Community-Campus engagement is offered and encouraged in many higher education organizations. This study from Donna Jean Forster-Gill and Tom Cooper seeks to analyze these programs and explore ways to maximize their usefulness to the non-profit community organizations which they assist. www.vibrantcommunities.ca www.thecommuntityfirst.org

1. Innovative Partnerships Shift the
Poverty Dynamic
Donna Jean Forster-Gill, Vibrant Communities Canada
Tom Cooper, Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction
www.vibrantcommunities.ca
www.thecommunityfirst.org

2. CF:ICE Research Question
How can community-campus engagement,
including community service learning (CSL) and
community-based research (CBR), be designed
and implemented in ways that maximize the
value created for non-profit community-based
organizations?

3. CF:ICE
Research
Sub-Themes
Scale and Replication of Models
Creation of Value for Partners
Ability to Share Control
Processes of Effective Engagement
Impacts on Campus-Community Partners
Ethical Issues

4. CFICE
Violence
Against
Women Hub
Community
Environmental
Sustainability
Hub
Poverty
Reduction
Hub
Food Security
Hub
Knowledge
Mobilization
Hub

5. Poverty Reduction Hub Partners

6. Poverty Reduction Hub Outcomes
Build a
Learning
Community
Research
and
Evaluate
Models
Document
Community
Impact
Create and
Share
Knowledge
Influence
Policy
Change

7. Living Wage
Research
Perceptions
of Poverty
Impact of
Mentoring
Models of
Collaboration
2012-2014 Poverty Reduction Hub Projects

8. Living Wage Partnership

9. Living Wage Campaign
Background: Living Wage Hamilton Campaign
• Multi-sector committee developing engagement
strategies to dialogue with: public institutions, private
employers, and small – medium businesses.
• Living Wage Hamilton has its roots in a University-
Community partnership: School of Labour Studies,
Social Planning and Research Council, and HRPR

10. Year One Results
• McMaster Community
Poverty Initiative’s Dr. Don
Wells (Labour Studies)
presents to Hamilton’s
City Council about the
research supporting
becoming a Living Wage
Employer

11. Year One Results: Hamilton
• Hamilton Wentworth District School Board
approves Living Wage Policy – first school
board in Ontario, and first elected body in
Ontario to do so.
• City of Hamilton currently developing strategy
to become Living Wage employer
• Next steps: engage small-medium businesses

12. Year One Results: Partnerships
• HRPR & MCPI develop new partnership with
DeGroote School of Business at McMaster
• Dr. Benson Honig & doctoral student Elly Zang
– Develop best practice guide and handbook for
small-medium businesses implementing a LW
– Conduct focus group and key informant interviews
with Hamilton employers

13. Year One Results: Benefits
Benefits:
New partnership with traditionally uninvolved
Faculty (on this issue)
With research conducted by School of Business,
credibility with community business increases
Dialogue with businesses as part of research
design hopes to increase buy-in

14. Shifting Societal Attitudes Partnership

15. Shifting Societal Attitudes
2008 - present
Background
• Engaged national partners
• Representatives for 26 organizations from across
Canada
• Working group met to develop a plan
• www.shiftingattitudes.pbworks.com

16. May, 2009 - finalized a concept paper
Attitudes and beliefs affect behaviour.
Collective behaviour affects public policy decisions.
Goal: Identify current deep-seated societal attitudes towards Canadians living in
poverty, and to “shift” those attitudes.
Why: Only after shifting current attitudes, can we collectively begin to engage in
new behaviour that will direct our policy makers and politicians to enact
legislation to significantly reduce the poverty level in Canada
Shifting Societal Attitudes
2008 - present

17. PHASE 1: Research and examine current Canadian deep-
seated attitudes.
PHASE 2: Research and examine “best practices” related to
shifting attitudes and behaviours.
PHASE 3: Design and launch a comprehensive, long-term,
multi-faceted national initiative.
Shifting Societal Attitudes
2008 - present

18. Community – University
Partnership
2008 - present

19. Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
– Shown photos (10 in total)
– Given 5 minutes to write a story
answering the 4 questions
Study 1 Materials:
Projective Test
19
Relative
Absolute

20. • Limited awareness of poverty
• Acceptance of poverty
• Conditional compassion
• Gender
Qualitative Results
Summary
MacKeigan, M., Mitchell, T., Wiese, J., Stovold, A., & Loomis, C. (2013). It's not a Canadian Thing: Researching attitudes toward poverty.

21. • People distance themselves from those in poverty
• Distancing is a protective strategy allows people to:
– maintain the belief that the world is fair and just
– absolve themselves of responsibility for their inaction
– manage their negative emotions (e.g., guilt, hopelessness)
• Assumptions matter
– Ascribed/external sources of poverty
• Associated with more empathy and understanding
• Hope?
– Education and awareness
Overall Summary

22. • All students admitted that previous to the course, they viewed
poverty as an individual problem and they also applied
common stereotypes to those living in poverty.
• Following the course all students reported that their
understanding of why people are living in poverty had
dramatically changed as they are now aware of the numerous
variables that impact one living in poverty and their inability to
escape.
Education as Intervention
4th year students focused on poverty as a societal issue

23. Impact of Mentoring
Promise Partnership

24. Year One Results:
Impact of Mentoring
The University of New Brunswick Saint John’s
(UNB Saint John) Promise Partnership is a
community-based and university-run academic
enrichment and poverty reduction initiative
focused primarily on the priority neighbourhood
of Crescent Valley, Saint John, New Brunswick.

