This article posits that advancing equity is necessary but not sufficient for creating a more just world: we need belonging. Using a lens of racial justice to define the concept of belonging, the author considers how to practice cultivating it within the context of an aquarium's community-based engagement. Through case studies framed by belonging…

This qualitative descriptive study delves into the strengths and challenges community-engaged faculty face in sustaining university-community partnerships through community engagement. Framed by Bender's community engagement model, the primary research question examines how university faculty articulate their strengths and challenges within these…

Productive tensions with traditional academic practices develop within a graduate certificate program in community engagement at Tulane University. The program offers an alternative approach to traditional graduate education practices by fostering community, epistemic justice, and care for the whole person through sustained interdisciplinary and…

Rural communities face incredible challenges and emerging opportunities. Land-grant universities are well-positioned to assist by developing new approaches to inspire university students to become civically engaged, rural community members. With this aim, the Rural Scholars program at Oklahoma State University was developed as an opportunity for…

Peñasco Independent School District is a rural community school district serving approximately 280 students. Peñasco's approach to community schooling focuses on culturally relevant, community-connected learning (including project-based learning and career and technical education), family and community engagement, and support for students' health…

In this paper, we connect literature on civic universities and anchor institutions with the notion of visibility to explore how universities can play more engaged roles in their areas. We introduce the concept of 'just anchors', which are institutions with strategies to achieve local social, economic and epistemic justice goals through…

Many community-academic partnerships are established to conduct meaningful research and practice. Yet, little is written about their sustainability and what does exist suggests that effective partnerships are hard to sustain. In this study, we sought insights into what might support successful, enduring community-academic partnerships focused on…

School communities have been shut out of many of the more critical decision-making processes impacting local public schools. Decisions are mostly made as top-down actions from federal mandates, general assemblies, state departments, districts, and school level administration teams, isolating the school communities they are tasked to serve.…

Family and consumer sciences (FCS) educators are often tasked with teaching financial literacy to high school students. Many states have adopted financial literacy as a high school graduation course requirement. However, the need for financial literacy does not end in high school. Many parents could benefit from additional financial literacy…

This paper highlights the transformative potential of place-based community organizing as a theory and practice of progressive social change and as a critical approach to the social purpose of community engagement in Higher Education Institutions. The aim is to expose power asymmetries and civic renewal "from below" through a focus on…

The global pandemic was traumatic for everyone, and it revealed the vast inequity in public services to which people have access. Fortunately, community schools had been coordinating services to meet the needs of their families prior to the pandemic, and when schools closed in 2020, they kicked into high gear to provide for those needs. This paper…

This Projects With Promise case study offers insights for addressing tensions between universities and communities in building partnerships and collectively rethinking "the field" of community engagement. We explore moving beyond a solely place-based understanding of "the field" into an ethos based on human interactions and…

Research-creation practices have long consulted the public in the process of research, yet the act of making often rests in the hands of the individual researcher. This paper proposes a more integrated and collaborative framework for arts-based researchers and educators called Community-Based Research-Creation, which extends the collaborative…

Education is a central aspect of social movements' ability to build individual and collective participation in political struggle. But, how do these processes of learning and consciousness take place? As Choudry (Choudry, A. 2015. Learning Activism: The intellectual Life of Contemporary Social Movements. University of Toronto Press) argues, it is…

Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) serves the beautifully diverse city of Oakland in California's East Bay. The city, or "the Town" as Oakland natives might say, is steeped in community members' dedication to fighting for equity, particularly in education. The decades-long history of organizing and activism, especially that of Black…