Creating inclusive spaces for partnership: Responses from local leaders engaged in a community-university partnership centre

Abstract

Communities around the world are faced with challenges as they seek to address inequality in spite of larger systems designed to create dependence. In response to this, local residents have begun to develop their own solutions to address the needs of their communities. Creating spaces for capacity building and empowerment engages community members as leaders to identify and address concerns as they emerge. The Hartland Partnership Center is an example of a community-university partnership designed to meet the needs of individuals and families living on the westside of Salt Lake City. The Hartland Resident Committee (HRC) was formed to lead this endeavour by identifying what the needs of community members were and developing programs within a community learning centre located in a gateway neighbourhood for new arriving populations of immigrant and refugee background. With this pilot study, we sought not only to understand why individuals became engaged in leadership, but also why HRC members remained engaged. More specifically, we wanted to identify what it was about the HRC that helped individuals feel comfortable to share their ideas for change and growth. We identified five key methods to engage the HRC members to be leaders in their community: (1) provide opportunities for leadership development; (2) create an inclusive environment; (3) identify the common goal of the group while respecting diversity; (4) care about the lives of RC members; and (5) implement the decisions of the group. The findings of this study provide additional insights into why community members become engaged in community-university partnerships and the foundation for further research on engagement of community members as leaders. Keywords: community engagement, empowerment, capacity building, resident committee, community social work

Sustaining CBPR Projects: Lessons Learned Developing Latina Community Groups

“…Capacity building within communities supports leadership development and acknowledges existing strengths that address problems in communities. Through the process of capacity building, community members develop skills and knowledge that contribute to maximization of continued leadership opportunities such as grant writing, community organizing, and accessing resources (Mileski, 2014;Moll & Gonzalez, 1997;Easterling, 2012). Individual community members often have little power to change structural constraints, at least in the short term.…”

An exploratory study on the impact of the opioid epidemic on providers.

“…Collaborations can partner the academic resources of students and faculty to develop continuing education events and training programs with reciprocal gains (Kearney et al, 2013;Kevany & MacMichael, 2014;Ostrander & Chapin-Hogue, 2011;Rosenman, 2007;Silver & Leslie, 2009;Steinert, 2005). In addition, collaborations are multifaceted relationships (Glover & Silka, 2013;Klak & Mullaney, 2013;Mileski et al, 2014;Patel et al, 2014) and can bolster proactive dialogic on the challenges of working in the field of addictions for students across multiple disciplines and fields as well as for providers who may need to create integrative supports and seek engaged supervision to target resiliency in the wake of the impact of the opioid epidemic (Lager & Robbins, 2004;Slaymaker et al, 2014;Wayne et al, 2010).…”