Serving Children and Families Through Community-University Partnerships

Richard M. Lerner, Ph.D. is Bergstrom Chair in Applied Developmental Science at the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development at Tufts University.

A consistently identified criticism about contemporary higher education is that academia is not playing a visible role in contributing to the improvement of the lives of people in the community - as the lives are lived on a day-to-day basis. However, there has been a long tradition of such `Outreach Scholarship' in America, and this focus is gaining renewed attention, at least in part, because policy makers and philanthropic organizations are pressing universities and colleges to use their learning resources in ways that more directly benefit society. Universites have listened to, and continue to heed, such appeals.
Serving Children and Families Through Community-University Partnerships: Success Stories illustrates such work by presenting several dozen exemplary `success stories' of community-university partnerships that serve to enhance the lives of children, youth, and families. These illustrations are drawn from collaborations across the breadth of the nation and reflect the work of many diverse colleges and universities. Moreover, these partnerships involve an array of target audiences, ranging across the individual life span from infancy through old age and involving a diverse set of groups and organizations. In addition, this work takes many forms, for example, technical assistance, evaluation, training, program design and delivery, demonstration or participatory, action research, and dissemination.
The book is useful to two broad audiences: (1) Individuals, in and out of academia, in decision-making roles that directly impact what gets done or does not get done in colleges and universities; and (2) Persons outside academia who are concerned with creating positive change across a wide-range of issues pertinent to the lives of youth, families, and communities. This volume will guide universities and communities to work together to promote positive development in the diverse children, families, and communities of our nation.

Springer Book Archives

1. Serving Children and Families Through Community-University Partnerships: A View of the Issues.- 2. Build It and They Will Come... The Birmingham Early Learning Center: Creating a Vision for the Future of Alabama's Children.- 3. The Bibb County Child Caring Foundation (BCCCF): A Story That Needs to be Shared.- 4. Arizona State University and the Southwest Autism Research Center: Partners in Helping Children with Autism and their Families.- 5. Child Care on Campus: A True Partnership Between an Academic Program and Vendor.- 6. Partnering with the State Legislature: Connecticut's Family Impact Seminar.- 7. Northern Delaware Early Head Start: An Interagency Approach to Supporting Children and Families.- 8. Developing a Partnership Model to Enhance Literacy: Focusing on a Community's Future.- 9. Improving Rural Child Care: A Community-University Partnership.- 10. A Partnership for Youth in Florida Cooperative Extension.- 11. A Success Story of a Working Consortium: Project KICK.- 12. Mental Health Issues in Criminal Court: Collaboration Among Broward County, Florida Courts, and Nova Southeastern University.- 13. The Family Solutions Program: A Collaboration of the University of Georgia and the Athens/Clarke County Juvenile Court.- 14. An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure.- 15. Facilitating Peaceable Schools.- 16. Certification by Learning on an Alternative Schedule (CLAS).- 17. Improving Child Care Systems in Illinois and Georgia: Partnerships Between the Land-Grant Universities and State Agencies.- 18. Project Family: A Partnership Integrating Research with the Practice of Promoting Family and Youth Competencies.- 19. Establishment of an Interdisciplinary Collaborative Degree Program in Early Childhood Studies.- 20. Extending Head Start to HomelessFamilies: A University-Community Partnership.- 21. The Goucher College-Choice Middle Schools Program Partnership.- 22. The Benefits of a Philanthropic-University-School Community Partnership: The Cambridge "Say Yes to Education" Story.- 23. Revitalizing the Community Through Neighborhood and Institutional Partnerships.- 24. Cameo Feature News: University and Community Partnership Disseminates Child Development Information.- 25. Developing an Extended Services School: A School-Community-University Partnership.- 26. Family T.I.E.S. Family Support Program for Adolescent Mothers and Their Children: A Collaboration Between Mott Children's Health Center and Michigan State University.- 27. Checkpoints: Building Capacity to Enhance Program Impact Through Evaluation.- 28. The Young Spartan Program: Partners with Students.- 29. Fostering Community Guardianship: Serving Children and Families Through Community-University Partnership.- 30. Beyond Just Say No: The Michigan Abstinence Partnership.- 31. Skipped Generation Parents: Building Collaborative Partnerships to Support Custodial Grandparents.- 32. A Broad and Dynamic Partnership: Minnesota's Children, Youth and Family Consortium.- 33. Building Partnerships: The University and Community Unite.- 34. Preparing Students for Collaboration: The MU Interprofessional Initiative.- 35. Research-based Parenting Education for Divorcing Parents: A University-Community Collaboration.- 36. Kids' Team: Statewide Agencies Model for Building Community Level Coalitions.- 37. Field Training in Applied Developmental Psychology: Fordham University's Expanding Community Partnerships.- 38. Policy Seminars for State and Community Leaders.- 39. The North Carolina Child Care Corps: Building a Successful University and Community PartnershipThrough the AmeriCorps National Service Program.- 40. Support Our Students: Saturday Academy at East Carolina University.- 41. The DAP*TECH Partnership: Helping Children with Disabilities Through Technology.- 42. Child Care and Head Start: Community Action Commission-University Partnership.- 43. The Good Neighbors Project: A Collaboration Between A Neighborhood Social Service Agency, Neighborhood Residents, and University Faculty and Students.- 44. Rural Student Health Centers: A Community-University Partnership.- 45. Multiple Partners and Multiple Voices: The Creation of a Statewide Prenatal Care Collaboration.- 46. The Healthy Neighborhood Project.- 47. Seizing the Opportunity to Fulfill a Mission.- 48. Developing Effective University-Community Collaboration Through Grantwriting.- 49. Partnerships in Successful Parenting.- 50. The Teen Assessment Project Community-Based Collaborative Research.- Afterword.- Sidney A. Ribeau.- Author/Subject Index.