly development and provided the community partners with useful data. The co-authors experienced increased autonomy in pursuing data-specific questions, extracting data, analyzing, and visualizing it. One of the co-authors taught himself Python to import, statistically analyze, and visualize the data, and then presented the findings to the City of Lafayette. The co-author’s initial work — a pilot study — led to a scaled-up project that resulted in five significant outputs for three different community partners with a direct impact on six neighborhoods in the north end of Lafayette. Another co-author, who focused on scholarship during the pandemic, led an effort to develop a comprehensive literature review focused on the effect of community-based robotics programs on minority youth. The co-author also had presentations accepted at the local, national, and international levels while working on multiple publications. The third co-author is partnering with the other authors to create an automated system that will support the collection, extraction, and analysis of secondary data that will facilitate sustainable data analysis into the future.

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Community-Based Experiential Learning in Teacher Education

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education ◽

10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.986 ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Gary Harfitt

Keyword(s):

Teacher Education ◽

Service Learning ◽

Experiential Learning ◽

Beginning Teachers ◽

21St Century ◽

New Teachers ◽

Teacher Educators ◽

Local Community ◽

Community Based ◽

Community Partners

Institutes of higher education around the world have increasingly adopted community-based experiential learning (EL) programs as pedagogy to equip their students with skills and values that make them more open to an increasingly unpredictable and ill-defined 21st-century world. Values of social justice, empathy, care, collaboration, creativity, and resilience have all been seen as potential benefits of community engagement through EL. In the field of teacher education, the goals of preparing teachers for the 21st century have undergone similar changes with the local community being positioned more and more as a knowledge space that is rich in learning opportunities for both preservice and in-service teachers. It is no longer enough for teacher educators to only focus on the teaching of classroom strategies and methods; beginning teachers’ must now move toward a critical interrogation of their role as a community-based teacher. Boundary-crossing projects established by teacher education institutes and that are embedded in local communities can complement more traditional pedagogies such as classroom-based lectures and teaching practicum. Such an approach to teacher education can allow for new teachers to draw on powerful community knowledge in order to become more inclusive and socially connected educators. In sum, community-based EL in teacher preparation programs can create a hybrid, nonhierarchical platform for academics, practitioners, and community partners who bring together different expertise that are all seen as being beneficial to teacher development in a rapidly changing and uncertain world. While research has shown that community-based EL projects can bring tangible benefits to students, universities, and community members, a number of contentious issues continue to surround the topic and need to be addressed. One concerns the very definition of community-based EL itself. There is still a need to better characterize what community-based EL is and what it involves, because too often it is seen in overly simplistic terms, such as voluntary work, or categorized loosely as another example of service-learning endeavors, including field studies and internship programs. There has also been a paucity of research on the degree to which community-based EL projects in teacher training actually help to promote subject matter teaching skills. Other ongoing issues about the case for community-based learning in teacher education today include the question of who the teacher educators are in today’s rapidly changing world and to what extent noneducation-related community partners should be positioned as co-creators of knowledge alongside teacher educators in the development of new teachers’ personal and professional development.

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Students promoting economic development and environmental sustainability

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education ◽

10.1108/14676370410561081 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 5 (4) ◽

pp. 384-394 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Cheryl Keen ◽

Elizabeth Baldwin

Keyword(s):

Service Learning ◽

Learning Community ◽

Environmental Sustainability ◽

Research Projects ◽

Waste Streams ◽

Community Based ◽

Community Partners ◽

Community Based Research ◽

New Information ◽

Effective Form

Community‐based research has been suggested as a particularly effective form of service learning in college‐community collaborations. This paper reviews findings from interviews with alumni/ae and community partners of an environmental and economic sustainability center at Allegheny College in Northwest Pennsylvania, the Center for Economic and Environmental Development (CEED). CEED's community‐based research projects have spanned the natural and social sciences to analyze water quality, reduce waste streams and local energy consumption, identify environmental problems and enhance forest management. Interviews with alumni/ae point to the valued real world experience, enhanced cognitive development, and improved communication skills for students. Community partners valued new information and networks resulting from research and stressed the contribution they were making to college students' learning. Community‐based research projects can benefit from interviewees' recommendations to increase continuity, clarity of purpose, and follow‐through in projects, while maximizing opportunities for dialogue between community partners and students. Community‐based research may have a strong contribution to make to students' cognitive, academic, social, civic and career development.

