Striving for Authentic Community Engagement: A Process Model from Urban Teacher Education

This article presents an urban teacher education center as a process model of how a university can cultivate authentic community engagement. Three essential steps of the process model are identified: (1) being physically located at the school or community site in order to build trust and become integrated into the life of the school or community, (2) conducting community studies in order to learn about and understand the lives of community members, and (3) becoming involved in community engagement activities.