Reading the Community: Helping Students Learn the Process

Colleges and universities in the 21st century will thrive through extensive collaborations with other higher education institutions and with communities with which they have special affinities. These relationships will create an educational environment that promotes deeper learning and student success, while generating knowledge that can be put to good use in improving the sustainability of local and global communities, and the diversity and strength of the economy. This paper will explore ways to engage students in the life of their communities while they take an active role in addressing challenges that affect local culture, health, economic stability and the environment. To do this, students must develop the ability to learn how to enrich their experience in the neighborhoods where they live by paying attention to aspects of life in their community that they normally would not notice; that is, to “read the community.