Spring 2011 Update

Five years ago, the Swearer Center undertook a series of conversations involving more than 150 students, faculty, staff, and community partners to solicit feedback and gather input on our future directions. That process created a basic foundation for the Swearer Center’s collective work since that time: an overarching mission statement and principles and three specific priorities for strengthening our efforts.

Those conversations confirmed our belief in community relationships and understanding as the starting point for any lasting community impact, and in the power of learning that can result from connecting community and curricular experience and knowledge. We have sought to connect the university and community toward these ends, through community partnerships and programs, advising and learning communities, student leadership, and funding and support for students and faculty. In the 2009-2010 school year, over 1,600 students participated in programs, courses, advising, and fellowships supported by the Swearer Center.

I’m very pleased to reflect on the tremendous progress we have made over the past five years, thanks to the hard work of the Swearer Center staff, student leaders, faculty, and community partners. Here are some of the highlights for each of the priorities we set at that time.

Brown has a strong, long-standing culture of public service and a depth of academic and institutional assets. We have a tremendous opportunity to deepen our collaborations, learning, and impact in the months and years to come.

Priority 1: Student learning – define desired learning outcomes for Brown students and offer clear avenues to facilitate student learning and academic integration.

• Defined six areas of student learning goals; developed a series of student trainings based on those goals.

• Developed new opportunities for in-depth “immersive” community experiences for students: a five-week summer program with D’Abate Elementary School, led almost solely by Brown students; summer seminars; and additional resources to support students’ summer community work.

• Partnered with the Making Connections Leadership Institute to allow Brown students to engage in a leadership development program alongside community residents, to create a different dynamic of “learning with” rather than “doing for” the community.

• Established the Social Innovation Initiative to develop a structure of workshops, advising, peer critiques, courses, and other resources for students pursuing the long Brown tradition of entrepreneurial approaches to learning and social change.

• Raised funding for faculty to develop courses connecting academic content and community experience, in which over 600 Brown students took part last year.

Priority 2: Community impact – align resources for significant community impact, help students learn how to organize and evaluate community efforts, and maintain/deepen community relationships.

• At the request of school staff, assumed responsibility for the D’Abate Community School in the Olneyville neighborhood, moving from a few afterschool programs to an in-depth partnership with D’Abate Elementary School on its 21st Century Community Learning Center initiative. The program involves nearly 200 elementary students and over 150 Brown students during the school year and includes a five-week summer session. School staff report positive impact on attendance, engagement, and academic achievement.

• Launched the College Advising Corps, creating 12 full-time positions for recent Brown and URI graduates as “College Guides” in the urban RI public schools. An independent evaluation has found that students in RI schools with College Guides are more than 14 percentage points more likely to go to college than students in similar schools without a College Guide.

• Established a Swearer Center community program framework based on elements critical to student learning, community impact, and sustained community relationships; developed an annual review process based on that framework, with a committee of students, faculty, and community representatives.

• Advised and supported new social ventures founded by Brown students in partnership with the community, such as the Capital Good Fund, which has provided over $115,000 in microloans and educated over 89 individuals in Providence since 2008; and Gardens for Health, supporting communities of individuals living with HIV/AIDS in Rwanda.

• In partnership with Making Connections Providence, created a course on philanthropy, which has provided $86,000 to community agencies to date, including the Mount Hope Learning Center, English for Action, Children’s Friend, Stepping Up, Open Doors, and others.

Priority 3: Faculty engagement – engage the academic resources of the university to enhance student learning, community impact, and university scholarship.

• Launched the Engaged Scholars Initiative, which has so far supported 17 faculty from 10 disciplines in developing community-based courses and research. The initiative has also built a community of these faculty who share their lessons learned and have begun to explore collaborative ventures.

• Developed courses directly linked with Swearer Center to deepen the academic connections for our work. Five Swearer staff now hold faculty appointments and/or have taught or co-taught courses at Brown, on community organizing, ESOL, social entrepreneurship, philanthropy, and engaged scholarship.

Over time, we recognized a fourth priority: broader university collaboration and campus leadership on community engagement.

• Worked with the Curricular Resource Center and CareerLAB to re-launch “Careers in the Common Good” programs and resources for students interested in nonprofit/public sector careers, and for the first time establish a Career Advisor at the CareerLAB with this specific focus and background.

• Opened up Swearer resources and support to the broader campus, such as student trainings in community work, and an open process for applying for affiliation with the Swearer Center.

• Partnered with the Watson Institute on a Sport & Development initiative, and with the Office of International Affairs to lead the Brown International Scholars Program.

• Organized campus-wide events such as a day of forums for the 2009 Presidential Inauguration, and annual orientation and commencement/reunion events.

• Began to develop new resources to increase accessibility of community engagement opportunities for Brown students regardless of financial background.

To guide these efforts, we continued to gather input through ongoing conversations with all our partners in this work, as well as through formal mechanisms such as an advisory board we established, two working groups convened in 2010, discussions with the Brown University Community Council, and a community programs review committee created this spring.

We have much to celebrate in these accomplishments. Nonetheless, there is still much to do to fully live up to our principles, and to realize the full potential of the Swearer Center and Brown in partnership with our local and global communities. As we look forward, we need to continue assessing our impact and better connect and align the Center’s own resources and those of Brown more broadly, in service to our overall mission. Brown has a strong, long-standing culture of public service and a depth of academic and institutional assets. We have a tremendous opportunity to deepen our collaborations, learning, and impact in the months and years to come.

Our great thanks to all who have walked with us on this journey. We look forward to the embracing the next phase of our work with you.

Roger H. Nozaki

Director; Associate Dean of the College for Community and Global Engagement

April 2011