Achieving the Promise of Authentic Community-Higher Education Partnerships: A Community Partner Summit - Executive Summary

Partnerships between communities and higher educational institutions as a strategy for social change are gaining recognition and momentum. Despite being formed with the best of intentions, however, authentic partnerships are very difficult to achieve. While academic partners have extensively documented their experiences and lessons learned, the voices of community partners are often absent. If true partnerships are to be achieved, community partners must harness their own experiences, lessons learned, and collective wisdom into a national, organized effort. With guidance from a planning committee of community leaders, twenty-three experienced community partners from across the U.S. convened for Achieving the Promise of Authentic Community-Higher Education Partnerships: A Community Partner Summit held April 24-26, 2006 at the Wingspread Conference Center in Racine, Wisconsin. The overall purpose of the summit was to advance authentic community-higher education partnerships by mobilizing a network of experienced community partners. This report is the executive summary of the summit.

See also Achieving the Promise of Authentic Community-Higher Education Partnerships: Community Partners Speak Out!
and Achieving the Promise of Authentic Community-Higher Education Partnerships: Community Case Stories