Five years ago Illinois State University leaders and the local community joined together for a ribbon-cutting to celebrate the opening of the Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning. The Center for Community Engagement and Service learning, now known as the Center for Civic Engagement (CCE), was created to support the institution’s core value of civic engagement. The past five years have been full of exploration, development, and growth for CCE, Illinois State, and its community partners.
Civic engagement was not new to Illinois State when the CCE was formally opened in fall 2017. In fact, Illinois State University has a long history of commitment to civic engagement, which was formalized in 2008 when civic engagement was added as a core value within the institution’s strategic plan. The creation of CCE provided a new, permanent infrastructure to support campus civic and community engagement and partnerships and streamlined communications between the campus and community. CCE Assistant Director Harriett Steinbach serves as a liaison between the University and community partners.
Since the center was new and community-based organizations had no prior central point of contact with the University, Steinbach recognized that it was important to learn more about what community partners wanted and needed from their relationship with Illinois State. One of the first things she did upon assuming her role at CCE was to conduct a survey of community partners. The findings were released in April 2018.
“It was such a joy to get to build this initiative. I knew the first thing we had to find out was what partners thought about ISU and how we could support them,” Steinbach reflected.
CCE identified 10 action items after analyzing the survey results and began working on addressing each item. Each action item and CCE’s progress toward achievement of each item are listed below.
- Forming a community partner consulting board
CCE formed the Community Consulting Board in fall 2018. This group of 10 community organization members and four ex-officio members from Illinois Wesleyan University, Heartland Community College, the Town of Normal, and the City of Bloomington meets three times a year. Members serve a two-year term.
- Creating a community partner toolkit and expanding resources on the CCE website
CCE revitalized its website to include extensive web resources for community partners. The website also provides shared resources for community partners and faculty.
- Creating a faculty toolkit and sharing with interested faculty
A variety of resources are available for faculty online. Moreover, several professional development programs were provided to faculty in the past five years that utilized many of the resources in the online toolkit.
- Developing and distributing a community partner electronic newsletter
A quarterly newsletter is distributed to partners via email. The newsletter shares information about relevant Illinois State events and news and also includes “Partner Perspectives” articles from community organizations serving on the Community Consulting Board.
- Creating opportunities and spaces for faculty and community partners to meet
CCE has facilitated many small and mid-size group conversations between relevant faculty and staff from community organizations with the goal of exploring needs and possible partnerships. CCE also partners with the Center for Integrated Professional Development each summer for the (Re)Design Your Course for Civic Engagement program which includes a day of community site visits and a networking lunch.
An opportunity for faculty and community networking in January 2023 is in the initial planning stages.
- Offering professional development twice a year together for faculty and community partners
Prior to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, CCE hosted several events that invited faculty and community partners to connect and learn about a topic together. These events were paused during the height of the pandemic and resumed in spring 2022, when CCE partnered with Illinois State University’s Career Services to offer a professional development session for community organizations focused on recruiting and supervising student interns.
Feedback from community organizations indicated that networking events with faculty were more valuable than professional development sessions, so networking opportunities will be prioritized. While there are no immediate plans for a joint professional development session, CCE staff will explore opportunities as they emerge.
- Discussing an online platform for organizations to post needs and projects
CCE has had several discussions with community organizations regarding the use of online volunteer matching platforms. CCE staff and some community organizations also participated in demonstrations of some products.
Feedback regarding the utility of online volunteer matching software is very mixed. These products can be rather costly and require significant capacity to administer and monitor the programs. For these reasons, as well as the uncertainty of its need and/or utility to the campus and community, CCE has decided to table the discussion of a volunteer-matching platform at this time.
Organizations can share volunteer needs with CCE via email; those are posted on our website and promoted through the weekly newsletter distributed every Wednesday during the school year. Those interested in receiving that newsletter can sign up online.
CCE also works with community organizations that have specific needs beyond volunteering to identify if the need is a service-learning project, internship, independent study, or community-based research project. CCE staff regularly reach out to faculty to share these possible community partnerships as they receive information. For now, staff feel the consultative model of matching partners is best for ensuring that both partners have a strong foundation to build a genuine partnership.
- Exploring the overlap in the Protection of Minors Policy with community organization background checks
The Protection of Minors Policy emerged during CCE’s first year of operations, raising questions about the possibility of duplicate background checks occurring from both Illinois State and the community organization when students were working with minors. This was of some concern because of the potential for unnecessary expenses for the organization. In some cases, organizations now accept the Illinois State-approved background check as acceptable.
CCE also regularly advises faculty who will be working with youth organizations so that they can comply with the policy.
- Encouraging campus to celebrate partnership successes
- Encouraging campus to develop genuine relationships with community partners
These last two are much harder to measure and indicate success. Mechanisms like News stories, social media, and Redbird Impact showcase successful community partnerships that could not occur without authentic relationships. CCE now oversees the Civic Engagement Celebration and Awards which feature a variety of civic engagement that has occurred and formally recognizes those doing extraordinary work. In 2018, the Community Partner Award was added to recognize the tremendous role partners play as co-educators in curricular and co-curricular settings.
The ideas of celebrating success and developing genuine relationships have evolved from specific goals to a philosophy that underscores the work of CCE. CCE staff emphasize the importance of developing mutually beneficial relationships in all their encounters with students, faculty, and community members.
CCE staff are proud of the work they have accomplished in partnership with the community that has enhanced the learning experiences of students and benefited local community organizations.
Center Director Dr. Katy Strzepek said: “We are proud of the progress we have made in all CCE endeavors in the last five years. Our work to strengthen campus community partnerships has been particularly important. We will build on this foundation and continue to strive for reciprocal partnerships to cocreate knowledge and honor community strengths.”
Anyone interested in learning more about campus-community partnerships or incorporating civic engagement into a course is encouraged to contact the Center for Civic Engagement.
