Frequently Asked Questions
What is a university-community partnership?
A university-community partnership can be defined as: a relationship of some duration between a university and a unit of government, a non-profit agency, a business or a community organization whereby the partners agree to share resources, costs and risks in order to jointly provide some service or good that benefits the larger community.
What are the various types of university-community partnerships?
The Office of University Partnerships, a part of the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, identifies seven (7) major ways in which universities partner with their communities:
- service learning - the creation of university or college programs that enable students to earn academic credit for working in community focused projects as part of their regular course work.
- service provision - coordinated university or college-wide involvement in long-term community focused projects
- faculty involvement - community-focused projects or activities undertaken by individual faculty.
- student volunteerism - volunteer community-focused projects or activities undertaken by individual students
- "community-in-the-classroom" initiatives - university or college-wide efforts to make available to the community college courses that are designed to enhance community building and community capacity
- applied research - involvement of the university, faculty and students in the collection, analysis and reporting of data on community issues
- major institutional change - university or college wide internal organizational cultural change designed to promote more university-community engagement.
What are some of the specific university-community partnerships that the Center for Community Partnerships has recently been involved with?
- Orange County Central Receiving Center (CRC)
- The center recently conducted process assessment of the operation of the Orange
County CRC, which operates as a centralized intake and referral point for persons
with mental health and substance abuse issues. The assessment made several
policy and administrative recommendations to enhance the program.
- Family Services of Metro Orlando (FSMO)
- The center recently completed a study of foster children in out-of-home care
placements FSMO, the lead agency for child welfare community based care in
Orange and Osceola counties. This ground-breaking study followed children in
out-of-home care from entry into service to exit. The final report identified
several areas for policy and program improvements to help reduce the length of
time children spend in out-of-home care placement.
- The Second Harvest Food Bank
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The center recently conducted a "gap analysis" survey of food banks in Orange
and Osceola counties in order to identify potential future coverage and capacity problems.
- Case Management Certificate Program
- In response to an expressed community need for professional case management
training in the Central Florida region, the center is working in partnership with
several community organizations on the development of a case management
certification program.
- Service-Learning Initiative
- The center provided partial financial support for six college summer courses as a
way of encouraging faculty to include service-learning components.
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