Community:Schoolhouse for Lifelong Learning

Department of

WHY WE CAN’T• We’ve always done it this way

• That’s not what we do

• We tried that before and it doesn’t work

• Our lawyer says that it’s too risky

• We can’t afford to experiment

• We don’t have time to do one more thing

• There’s no way to measure the impact

YES WE CAN!• Start small or take a pilot approach

• Address legitimate concerns

• Take balanced risks

• Adopt a new paradigm that is:

–Place-focused

–Community-driven

–Strength-based

Neighbourhood Matching Fund

COMMUNITY-SCHOOL PARTNERSHIPS

Orca Elementary, Seattle

Muir Elementary, Seattle

Alki Elementary, Seattle

Center for Wooden Boats, Seattle

Delridge Neighbourhood, Seattle

Ming-Xiang (By the People) NeighbourhoodKaohsiung, Taiwan

Baker visits restaurant

Baker visits tea shop

Temples for guardian gods

Self-organized class for housewives

Hardware Store

Street of Ironware Shops

Tainan, Taiwan

Meinong, Taiwan

Havana, Cuba

UNIVERSITY-COMMUNITY-SCHOOL PARTNERSHIPS

Historic Challenges

• Ten week quarters: insufficient time to build relationships or achieve results

• Work was scattered and episodic

• Departments worked in isolation from one another

• Community was not engaged so that value to university and to community was limited and not sustainable

New Model

• Long-term commitment to specific communities

• Staff are community-based• Work led by community advisory

committee• Work coordinated through faculty advisory

committee• Partner with local institution of higher

education• Based on reciprocity: UW and community

both participate and benefit

Toppenish

LIFELONG LEARNING IN COMMUNITY

Eritrean Community, Seattle

Lang Gang, Taiwan

Aging Your Way

Vashon Youth Council Dream Projects

Vashon Youth Radio

Vashon Music Project

The Quibbler

Starshine Art

Vashon Tech Support

Save Our Soles

SODO Neighbourhood, Seattle

Columbia City, Seattle

Bottom-Up Planning