Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 56.72
Liaison Christie-Joy Hartman
Submission Date May 12, 2017
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

James Madison University
EN-10: Community Partnerships

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.00 / 3.00 Rhonda Zingraff
Associate Dean & IIHHS Director
College of Health & Behavioral Studies
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Name of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability :
4C: Campus Community Civic Collaborative

Does the institution provide financial or material support for the partnership? :
Yes

Which of the following best describes the partnership timeframe?:
Multi-year or ongoing

Which of the following best describes the partnership’s sustainability focus?:
The partnership simultaneously supports social equity and wellbeing, economic prosperity, and ecological health

Are underrepresented groups and/or vulnerable populations engaged as equal partners in strategic planning, decision-making, implementation and review? (Yes, No, or Not Sure):
Yes

A brief description of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability, including website URL (if available) and information to support each affirmative response above:
Entering its fifth year in January 2017, the 4C Initiative partnership between JMU's Institute for Constructive Advocacy and Dialogue (ICAD) and the Fairfield Center in downtown Harrisonburg, Virginia (a registered 501(c)3 organization in Virginia) continues to fill needs for productive discussion about challenging and value-laden issues in the Harrisonburg and JMU communities. Since its inception, 4C has designed and facilitated over 28 campus and community public dialogue forums. In creating opportunities for public dialogue, 4C collaborates with campus and community groups to determine needs and then create processes that encourage transformative talk. This then leads to deeper understanding, focused deliberation of choices, and collaborative action-taking. The 4C student directors, affiliates and associates serve as a resource of passionate and impartial facilitators available to the community. A selection of the accomplishments of the project as reported at the end of calendar year 2015 include: 4C Student Directors At the end of 2015, 4C was delighted to add two interns, Lauren McParland and Taylor Schwarting, as 4C student directors. Both students completed the SCOM 447: Facilitating Public Processes class taught by Dr. Britt during the fall semester and will help 4C as facilitators, marketers, and in strategic planning. 4C Student Affiliates Student Affiliates have also completed SCOM 447: Facilitating Public Processes and are trained to assist in the planning of public conversations as well as act as impartial facilitators for public dialogue events. The 2015 Student Affiliates are: Cathy Davanzo, Kelly Grau, Andrew Haveles, Katie Lese, Laura Mack, Gina Marinelli, Lauren McParland,Taylor Schwarting and Leanna Smithberger. 2015 Key 4C Events Students as Neighbors: Collaborating for Sustainable Solutions, February 2015 Building off the first Students as Neighbors forum on sharing and shaping community, this second student-designed and facilitated forum allowed participants to find ways to encourage more opportunities for valuing and appreciating positive relationships of university students with the surrounding community. Accommodating Invisible Disabilities, March 2015 In partnership with the Office of Disability Services, 4C facilitated a panel and dialogue for students, faculty, and staff as part of Disability Awareness Week to encourage exploration of the ways we might thoughtfully accommodate invisible disabilities and support success in the classroom and throughout the working world. Reducing Recidivism Summit, August 2015 As part of the ongoing Harrisonburg Summit series, over 90 members of the community discussed issues and opportunities to address the high rate of recidivism in Harrisonburg. 4C students assisted in the facilitation of breakout group discussions. Discussing ‘The Hunting Ground’ film, October 2015 JMU students and faculty watched the documentary, The Hunting Ground, which reports on institutional response to rape crimes on college campuses. After viewing the film, 4C student affiliates facilitated small group discussions about how the film relates to social justice issues. The Justice Studies Department and School of Public and International Affairs at JMU co-sponsored this program. Diversity Teach-In, November 2015 A coalition of JMU students partnered with faculty and staff to present a day-long teach-in on complex topics within Africana, disability, LGBTQ, and women’s and gender studies. Following the presentations, 4C student affiliates facilitated small group diversity dialogues and brainstormed additional issues and current events for further discussion. Bike-Walk Summit, November 2015 This is the third year 4C students assisted in facilitating interactive segments of the larger Summit to encourage small groups to think together and develop collaborative ideas for biking and walking action in the coming year. A National Issues Forum (NIF): Our Budget Priorities, November 2015 Using the National Issues Forum model, 4C student affiliates designed, promoted, and facilitated a community dialogue on national budget priorities to produce a summary report that was then sent to NIF partners. Family Services Listening Dialogue, November 2015 4C student affiliates facilitated conversations between family members of incarcerated persons and various community members. This exercise promoted the listening, and understanding of various points of view held by a diverse group of individuals. Note regarding engaging underrepresented groups: Yes, in the forums that 4C runs, all voices contribute and co-construct the definition of the issue and deliberate about ways to address the issue. All participants help shape the final decision and/or identify common ground for action. In addition, the issues emerge from listening sessions in the community.

