This article describes the environmental education (EE) program developed in the neighboring community of Serra da Canastra National Park based on a research project focused on the maned wolf conservation. The article assesses three tools used to foster the community's participation in discussing local issues: (1) communal production of a book…

In Paraguay conditions for rural children living in poverty are often difficult. At least 14% of children age 5 years and younger show moderate to severe physical stunting (UNICEF 2009). More than half of the children in primary school have repeated at least one grade by the time they complete the sixth grade. Rural families living in poverty, who…

Evaluative instruments designed to assess a university's or college's institutionalization of service-learning practices have been devised and widely utilized. These instruments often come with assumptions about aligning data with decision making. To date, attempts to document community engagement practices within a department or an entire…

This study evaluates the impact of a community-based information campaign on school performance from a cluster randomized control trial in 610 villages. The campaign consisted of eight or nine public meetings in each of 340 treatment villages across three Indian states to disseminate information to the community about its state-mandated roles and…

Despite ongoing equity initiatives, there is still a clear discrepancy in regards to access to higher education for potential students from socially disadvantaged backgrounds. This paper reports on an action research initiative that has developed a model of engaged outreach as an alternative approach to traditional university outreach. Engaged…

In this article, the author talks about incorporating what those in academia do best--scholarship and teaching--and what government bureaucrats do best in administering housing and community revitalization programs into a strong and sustainable system of community engagement and outreach. He frames the discussion by focusing on some examples of…

Purpose: Prostate and colorectal cancer (CRC) rates are disproportionately high among African-American men. The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of an intervention in which barbers were trained to educate clients about early detection for prostate and CRC. Design/methodology/approach: Working with an advisory panel of local…

This article presents the unique approach to university-community partnerships developed and practiced at Michigan State University (MSU). We have established a model of campus-community partnerships that builds a wide-reaching system of networks connecting the university to communities. Our approach is "developmental",…

As environmental issues become more complex, the public may be less interested in becoming knowledgeable enough to participate in decision-making. Yet its input can be critically important in some community-based issues. A community forum is one tool designed to provide information, enable participants to ask questions to experts and create an…

According to the U.S. Department of Justice (www.usdoj.gov), Community Policing is defined as: "The focus on crime and social disorder through the delivery of police services that includes aspects of traditional law enforcement, as well as prevention, problem-solving, community engagement, and partnerships. The community policing model balances…

The Miami Youth Development Project (YDP) had its beginnings in the early 1990s as a grassroots response to the needs of troubled (multiproblem) young people in the community (Arnett, Kurtines, & Montgomery, 2008, this issue). YDP is an important outcome of efforts to create positive youth development interventions that draw on the strengths…

This paper describes work directed toward creating community-supported positive youth development interventions that draw on a developmental intervention science outreach research approach. With respect to developmental interventions, this approach focuses on creating evidence-based longitudinal change intervention strategies for promoting…

The universal belief that poverty is a matter of low income and correctable through economic growth, more jobs, and increased income is precisely why poverty has persisted in the United States and elsewhere. We view the poor as those not yet in the middle class, but it can be shown that not all the poor can join the middle class, even in the…

Community gardening provides many benefits for students like outdoor physical activity, an understanding of plant life cycles, food production and healthy eating (Blair, 2009; Whiren, 1995). Gardening also provides hands-on learning opportunities to draw parallels between what is needed for plants to grow and what students need to be healthy. When…

When the bell rings at the end of a school day, millions of children are left to their own devices while they wait for their families to return home at the end of the work day. Findings from a study conducted by the Afterschool Alliance, "America After 3PM," show that 15.1 million children are unsupervised when the school day ends. The…