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From Surviving to Excelling: Adaptation of Gerontology Service Learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igab046.2727 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. 739-739

Author(s):

Donna Jensen ◽

Theresa Abah ◽

Carol Sewell ◽

Terrence Ranjo

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Service Learning ◽

Community Engagement ◽

Student Learning ◽

Local Community ◽

Learning Experiences ◽

Learning Opportunities ◽

Community Safety ◽

Community Based ◽

Community Partners

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted older adults, and the educational service-learning opportunities available to gerontology students. As an applied major, Sacramento State University’s Gerontology Department heavily depends on service-learning. The pandemic affected existing gerontology placements and their ability to host student learning. In addition, at the outset of the pandemic, Sacramento State University immediately terminated in-person service learning. The Gerontology Department prioritized student and community safety while still valuing the need for students to have meaningful and relevant community-based learning experiences. Gerontology faculty worked with community partners to shift these vital learning experiences. This poster presentation focuses on the creative ways the department engaged community partners to continue quality learning opportunities for students while assisting community partners with the unrelenting shifts in operations. Three innovative service-learning and community engagement practices will be addressed, including a) Partnering with the California Office of Emergency Services (CalOES) to create and provide the statewide Social Bridging Project for older adults throughout California; b) Expanding the relationship with Sacramento State’s Renaissance Society, a lifelong learning and community engagement program for older adults; and c) Partnering with a community-based Cardio-vascular Wellness Program to keep older adults active and engaged while remaining at home. The poster will review the pivot to virtual service learning and share how this shift enhanced student learning and community service. This will include expanding the use of technology and capitalizing on innovative methods to reach out and provide service to older adults, the local community, and the state of California.

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Service-Learning Pedagogy to Enhance Undergraduate Community-Based Research and Practice

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e535602014-001 ◽

2014 ◽

Author(s):

Roger N. Reeb

Keyword(s):

Service Learning ◽

Community Based ◽

Community Based Research ◽

Research And Practice ◽

Service Learning Pedagogy

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A Men’s Survey: Exploring Well-Being, Healthy Relationships and Violence Prevention

The Journal of Men s Studies ◽

10.1177/10608265211018817 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 106082652110188

Author(s):

Liza Lorenzetti ◽

Vic Lantion ◽

David C. Este ◽

Percy Murwisi ◽

Jeff Halvorsen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Violence Prevention ◽

Well Being ◽

Cultural Groups ◽

Community Based ◽

Healthy Relationships ◽

Community Based Research ◽

On Line ◽

Multiple Challenges ◽

Research Assistants ◽

African Canadian

The participation of men is critical to preventing domestic violence, however, there is still little understanding of the capacities and supports that men need for well-being and healthy relationships. A men’s survey was designed to explore and identify the capacities and resources required by a diverse population of Canadian men. Data was collected on-line and through trained community-based research assistants. Over 2,000 men from 20 ethno-cultural groups responded, and multiple challenges and enablers were identified. Responses from Indigenous and African Canadian men highlight the need for an intersectional lens in understanding men’s well-being and violence prevention.

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Utilization of Collaborations to Engage Children in Physical Activity: A Community-Based Research Approach

Kinesiology Review ◽

10.1123/kr.2017-0029 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 6 (4) ◽

pp. 323-328

Author(s):

Sheri J. Brock ◽

Danielle Wadsworth ◽

Shelby Foote ◽

Mary E. Rudisill

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

The United States ◽

Research Approach ◽

Collaborative Partnerships ◽

Community Based ◽

Community Partners ◽

Community Based Research ◽

Quality Product ◽

Long Term Impact

Institutions of higher education have a responsibility to prioritize the needs of society and local communities. One essential need prevalent in all communities is to address the rise of obesity and health risks due to lack of participation in physical activity. In the United States, children spend a small percentage of time engaged in physical activity, and engagement decreases further in adolescence and adulthood. Collaborative partnerships between kinesiology faculty at universities and community organizations are one avenue for engaging children in physical activity. Partnerships must be multilevel and community wide to evoke change and have long-term impact and sustainability. Within the context of community-based research, we propose a three-step framework for establishing collaborative partnerships: (1) determining the needs of partners; (2) discussing expertise, services, and philosophy; and (3) providing a quality product. In addition, we outline and illustrate our experiences when collaborating with community partners to promote physical activity.

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Comparative Analysis of the Related Interests of Relevant Stakeholders in the Development of Seaports in Relation to the Spatial Concept of the City

Pomorstvo ◽

10.31217/p.32.1.17 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 32 (1) ◽

pp. 36-41

Author(s):

Donald Schiozzi ◽

Alen Jugović ◽

Željko Smojver

Keyword(s):

Local Community ◽

Well Being ◽

Restricted Area ◽

Spatial Concept ◽

Transport Chain ◽

State Economy ◽

Community Economy ◽

Qualitative Variables ◽

The City

The seaport, as a link of the transport chain, is oriented towards the development of the maritime system of the country and the summit place of traffic slope from all transport routes and means of transport. While the city, as a community of residents, is oriented towards promoting the well-being of citizens and the quality of their lives, so it strives to ecological, cultural and visual values. This relation of interest is merely one of the numerous relations of interest of the relevant stakeholders in the planning and development of the seeports in relation to the spatial concept of cities deriving from a constrained coexistence in a restricted area – as two separate entities whose interests and objectives appear to be different at first sight. In this paper, the relations of interest of the relevant stakeholders have been analyzed, quantitative and qualitative variables have been evaluated that influence the development of the seaports in relation to the spatial concept of the city. The research has highlighted the need to look at and analyze all relevant stakeholders interests, of which the most important are: state – local community, state – managing body of the port, state – economy, local community – managing body of the port, local community – economy and economy – managing body of the port.

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