Civic and Community Engagement Commons^™

Improving Impact: Collaborative Multi-Party, Multi-Sector Engagement (2011), Marcy Murninghan

New England Journal of Public Policy

Most people do not realize the full implications of the fact that we live now in an era marked more by networks than hierarchies. Nowadays, power is distributed across boundaries and borders, rather than concentrated in one place—be it a physical setting, demographic group, industrial sector, or professional discipline. Thanks to systems thinking and the ubiquity of digital tools and platforms, there are many more opportunities for lawmakers, policymakers, and economic institutions to collaborate with concerned citizens on critical public issues, thereby breaking the grip of lobbyists, third-party intermediaries, and the power elite. On top of that are recent breakthroughs …

Making The Invisible Challenges And Opportunities Visible, Maureen A. Scully, Lisa Deangelis, Katie Bates

Emerging Leaders Program Team Projects

The 41 fellows in the 2015 Emerging Leaders Program worked with community partners to generate the theme, “Making the Invisible Challenges and Opportunities Visible: Collaborative leadership for economic and social well-being."

The projects provide fellows an opportunity to practice elements of collaborative leadership in peer-led teams working with multiple stakeholders. The projects focus on civic engagement, building a leadership base for Greater Boston that is ready to tackle the big challenges that ensure the broader economic and social well-being of the region. The project sponsor with whom each team works is a nonprofit or governmental organization with big goals. Each …

Building Civic Participation Of Undergraduates: Umass Boston’S Civic Engagement Scholars Initiative (Cesi), Rajini Srikanth, Aminah Pilgrim, Office Of Faculty Development, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Office Of Community Partnerships, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The Civic Engagement Scholars Initiative (CESI) is a professional development program that supports faculty and community partners to effectively engage undergraduate students in service-learning and community-based research activities. CESI aims to reinforce classroom learning, foster civic habits and skills, and address community-identified needs.

This Is Your Brain On Civically-Engaged Chemistry, Hannah Sevian

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

This Freshman Seminar course for Chemistry majors is designed to introduce students to the college experience as well as to foster an interest in chemistry. The science of learning chemistry is the integrating theme. In Fall 2013, Professor Sevian customized the curriculum by linking her undergraduates with students at the Dever-McCormack School. Undergraduates apply basic chemistry concepts they learn in class to content-focused outreach activities in K-8 science classrooms. This course is part of the Civic Engagement Scholars Initiative (CESI), a three-semester UMass Boston program designed to support faculty with integrating community engagement into undergraduate courses.

Civic Engagement Scholars Initiative (Cesi), Camille Martinez-Krawiec

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

UMass Boston received a Performance Incentive Fund grant to institutionalize and increase teaching and learning that promotes civic and community engagement. Specifically the funds are being used to support the implementation of the Civic Engagement Scholars Initiative (CESI), which supports faculty and community partners on how to effectively engage undergraduate students in service-learning and community-based research activities that reinforce classroom learning, foster civic habits and skills, and address community-identified needs. This enhancement will be accomplished through implementation of a professional development program that improves the efficacy and assessment of faculty-driven community-engaged instruction and undergraduate research. CESI, as part of the …

Asian American We: Civic Engagement Among Low-Income Young Adults, Michael Liu, Star Wang, Janice Wong, Loan Dao

Institute for Asian American Studies Publications

This report describes a study of the civic participation of low-income Asian American adults between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five in the Boston area. It is based upon a mail survey with 100 respondents, focus groups, and organization interviews.

The study found that over 60% of the study population engaged in some form of civic participation, most commonly through fundraising or volunteer activities. Other activities included arts and culture with a social message, issues work, and electoral involvement. The area of greatest involvement was education. From the survey, civic engagement is correlated with female gender, higher education, and a …

Brief 10: Lessons On Supporting Change Through Multi-Institutional Projects, New England Resource Center For Higher Education, University Of Massachusetts Boston

New England Resource Center for Higher Education Publications

The New England Resource Center for Higher Education’s (NERCHE) Civic Engagement Cluster1 is a multi-institutional model for strengthening civic engagement in higher education across ten institutions simultaneously. Reflecting NERCHE’s mission to promote community, collaboration, and change in higher education, the Cluster is based on the premise that significant change can be accomplished most effectively through collaboration and communication across institutions. The purpose of this Brief is to pass on some key lessons learned in the pilot year of this project about laying the groundwork for collaboration and improving institutional practice.