Office of Community Engagement

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https://hdl.handle.net/1805/14075

The Office of Community Engagement creates a coordinated, strategic approach to professional development and corporate education; neighborhood, school, and family partnerships; volunteerism and service; and a campus wide culture of engagement.

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George Washington Community High School: analysis of a partnership network
(New Directions in Youth Development, 2009-06) Bringle, Robert; Officer, Starla; Hatcher, Julie; Grim, Jim
After five years with no public schools in their community, residents and neighborhood organizations of the Near Westside of Indianapolis advocated for the opening of George Washington Community High School (GWCHS). As a neighborhood in close proximity to the campus of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, the Near Westside and campus worked together to address this issue and improve the educational success of youth. In fall 2000, GWCHS opened as a community school and now thrives as a national model, due in part to its network of community relationships. This account analyzes the development of the school by focusing on the relationships among the university, the high school, community organizations, and the residents of the Near Westside and highlights the unique partnership between the campus and school by defining the relational qualities and describing the network created to make sustainable changes with the high school.
George Washington Community High School, A Community-University Partnerships Success Story
(Netter Center for Community Partnerships, University of Pennsylvania, 2010-05) Grim, Jim; Officer, Starla
A meandering White River separates the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) campus from the neighborhoods of Stringtown, Hawthorne and Haughville that make up the community of WESCO (Westside Cooperative Organization). Al-though the river that separates the two represents a historical as well as geographic boundary, the city bridges that join the university campus with its west side neighbors are both symbolic as well as utilitarian. Rich connections that have developed between IUPUI and the Near Westside have taken years to develop and are best illustrated at the nearby George Washington Community School (GWCS). The very existence of this school is a community/university partnership achievement, a significant one according to Robert Bringle, Director of the IUPUI Center for Service and Learning and professor of psychology. “When we started working with the WESCO community and they said they wanted to reopen their closed high school, we thought it was a rather remote possibility,” Bringle explained. “Never underestimate the power of determined, united people. Four years later it had students in classrooms.” "e building was once home to George Washing-ton High School. "e high school had nearly 70 years of rich tradition that included multiple athletic milestones (half a dozen alumni ABA and NBA players among them) and had closed in 1995. "e closure, designed to reduce costs for the financially challenged urban school district, devastated the Near Westside. However, its reputation on the athletic field had not matched with high academic achievement (e.g., 40% graduation rate) and this helped tip the scales in favor of closure. Logical financial reasons for closure did not matter to the community it most affected. Five neighborhood schools had already been closed, and the closure of the final two meant no schools were left in the three neighborhoods. No public schools remaining in WESCO galvanized a grassroots movement, under the leadership of neighborhood leader Danny Fugate, to form the Westside Education Task Force, which was focused on getting schools back into the neighborhoods.
Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis and George Washington Community High School: Educating Their Communities Together
(2011) Officer, Starla; Bringle, Robert; Grim, Jim
Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis worked with the residents and leadership of three neighborhoods adjacent to the campus to reopen the closed George Washington High School. The resulting partnership has strengthened the civic engagement mission of the university, and contributed to an award-winning community-based school. The partnership most recently was recognized with a 2010 Outreach Scholarship/W. K. Kellogg Foundation Engagement Award for the North Central Region.
A Decade of Lessons: Community Engagement Perspectives from a University-Assisted School Community
(Center for Service and Learning, IUPUI, 2011) Grim, Jim; Medina, Monica; Officer, Starla
In 2000, the Indianapolis Near-Westside welcomed the reopening of George Washington High School as George Washington Community School. The school had closed in 1995. This document draws on the decade of lessons and is designed to serve as a resource for groups harnessing the power of their own school communities.
Family, School, Community Engagement in Community Schools Research Brief
(Midwest Center for University-Assisted Community Schools, IUPUI, Indiana Partnerships Center, 2011-09) Grim, Jim; Medina, Monica; Short, Angela; Garvey, Jackie; Malone, LaTasha; Daugherty, Lindsey
Discussion of public school reform draws attention to a typically overlooked essential of academic success: family and community engagement. Any serious reform cannot ignore authentic family/school/community engagement as an essential ingredient, according to a seven-year study by researchers at the University of Chicago who looked into some 200 “turnaround” schools efforts and outcomes in the Windy City. In fact, the Chicago study found that only 10 percent of the turnaround schools without solid family and community engagement (or one of four other identified essentials) realized academic improvement (Bryk, Sebring, et. al., 2010)
Strengthening Community Schools through University Partnerships
(Peabody Journal of Education, 2013-10-23) Officer, Starla; Grim, Jim; Medina, Monica; Bringle, Robert; Foreman, Alyssa
Given the mounting call for academic achievement gains in America's public schools—particularly urban schools labeled “failing”—the need for community engagement to tackle a host of underlying social challenges warrants the resources of the nation's colleges and universities (Harkavy & Hartley, 2009). Because colleges and universities are often underutilized anchors of resources in communities, coordinated alignment of K-12 and higher education goals can create a seamless pipeline of educational attainment for communities challenged to produce high academic achievement. Higher education's engagement with community schools further helps to address the whole child and their families in K-12 education by expanding the opportunities for the students and community to access necessary support services. Drawing upon experiences of Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) and collaboration with its adjacent neighborhoods, this article illustrates the transformative and relevant impact of university and community engagement, as well as new pedagogical approaches to teaching, learning, and training. This article reflects upon the experiences of IUPUI and nearby George Washington Community High School as it can uniquely serve as a roadmap for other school community/university partnerships that are interested in embarking upon a similar education reform path.
Results of the Indiana Community School Network Survey
(2015-09-15) Garcia, Silvia; Grim, Jim
In July 2015, IUPUI launched a survey to capture the essence of the concept of Community Schools across Indiana, begin an inventory of Community School experiences and needs throughout the state, and identify priority areas of the network for the next couple of years. The report contains the results of the Indiana Community Schools Network Survey.
Leading Community Schools Takes Finesse & Style
(Partnership Press, Children's Aid Society, New York City, 2015-11) Grim, Jim
Adaptive leadership takes on particular importance when it comes to heading Community Schools. The sharing of leadership and decision-making with community partners can be a daunting undertaking – even for some seasoned principals – but is imperative among a multitude of competencies necessary to successfully lead a Community School. What the Coalition for Community Schools identified in Growing Community Schools, The Role of Cross-Boundary Leadership more than a decade ago continues to lie at the heart of authentic Community Schools: Cross-boundary leadership from multiple organizations collaborates to create a culture of support for continuous improvement in Community Schools, developing student physical, social, emotional, moral, and civic competencies in addition to academic abilities. A principal must be comfortable with shared leadership or the necessary fit most likely will not materialize and potential social return on investment may be no more than lost opportunity. Given the landscape, America’s public school communities can little afford wasted opportunities for children and their families.
Fundamentals of Assessing Civic Learning Outcomes
(2015-11-20) Norris, Kristin; Weiss, H. Anne
This interactive presentation is designed for attendees to create an assessment plan for gathering evidence around students civic learning during a particular pedagogical experience- usually community- or experiential-based teaching and learning strategies.
Building on a legacy – taking a community schools project to scale
(Partnership Press, Children's Aid Society, New York City, 2016) Grim, Jim; Medina, Monica
School community partnerships provide a bedrock of stability and continuity in the midst of a tsunami of educational change on the Near Westside of Indianapolis. Central to the firmly imbedded partnerships is George Washington Community High School (GWCHS) — as well as Mary Rigg Neighborhood Center and IUPUI (Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis), two key collaboration facilitators for decades.

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