An Experiential Approach to Creating an Effective Community-University Partnership: The East St. Louis Action Research Project

Increasing numbers of American colleges and universities are undertaking long-term partnerships with community-based organizations and municipal government agencies committed to improving the quality of life in our Nation's poorest urban and rural communities. The most successful of these initi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cityscape (Washington, D.C.) D.C.), 2000-01, Vol.5 (1), p.59-74
Main Author: Reardon, Kenneth M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Collaboration
Communities
Community associations
Community development
Community power
Housing
Neighborhoods
Research universities
Retirement communities
Universities
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Summary:Increasing numbers of American colleges and universities are undertaking long-term partnerships with community-based organizations and municipal government agencies committed to improving the quality of life in our Nation's poorest urban and rural communities. The most successful of these initiatives bring community leaders, municipal officials and university students together to develop innovative solutions to critical economic and social problems overcoming the significant race, class, and gender-based barriers that often make such cooperation difficult. This article describes how community residents, municipal officials, and university students worked together to transcend these obstacles to create and sustain a highly-effective community development partnership that has improved living conditions in several distressed neighborhoods of East St. Louis. Participants in the East St. Louis Action Research Project described how they used David A. Kolb's experiential learning theories to recreate their partnership four times during a 10-year period to address unanticipated problems.
ISSN:1936-007X