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Create your own Community Partner Link website
From Carrie Williams, Associate Director, Community-University Partnerships and Service-Learning, University of Vermont
As we at the University of Vermont set out to create the Community Partner Link website, we faced many challenges and questions that we had to tackle along the way. The following list might help you to think about how your process will proceed�
Who will help to create this resource? A variety of campus constituents participated in this project. We brought together representatives from those offices we knew were involved in the community to create a committee that took on the project. UVM committee members included our Community-University Partnerships & Service Learning office, the Assistant Director of Community Service, the Office of Career Services, and member of the Extension Department.
The main goal of this project was to make something useful for the community, so it was essential that we add community partners to this committee - we recruited two representatives from non-profit agencies. Additionally, the committee convened a focus group session with other community representatives that produced a list of concerns and tips on how to best design this tool for optimum use and accessibility.
How will you find the programs to include? This is a big task, and it took a ton of work on the part of a graduate intern to create a "map" of where civic engagement was happening at UVM. She accomplished this through web searches, word of mouth, and following the trails. In the end, she had a large document with the names and descriptions of more than 100 programs. Deciding which to include was next; we narrowed our search down to service-based programs, deciding that trying to tackle all research, teaching, and outreach that was happening in the community was way too much to include.
How will you present this? This was perhaps our biggest challenge. There was discussion of a publication, but that soon melded into the idea of a website that would be longer-lasting and adaptable. At this step, an outside consultant was brought in to help the committee think about what was technologically feasible in a web-based product.
How will you pay for this? Once we started talking about a website, the question became - "how will we pay for this website?" The development of a complicated search function by an outside firm proved to be more than our offices could afford, even with the help of a small outside grant. We had to look internally for someone with skills to produce a website, and we also needed to simplify the complexity of the site.
Who will maintain it? Another big challenge was figuring out what happens when the website is actually up and running. Who will make edits, maintain the listings, add new programs, etc.? Right now, one office is taking responsibility for coordination of the project, but all offices are taking responsibility for editing and contributing updates to their own sections.
A related question came from community partners - If you can't find what you're looking for on the website, who do you contact? With so many different programs at UVM and no central "front door" phone number or office, this was a tough one. We basically had to put phone numbers for all offices on the site with no "main" contact number. Community members have been contacting our various offices at a higher rate, and we've found that the "front door" phone number would be extremely helpful in the future. For the present, the important issue was in making sure that the offices who were listed on the site each know enough about each other to direct community members to the appropriate contacts. The ongoing committee and collaboration has helped to make that possible.
Additional Tips
- Be inclusive in your selection of "stake holders"
- Definitely include community member and students; they will be the ones using the tool and can offer valuable and honest feedback in what works; they can also help you to find offices and programs they have worked with.
- Seek support from the highest levels.
- Our university president demonstrated to faculty, staff, and students that civic engagement is a top priority.
- Find committed people to head the project.
- The strongest movers of this project included a staff member and a faculty member with over 35 years of combined experience in service learning.
- Determine early on what is necessary and achievable, then stay focused.
- The committee initially struggled with the overwhelming scope of this project. Each person at the table had a slightly different vision of the process and product. It required several discussions to determine a course and the action steps. The community focus group and outside consultant provided valuable perspectives.
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