Name of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability (2nd partnership):
2016 MOU Between Valley Health System and Healthy Families Shenandoah County

Does the institution provide financial or material support for the partnership? (2nd partnership):
Yes

Which of the following best describes the partnership timeframe? (2nd partnership):
Multi-year or ongoing

Which of the following best describes the partnership’s sustainability focus? (2nd partnership):
The partnership supports at least one, but not all three, dimensions of sustainability

Are underrepresented groups and/or vulnerable populations engaged as equal partners in strategic planning, decision-making, implementation and review? (2nd partnership) (Yes, No, or Not Sure):
Yes

A brief description of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability, including website URL (if available) and information to support each affirmative response above (2nd partnership):
In order to sustain services to vulnerable families in an underserved region, the university partners with Valley Health to utilize space that enables professional staff, faculty and students to work in proximity to clients. Services include home visits to foster sustained relationships that reduce risks of child abuse, domestic violence, and chronic unemployment. http://shenandoahpage.wixsite.com/healthyfamilies

Name of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability (3rd partnership):
MOU Between Harrisonburg City Public Schools and JMU's Counseling and Psychological Services for the Provision of Free Consultation Clinic for Parents

Does the institution provide financial or material support for the partnership? (3rd partnership):
Yes

Which of the following best describes the partnership timeframe? (3rd partnership):
Multi-year or ongoing

Which of the following best describes the partnership’s sustainability focus? (3rd partnership):
The partnership supports at least one, but not all three, dimensions of sustainability

Are underrepresented groups and/or vulnerable populations engaged as equal partners in strategic planning, decision-making, implementation and review? (3rd partnership) (Yes, No, or Unknown):
No

A brief description of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability, including website URL (if available) and information to support each affirmative response above (3rd partnership):
This agreement connects parents of students in the City's public schools to counseling and psychological services, available through the clinic (CAPS) operated by the university via faculty expertise and supervision of clinical doctoral students. At no charge to the public schools, consultation is provided to parents regarding behavioral, emotional and academic difficulties for their child; university facilities are provided for this. Families otherwise unable to access such services are resourced, so this addresses social equity and well-being. Academic success for children is a goal as well, which contributes to economic prosperity. http://www.iihhs.jmu.edu/caps/

A brief description of the institution’s other community partnerships to advance sustainability:
Another IIHHS partnership is the MOA Between Valley AIDS Network and James Madison University. The Valley AIDS Network website provides robust information about this non-profit organization (VAN), and the website identifies the partnership with IIHHS, the Institute for Innovation in Health and Human Services at JMU. The Institute has been the organizational home for VAN for more than a decade so that researchers, faculty and students of the university could easily participate in the services offered to clients with HIV/AIDS. Social equity, well-being and economic prosperity for people with HIV/AIDS are all priorities of this partnership. Institute for Innovation in Health and Human Services (IIHHS) is home to more than two dozen distinctive community outreach programs and/or clinical services programs, mostly grant funded, which have worked in successful collaborations with community schools, agencies, providers of professional services, etc., for multiple years. Many of these relationships of long-standing duration are sustained without formal MOU's and instead reflect deep and abiding coalitions. We do not view these as in any way inferior to formal partnerships, but are not including them in this report out of concern for clarity and comparability to other reports. All of the programs at IIHHS, addressing needs from the early years to the senior years, prioritize responsiveness to underrepresented groups and/or vulnerable populations. Joint planning by campus and community voices is a hallmark of the work.

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
Responsible Party for IIHHS information: Dr. Rhonda Zingraff, Director, Institute for Innovation in Health and Human Services Responsible Party for 4C: Dr. Lori Britt, Associate Professor, School of Communication Studies. Information about 4C was originally entered and reviewed as an innovation credit and was moved to this credit during internal review of the final submission.

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.