What Is the Future of Town-Gown Relations? These Researchers Think They Know

U. of Virginia

Many colleges have boards and initiatives that focus on town-gown relations and research — say, a public-service graduation requirement or a commitment to purchase and hire from neighborhoods around the campus. But few community members actually play roles in leading or shaping those projects, according to a new report analyzing 100 urban college and university partnerships with their cities.

That needs to change, argues the “Field Guide for Urban University-Community Partnerships,” published on Wednesday by the University of Virginia’s Thriving Cities Lab.

“Despite progress on other fronts, questions of sustaining true community partnership built upon equity, inclusion, and even, in some cases, reparations remain pressing at most institutions and within most communities,” the report says. “It takes more than rhetorical commitments, no matter how well-intended or passionately made.”

As one example of how local voices can help make decisions, the report points to the University of Utah’s Hartland Partnership Center, which is governed by a group of neighborhood leaders on a resident committee. That advisory board identifies needs and strengths of the area, and the center today offers English-language instruction, mental-health support, citizenship classes, employment workshops, and after-school programs.

“You’re going to see a fairly significant paradigm shift where that will become the standard,” said Joshua J. Yates, research director of the Thriving Cities Lab, citing broader societal trends through which activists are pressuring institutions on social media and wielding data and other public information to show their needs.

There’s a long way to go. Just 16 of the 100 college and universities analyzed include community members on governance boards that guide their community work, the report found. “Repairing broken trust and building reciprocal, local relationships remains a challenge,” it says, “particularly when universities wield significant social and economic power relative to their community partners.”

Working with low-income communities, in particular, can become mere “lip service,” Yates said, instead of shared decision making.

An all-too-common scenario, he said, is when “really smart people with a lot of data” come into a community and tell residents about their own needs and the solution the experts have identified. “What you’re not doing is going to the community and saying, ‘Here’s what we see the data say — what’s your experience?’”

Over all, Yates and his team found, it has become common practice for urban campuses to have central community offices and research funding dedicated to community partnerships. College presidents and broader strategic plans often talk up the value of that work.

Nearly every institution with a strategic plan mentioned working with local communities, including academic teaching, service learning, and business incubation. And about two-thirds allow students, faculty members, or both to apply for funding for research that focuses on local issues.

Lindsay Ellis is a staff reporter. Follow her on Twitter @lindsayaellis, or email her at lindsay.ellis@chronicle.com.