25. Promise Partnership Programs
• Student Mentoring Club
• Backyard Book Club
• Discovery Nights
• Book’n It Tutoring
Program

26. Mentor Research Questions
1a) What has been the impact for UNB Saint
John students who volunteer as mentors?
1b) How do the mentors feel about their mentor
mentee relationship and about the program
in general?

27. Parent Research Questions
• 2a) What are the parents perceptions of the
Promise Partnership?
• 2b) What are the parents perceptions
on education/university?

28. Participants
• Target Populations
– Mentors (56)
– Parents of children involved in our programs (55)
• Control Populations
– University students who do not mentor (56)
– Parents of school-aged children from another
priority neighbourhood who have not had access
to our programs (55)

29. Highlights from the Mentor Survey
• 80.5% reported a close relationship with mentee
• 94.1% reported a successful relationship with
mentee
• 70.6% reported mentoring was what they
expected
• 86.3% reported their intention to continue with
the program when the new semester starts

30. Highlights from the Parent Segment
• 85% reported that they felt the Promise Partnership
had a positive impact on the Crescent Valley
community and that it improved their child's:
– Interest in school (80.5% )
– Reading skills (75.6%)
– Confidence in social settings (70.7%)
– Ability to work independently (68.3%)
– Confidence in their ability to do school work (67.5%)
– Writing skills (65.9%)

31. Highlights from the Parent Segment
• The HWSF parents showed significantly more parental
support than controls for children to attend university.
– 56.1% believed their child could obtain a university degree
– 4% believed their child would drop out of high school
• Control Parents
– 30.2% believed their child could obtain a university degree
– 16.3% believed their child would drop out of high school

32. Models of Campus-Community
Partnerships
When looking at the models of Campus-
Community Partnerships this is what they look like
and how they have changed over time:
http://prezi.com/art7skh0gv48/?utm_campaign=s
hare&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

33. What Poverty hub has learned:
Relationship, Relationship, Relationship
•Ethics Process
•Transferring
money to the
community
Impacts on
Community
Campus
Partners
•Learning
University Culture
•Need for Patience
& Perseverance
•Need for Strong
C-C Relationship
Process of
Effective
Engagement
•Initiation of
partnerships
•Challenges &
Benefits
Lessons
about
Models of
Engagement

34. Community Campus
Funding challenges
Faculty support and
incentives
Meeting the
community’s needs
Faculty and staff time
to dedicate
Work did not fit into
community priority
Slow moving process
Funding challenges
Perceived Power
imbalance
Challenges to Collaborations

35. Benefits of Collaborations
Community
• Participation in innovative project
• Can see how the initiative will lead to
poverty reduction
• Relationship with campus faculty
• Sustained relationship with specific
faculty
• University sharing their knowledge
and resources
• Addressing community needs /
Strengthening community assets
• Providing a genuine opportunity for
both the student and the
organization to grow
Campus
• Providing the opportunity for
students to learn skills in the
community
• Community organization sharing
their knowledge and resources
• Participation in an innovative project
• Access to community mentorship
• Proving a genuine opportunity for
both the student and the
organization to grow
• For students to make connections
beyond the campus
• Students will gain knowledge in the
areas of the nonprofit and voluntary
sector

36. Equalizing Power in Campus Community Partnerships –
Academic Ideas
• Pick a strong partner with clear ideas of what they want to achieve and a proven
track record.
• Clearly put on the table what you have to offer and what your goals are, what
you want from the partnership, be clear about why you are doing this.
• Be willing to let someone else’s agenda drive the research. Put the academic
agenda on the back burner.
• Listen more than you talk.
• Avoid university jargon, learn their jargon, agree on the jargon that you’ll use.
• Take the time to look at the world through their lens of reality, listen to their
stories.
• Be honest about what you can offer and the time frame.
• Attend their meetings, conferences, gatherings.
• Consider the possibility of long term relationships.
• Give the gift of your time.

37. Equalizing Power in Campus Community Partnerships –
Community Ideas
• Select an academic partner who understands community and has
worked in community previously.
• Clearly put on the table what you have to offer and what your goals
are, what you want from the partnership, be clear about why you are
doing this.
• Spend time together to learn about each other’s work, personalities
and the politics at play
• Create a comfortable space for community experts to share
• Avoid Community jargon, learn academic jargon, agree on the jargon
that you’ll use.
• Be honest about what you can offer and the time frame
• Attend some academic meetings, conferences, gatherings.
• Commit as much as possible to a long term relationship.

38. Next Steps
Finalize
Models
Add New
Partners
Test Models
in Northern
Community
Review
Models and
Create ToolKit

39. For More Information
• Vibrant Communities Canada:
www.vibrantcommunities.ca
• Communities First Impacts of Community Engagement:
www.thecommunityfirst.org
• Donna Jean: donnajean@tamarackcommunity.ca
Follow us on Twitter! @VC_Canada, @HamiltonPoverty

40. Thank You!