Working with Community Partners
The Office of Community Engagement (OCE) in partnership with faculty members from across McMaster, developed a free open-source Pressbook on the Fundamentals of Community Engaged Learning. The Pressbook consists of text and videos as well as interactive components that support students learning about community engagement in an accessible and engaging way. The Pressbook describes McMaster’s Six Principles
of Community Engagement: Respectful Relationships, Reciprocity, Equity, Continuity, Openness to Learning, and Commitment to Act.
1.
Review McMaster’s 6 Principles of Community Engagement
outlined in Module 3 (Chapters 7 -13),
respectful relationships – built on trust and guided by integrity. Getting to know each other.
reciprocity – how students, community partners, etc. seek to generate mutual benefit. More reciprocal
equity – recognize peoples different needs & circumstances.
Continuity – motivating relationships & committing to one another. Actively discussing & establishing.
Openness to learning – being open minded to new ideas and perspectives, avoiding tunnel vision.
Commitment to act – making a positive difference, sharing / acting on knowledge, contribute to good.
2.
Select 2
or more principles, and Equity & Respectful Relationships.
3.
Using 100 words for each principle selected, explain how you would apply it to the Community Impact Project
(200 words in total)
Selected Community Engagement
Principle
How Will you Apply it to the Community Impact Project?
Selected Principle 1: Equity
It is important to be able to recognize that people have different needs and circumstances in their lives that can be completely different to mine. Being not only respectful but understanding and accommodating to their needs and circumstances is crucial in maintaining a positive relationship with my group members. Maintaining this positive relationship will help in workflow and generating new ideas towards the Community Impact Project. This way,
if anything happens to another group member, we won’t argue about unequal distribution of work, or who’s doing the heavy lifting, but instead lift each other up to help accomplish the common goal of the Community Impact Project.
Selected Principle 2: Respectful Relationships
Building trust in relationships is not an easy or short task at all. Getting to know my group members and strengthening our relationship with one another can not only help with the
Community Impact Project, but also the way work is done and the way communication is achieved between one another. Being mindful and guiding the relationship building
through integrity and honesty can go a long way. Through building respectful relationships, I can improve our groups p. 2
