Community Program Toolkits

Amazing things happen with partnerships.

The West Michigan region is rich with dynamic community organizations. These organizations form a network of service and impact for the region. Such a landscape offers a range of potential partnership opportunities for 麻豆视频 faculty and staff to complement and enrich their scholarship and program reach.

This toolkit provides example projects, guidelines for starting a partnership and resources on campus to make your project a success!

Faculty Community-Based Research

Several dynamic Hope faculty and staff have completed successful community-based research projects. Explore their frameworks through the articles below.

Proposal Development Resources

Ready to get started?

Hope Resources

First, definitely connect with our relevant Hope offices. The Office of Sponsored Research will guide you through any funding proposals (follow their Getting Started links). The Frost Center is your go-to expert on social science research methods. When you work in the community and evaluate your program, you'll likely fall under the Human Subjects Review Board (HSRB). Review the HSRB site early to complete the training and understand the process before you start to develop your partnership.

Reference Articles

Next there's a lot of material out there to review, we've condensed a lot of it for you!

Initial articles discuss how to approach a partner and determine if the partnership will be effective.
Model programs and best practices for campus-community partnerships.
Concluding articles are research based discussion of the impacts and best practices of community based partnerships.

Reference Articles

Provides guidelines for your initial conversation with a potential partner.
Infographic outlining different styles of collaboration
Further questions to ask yourself and your potential partner to determine if the project is a good fit for all involved.
Discussion of working with a potential partner to create an effective work plan.
Article explores higher level issues for the leadership of an organization when considering a partnership.
Part research article, part best practices discussion related to seeing campus community partnerships as opportunities to build stronger relationships.
Outline of community-based programs at a similar small, liberal arts college.
A non-profit study of what types of collaborations work and which tend to fail.
Guidelines for writing an MOU between the partners.
In-depth look at a model for successful partnerships based on literature review and program implementation.
Research discussion on how community partnerships can increase the impact of scholarly research.
Research article exploring the impressions of community partners when working with college and universities.
Research based article looking at the impacts of adding a community relationship within course based projects with students.

Similar Academic Offices

Course-Based Community Learning

Embedding community-based work into courses is a powerful teaching tool. Instructors from multiple departments have successfully implemented community work with their students.

On Campus Outreach Programs for Collaboration

Area Organizations with Connection to 麻豆视频

Youth Protection Page

Any programs which include minors must consider the 麻豆视频 Youth Protection Policy. This policy contains a Code of Conduct for any faculty/staff/college students working with youth as well as a college liability form for those participating on campus.

Note this policy is in place any time a college faculty, staff or student is responsible for a minor without a parent/guardian present. However, the Code of Conduct and other best practices are highly recommended any time a program involves minors.