Campus Community Program Description and Criteria

Purpose of the Award

To honor a sustained higher education and community commitment that has resulted in tangible community impact.
To showcase and recognize, an outstanding campus-community partnership service program
To increase the number and the effectiveness of campus-community partnerships and promote college/university citizenship.
To encourage cooperation among education, community, government, and business leaders on critical social and economic issues.
To increase public awareness of and support for campus-community service programs.

Award Guidelines

The Campus Community Partnership Award recognizes campus and community groups that work together to produce measurable improvements in people's lives and to enhance student learning in the process. To be a candidate for the award, a partnership program should have a strong combination of the following:

Collaboration between a college or university (public or private) and the community for at least two years.
A history of shared power and decision-making.
Impact on the lives of families and communities through increased economic opportunity, resourceful social and civic networks or responsive public systems.
Data-informed planning and decision-making.
An optimal blend of learning, research and/or service for higher education participants.
Efforts to enlist other collaborators (e.g. businesses, civic organizations, government agencies, faith-based institutions).
Documentation of measurable outcomes.
Promise of sustainability.

Selection of the winner is based on the combined merits of each program, giving careful consideration to how closely the program applicants match the award criteria.

Criteria with helpful questions

The program must be a partnership between a college and a community for at least two years. (What and when were the first accomplishments of your partnership?)
There must be shared power in making decisions in the partnership. (How does your partnership ensure equal power in making decisions between the college and the community partner?)
The partnership should have economic and social impact for the community. (What specific accomplishments has your partnership achieved for the community and students? What are some examples of applied learning?)
Partnership planning must be based on data. (How is data used in planning the partnership activities and programs?)
The partnership should be comprised of an optimal blend of learning, research, and service. (What mechanism do you use to balance learning, research and service in your partnership? What have been the results in each of these three areas?)
The partnership program should make efforts to enlist other collaborators such as businesses, civic organizations, etc. (What steps have been taken to enlist other collaborators in your partnership?)
The value added to the community and to the college, as a result of the partnership program, must be supported by documentation. (How do you document the value of your partnership to the community?)
The program should have the promise of sustainability. (What measures are being taken to ensure the sustainability of your program?)

The following is a typical sequence of activities for a host to present the award at an event.

Prospective host secures a commitment from the foundation in writing to host the award.
Upon acceptance of the commitment letter, the foundation sends a grant agreement letter outlining the responsibilities of the foundation and Host for development of the award, for signature by an officer of the host organization.
REQUIREMENT: Host signs and returns the agreement.
REQUIREMENT: Host establishes a project plan based on a template provided by the foundation for conducting the event and for recruiting required sponsors. (See Be a Sponsor)
REQUIREMENT: Host develops program budget based on an outline provided by the foundation. Host ensures that anticipated sponsorships at least match expenditures. Host tracks actual expenditures and sponsorships against budgeted amounts.
REQUIREMENT: Host makes a firm commitment for a date for the awards presentation.
REQUIREMENT: Host and the foundation issue a press release announcing the program.
REQUIREMENT: Host immediately begins implementing the sponsor development plan. Host advises the foundation on a monthly basis of the progress toward plan goals.
REQUIREMENT: Host begins recruiting a keynote speaker.
REQUIREMENT: Host begins implementing the event plan, venue, catering and all other elements. Host advises the foundation on a monthly basis of the progress toward plan goals.
REQUIREMENT: Host develops the application process for the award.
REQUIREMENT: Host recruits a selection committee to act as judges for the award.
REQUIREMENT: Host advises finalists and invites them to attend award ceremony.
REQUIREMENT: Host arranges for video presentations of award finalists and for video documentation of the awards ceremony. There should be no compromise for getting a good quality video. The Foundation will choose an applicant video for publishing on its website, www.jrcpf.org and/or www.servicebook.org
Videos of all three finalists must be shown at the award event unless otherwise approved by the foundation.
REQUIREMENT: Host arranges for appropriate individuals in addition to the key-note speaker to complete the event program, such as officers of the University or elected officials of the jurisdiction in which the community organization operates
REQUIREMENT: Host completes all plans (sponsor, event and keynote speaker) and orchestrates the awards ceremony, including video documentation.
REQUIREMENT: Host must arrange for short descriptions of winning and certified programs to be provided to the foundation and in addition to a short description of all applicants received and the schools with which they are affiliated.

Award Application

Please note that the Award is a competition among college-community (service) partnership programs and in order for you to apply for the award the application must be processed through a host (see above). A host could be a school, state, country or a sponsoring organization. Award Application

Please make sure that your answers are no longer than one paragraph.

Name of Academic Institution
Name of Department (Center)
Name of Community Group
How long has this partnership been in existence?
How are the students involved? Give an example.
What role does the community play in the partnership?
What has been the impact of student and faculty involvement in the community on the lives of people, or families? Ex: through increase economic opportunity, responsive public system, etc.
Give an example of how community strengths are acknowledged, built upon, and enhanced by working together with the community.
Provide a statement from community member(s) specifically describing how the institutional involvement in their community has added value to their lives.
What obstacles or challenges has the partnership encountered, and how have these been addressed.
What has been the impact on students' academic program? What additional learning opportunities were created?
Provide a statement (reflection) from students working in the field regarding what they have gained from their experience of serving the community.
What are the major past and current funding sources for the project? How will you use Carter Partnership Award money if you win?

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