{"id":277,"date":"2026-08-18T14:38:32","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T18:38:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/community-engagement\/?page_id=277"},"modified":"2026-09-09T16:32:42","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T20:32:42","slug":"engaging-with-community-partners","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/community-engagement\/for-students\/engaging-with-community-partners\/","title":{"rendered":"Engaging with Community Partners\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Recommendations&nbsp;developed by Clark\u2019s Collaborative for Community Engagement&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Clark defines Community Engagement as \u201cthe collaboration between Clark University\u2014including its students, faculty, staff, and administration\u2014and larger communities (Main South, Worcester, Massachusetts, the United States, and the world) for the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources. This partnership&nbsp;seeks&nbsp;to dismantle inequitable power dynamics, promote shared decision-making, and recognize that the well-being of all is interconnected. Collaboration across disciplines and with diverse knowledge-builders outside academia enhances capacity for meaningful impact.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We build knowledge by collaborating across academic disciplines,&nbsp;and also&nbsp;by reaching beyond academia to learn from leaders and thinkers in our communities. Together, we can build structures of shared decision-making that&nbsp;promote&nbsp;mutual well-being.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Below are&nbsp;some reminders to keep in mind as you reach out to&nbsp;community partners:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<details class=\"wp-block-details is-layout-flow wp-block-details-is-layout-flow\"><summary>Timing<\/summary>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Remember that the college schedule does not neatly align with&nbsp;organizations that&nbsp;work&nbsp;year-round.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Community partners are&nbsp;typically&nbsp;available during business hours, Monday through Friday.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Be sure to communicate any&nbsp;times&nbsp;that you will not be available to collaborate with a partner, such&nbsp;as during&nbsp;school breaks or holidays.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In advance of collaborating with a community\u00a0partner, be clear on how many hours and for how long\u00a0you\u2019ll\u00a0be able to commit to your work. If your schedule changes and you need to adjust your commitment, be sure to communicate this as soon as possible.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n<details class=\"wp-block-details is-layout-flow wp-block-details-is-layout-flow\"><summary>Capacity<\/summary>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Organizations have varying levels of&nbsp;capacity&nbsp;when it comes to&nbsp;hosting&nbsp;or even&nbsp;responding&nbsp;to requests from the community.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>As vital as volunteers are to the functioning of community groups, they also require training, oversight, and resources.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>While some organizations are built to accommodate large volunteer groups or frequent projects, others require&nbsp;smaller numbers of volunteers who&nbsp;maintain&nbsp;long term commitment.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Look for community partners&nbsp;who are compatible with the type of work&nbsp;you\u2019re&nbsp;able to&nbsp;provide.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n<details class=\"wp-block-details is-layout-flow wp-block-details-is-layout-flow\"><summary>Do your Research<\/summary>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Review&nbsp;an organization\u2019s&nbsp;webpage and&nbsp;other&nbsp;online platforms&nbsp;to learn more about the organization.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Be sure to look for their mission statement, the types of support they are looking for, and&nbsp;where&nbsp;the organization is&nbsp;located.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n<details class=\"wp-block-details is-layout-flow wp-block-details-is-layout-flow\"><summary>Use your Networks<\/summary>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>While&nbsp;the Collaborative for Community Engagement has developed relationships with a variety of individuals and organizations, you are also welcome to use your networks to find connections that best meet your needs.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Consider&nbsp;connecting with Clark faculty or alumni for referrals.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n<details class=\"wp-block-details is-layout-flow wp-block-details-is-layout-flow\"><summary>Exercise Patience and Understanding<\/summary>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Community organizations must&nbsp;maintain&nbsp;a priority&nbsp;focus&nbsp;on the populations they serve and their overall mission.&nbsp;It can be an ongoing challenge to find the resources necessary to support this work.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Remember&nbsp;that while our partners love&nbsp;bringing in volunteers and engaging with students, they may not be able to respond&nbsp;immediately&nbsp;to inquiries or be able to accommodate project ideas that&nbsp;fall outside their top&nbsp;priorities.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n<details class=\"wp-block-details is-layout-flow wp-block-details-is-layout-flow\"><summary>Maintain a Learner&#8217;s Mindset<\/summary>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>As you connect with local individuals and organizations, keep an open mind and be open to learning new things about the organization, their work, the local community, and yourself!&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>You&nbsp;will&nbsp;likely&nbsp;encounter&nbsp;difficulties, challenges,&nbsp;and&nbsp;new experiences.&nbsp;&nbsp;Take time to think about what&nbsp;you\u2019re&nbsp;noticing and how you can reflect&nbsp;upon&nbsp;and learn from your community engagement.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>When you&nbsp;encounter&nbsp;things that are surprising or uncomfortable, take time to see what you can learn from these experiences.&nbsp;&nbsp;Moments of discomfort are often the best&nbsp;opportunities&nbsp;for growth and development.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n<details class=\"wp-block-details is-layout-flow wp-block-details-is-layout-flow\"><summary>Engage as a Neighbor<\/summary>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>As&nbsp;a Clarkie,&nbsp;you\u2019re&nbsp;part of the Clark and Main South communities. Worcester and Clark are both your&nbsp;home.&nbsp;It\u2019s&nbsp;up to you to decide what kind of connection&nbsp;you\u2019re&nbsp;cultivating with your fellow neighbors.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>We encourage you to engage in the local community with humility, curiosity, and a desire to support&nbsp;local initiatives.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>While we encourage you to find opportunities to develop your own leadership, remember that our goal is to help strengthen and support&nbsp;existing community efforts.&nbsp;Be mindful of how your leadership and initiative are supporting and aligning with&nbsp;ongoing&nbsp;projects and&nbsp;initiatives.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n<details class=\"wp-block-details is-layout-flow wp-block-details-is-layout-flow\"><summary>Maintain an Asset-Based Mindset<\/summary>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>We\u2019re&nbsp;lucky to be in a city with a long tradition of community engagement and resilience, where neighborhoods are built on the strengths, knowledge, and creativity of&nbsp;residents.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Honor the dignity and&nbsp;expertise&nbsp;of community members by&nbsp;recognizing that every person, group, and organization has something valuable to contribute\u2014whether&nbsp;it\u2019s&nbsp;cultural traditions, lived experiences, skills, or networks of support. Rather than focusing on what a community may lack, this perspective emphasizes what is already strong and thriving.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>As college students, you bring fresh ideas and energy, but&nbsp;it\u2019s&nbsp;important to listen first and look for the wisdom already present in the community.&nbsp;We ask that you collaborate and build upon existing assets rather than \u201cfix\u201d perceived problems.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Recommendations&nbsp;developed by Clark\u2019s Collaborative for Community Engagement&nbsp; Clark defines Community Engagement as \u201cthe collaboration between Clark University\u2014including its students, faculty, staff, and administration\u2014and larger communities (Main South, Worcester, Massachusetts, the United States, and the world) for the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources. This partnership&nbsp;seeks&nbsp;to dismantle inequitable power dynamics, promote shared decision-making, and recognize [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":0,"parent":19,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-277","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.1 (Yoast SEO v28.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Engaging with Community Partners\u00a0 | Collaborative for Community Engagement | Clark University<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/community-engagement\/for-students\/engaging-with-community-partners\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Engaging with Community Partners\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Recommendations&nbsp;developed by Clark\u2019s Collaborative for Community Engagement&nbsp; Clark defines Community Engagement as \u201cthe collaboration between Clark University\u2014including its students, faculty, staff, and administration\u2014and larger communities (Main South, Worcester, Massachusetts, the United States, and the world) for the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources. 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