The Impact of Town–Gown Relationships on the Sustainability of African American Communities: An Examination of the Role of HBCUs

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of faculty, staff, and residents regarding the town-gown relationship on the sustainability of the African American communities as it related to educational benefits, home ownership, employment and job training, earning potential, and graduation rates. A survey design was used to collect and analyze the data. The one-way of analysis of variance and the Scheffe' Multiple Comparison Test were used to analyze the data. The findings from this study indicated that in general, faculty, staff, and residents exhibited similar perceptions regarding the town-gown relationship on the sustainability of the community with respect to graduation rates, educational benefits, and employment and job training, and it appeared that the earning potentials of African American communities perceived that town-gown relationships had been more effective in increasing the earning potentials in the community than did the university staff members. Data suggested that faculty members perceived that the town-gown relationship had been more effective in enhancing home ownership in the community than staff members'.

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