Community development research suggests that positive partnerships and connections between groups can result in stronger, more resilient and productive communities. Despite community connections featuring increasingly at a curriculum level in countries such as Australia and New Zealand, research is only beginning to explore the nuanced processes…

Universities have long been considered to possess the capacity that can foster local community development in a developing context such as in sub-Saharan Africa. Yet, it is not clear what disposition the university should adopt, given the complexity surrounding its mission in a changing landscape. Drawing on the meaning of community development…

School-community relationships can serve many goals ranging from enhancing student achievement to community development. This article examines the relationship between school-community partnerships and community development in light of a state prekindergarten policy that requires partnering. To understand the local responses, we propose a typology…

In this article, a qualitative case study approach was used to explore the changes that community-campus collaborations stimulate. The authors document the "processes of interaction" (Spaapen & van Drooge, 2011) through which collaborations seek to contribute to positive social change, highlighting the outputs, outcomes, and…

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to examine the role a rural community college plays in the development of its community, using a holistic, community-based lens that considered college and community context, interactions and results to answer the question: "How does the rural community college impact the development of the…

Tim Clydesdale is professor of sociology at the College of New Jersey. This article is adapted from the author's forthcoming book "Calling on Purpose: The Conversation Every Campus Must Have with Students" (University of Chicago Press, 2015). Clydesdale met two students, James and Tracy, during their senior year of college, when his…

Since 2004, I have provided technical assistance to a neighborhood association in a residential, campus-adjacent neighborhood located in a small college town in a geographically isolated coal-mining region of the United States. The neighborhood is shared by year-round residents, most of whom are older adults who have no affiliation with the…

In this paper, four qualitative case studies capture the complex interplay between the social and structural relations that shape community - academic partnerships. Collaborations begin as relationships among people. They are sustained by institutional structures that recognize and support these relationships. Productive collaborations centralize…

The purpose of this study was to develop a substantive theory for community development by school-based agriculture programs through grounded theory methodology. Data for the study included in-depth interviews and field observations from three school-based agriculture programs in three non-metropolitan counties across a Midwestern state. The…

Residential neighborhoods adjacent to a higher education institution are home to diverse groups of people who share neither a common sense of community (McMillan & Chavis, 1986) nor the same degree of attachment to place (Low & Altman, 1992). These neighborhoods are characterized by transience and a lack of cohesion. They are highly prized…

The study involved 14 volunteer facilitators, four UBC staff members, and the researcher as participant; the data collected were observation notes, questionnaires, results from focus groups, and interviews. The study revealed that the key strengths of the training workshop lay in its approach to training, its focus on confidence and capacity…

The context of leadership in the public school has become increasingly complex with the pressures of high stakes testing and accountability, changing student demographics, and financial challenges. Stakeholders must work together to develop effective strategies to increase student academic performance. Successful superintendents must optimize…

This article tells a story of practice, a story of theory, and how each informs and transforms the other through a two-way flow of people and knowledge from a city to a campus and back again. By reflecting with fellow participants on the events and outcomes of a sustained city campus partnership, the author introduces a theory of engagement from…

A community school is a place and a set of partnerships connecting a school, the families of students, and the surrounding community. A community school is distinguished by an integrated focus on academics, youth development, family support, health and social services, and community development. The community school strategy is central to efforts…

Purpose: Higher education is increasingly being scrutinised and discourse centred on its usefulness to stakeholders. In 1992, the University for Development Studies (UDS) was established in Northern Ghana with a mission to engage with local communities to develop the area. This paper aims to understand the quality perspective of the university…