This article shares wisdom from three leaders in the Baltimore nonprofit sector on university engagement with local communities. In conversation with the directors of Towson University's Grant Writing in Valued Environments (G.I.V.E.) program, the community leaders give practical advice to be used in grant writing and community engagement efforts,…

Rural school counselors can be social justice leaders in school-family-community partnerships. To best understand this role, the authors introduce a rural school-family-community partnership model that is strength-based and highlights the variety of supports and barriers related to the needs of rural students, families, and communities. The model…

Children develop within a context, and the nature or dynamics of a child's context can change the trajectory of their development. According to Bronfenbrenner (1979), children are affected and are impacted by individuals within various systems or environments. One of Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems is the microsystem, in which children…

We describe the creation of an authentic learning experience for pre-service teacher candidates in an elementary classroom management course. This learning experience required pre-service teacher candidates to create a research-based classroom management plan throughout the semester. Next, the pre-service teacher candidates presented their plans…

Greater Hazelwood, a neighborhood located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, saw a decline in residents, businesses, and services at the steel industry's decline. Residents, philanthropic organizations, advocates, health centers, schools, universities, and community-based organizations continue collaborating to revitalize the Greater Hazelwood…

The chapters in this issue are a clarion call for the science of learning and development to create productive, sustainable, and care-centered partnerships across academic fields that extend into partnerships with local communities. While applauding the wisdom of this communitarian aspiration, this commentary cautions that forming productive…

Twenty-five years ago, the aspirational vision of a newly formed national SENCER initiative led one of the authors (Wood) to initiate a long-term relationship between the Smithsonian Institution and George Mason University, involving a residential, immersive approach to education focused on biodiversity conservation. In the Smithsonian-Mason…

Is assessment a top-down bureaucratic mandate, an undertaking that seems to have little to do with improving practice, an inauthentic activity that frustrates and disempowers, an afterthought? Or is it a process embraced and enacted together by all stakeholders as a means to learn and grow and enact change in the world? The authors of the…

Despite pressures and incentives, faculty, academic staff, and graduate students struggle to turn outreach and engagement activities into scholarly publications. Publishing challenges include competing professional responsibilities, limited collegial support, difficulty in prioritizing time to write, professional isolation, and lack of confidence…

Adolescent health and well-being are abysmal due to low and declining physical activity rates, increasing mental health problems such as anxiety and depression, and minimal opportunities to engage in meaningful social experiences. Adolescents who live in communities that are underserved face greater risks for experiencing health disparities…

National Center for Families Learning (NCFL) defines family leadership as strategies and services that improve and enhance the leadership skills of parenting adults and that are designed to support families in becoming advocates for themselves, their families, and their communities. This work is accomplished alongside the education and community…

Neoliberal ideology and an overemphasis on generating quick results dehumanizes higher education community engagement by overlooking the multiple roles and identities of boundary spanners, individuals engaged in community-based scholarship. If university-community partnerships are to prosper and be sustained, their human aspect deserves more…

This article speaks to the challenge of public land-grant universities addressing public need through community--academic partnerships and presents a case study to explain and illustrate these challenges. Included in this approach is the acknowledgment that as universities strive to bring the community perspective to their knowledge production,…

This article attempts to contribute to the debates on the role of the higher education sector in addressing the immediate and long-term challenges incurred as a result of humanitarian crises. The focal point of consideration is profiling the role of the University of Duhok, Iraq, in addressing health needs of internally displaced people and…

This paper reviews the Digital Detox project at TRU. At TRU, the Digital Detox is not necessarily about abstaining from technology altogether, but rather establishing a more ethical, healthier approach to the tools we are required to use every day. Conceived this way, a Digital Detox offers an approachable opportunity to discuss difficult and…