Clifford J. Benson Center for Community Partnerships

Mission

To foster campus-community collaborations that address needs in small towns.

Vision

To work toward more vibrant and equitable rural communities.

Values

• Rural communities have unique assets that make them ideal places to learn, work, and live.
• People who live in rural communities understand their challenges best.
• Addressing complex problems requires flexible thinking and a broad base of knowledge.
• Students and faculty learn, teach, and do their best work when they are applying what they know to real world challenges.
• We live, work, and learn on Dakota and Anishinaabe land, and our projects honor the complex history of our campus, state, and nation by engaging Indigenous students and communities.
• We strive to honor the stories and assets of both long-term residents and people who have come to rural communities from other communities, states, and countries.
• We invest in young people so they will be proud of where they come from and prepared to use their voices and gifts to continue improving their communities.

Definitions

Community partnerships are reciprocal agreements between one or more UMN Morris units and one or more individuals, organizations, or educational institutions that support the mission, vision, and values of the Clifford J. Benson Center for Community Partnerships, as well as data-driven priorities of the partners involved in the partnership. Community partnerships include a project agreement; ongoing engagement by UMN Morris students, faculty, and/or staff and point people in other community roles; ongoing communication; regular reflection; and ongoing assessment. Community partnerships exist for short and long term periods and are ever evolving as community needs and assets shift. Learn more about the types of partnerships we currently support. 

Community-engaged learning is a pedagogy that utilizes community service, community-based research, or other civic engagement activities along with regular reflective activities and assignments to meet both course goals and identified community needs.

Scope

• We address data-driven needs in small towns with 10,000 or fewer residents.
• We prioritize projects located in small towns in Minnesota.
• We partner primarily with non-partisan community organizations, schools, and governmental entities. We accept proposed projects from for-profit entities and individual rural residents if the project addresses the public good.

Units

The Center for Small Towns supports community-engaged faculty research, creative activity, and consulting opportunities that build capacity to better understand rural challenges and make sound decisions to improve rural communities; coordinates project-based student internships that address small town challenges; and convenes events that build bridges among small town community members and provide education related to small towns. 

The Office of Community Engagement coordinates community-building programs; connects students, faculty, staff, and community members to volunteer opportunities; directs youth programs.

Together, the units collaborate on Center for Community Partnerships initiatives and Community-Engaged Learning.