Temple is launching a new university-wide initiative that will connect students and faculty with community partners throughout the Philadelphia region.

The Community Learning Network (CLN) will advance and support civic engagement in learning and research and serve as a central resource for local community groups seeking partnerships with Temple's academic programs. In addition to maintaining mutually beneficial relationships between community organizations and Temple students and faculty, CLN will support the development of specially designated "Community-Based Learning" courses and provide student leadership opportunities. By next academic year, CLN leaders also hope to launch a Community Engaged Scholar certificate program.

"Metro-engagement is an essential part of a Temple education," said Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Lisa Staiano-Coico. "Developing more deep and long-lasting relationships between our students and faculty and the surrounding community — especially relationships that improve lives — is one of the top priorities of Temple's Academic Strategic Compass. The Community Learning Network will help fulfill that promise."

CLN's official debut will be marked by a celebration and networking event from noon to 2 p.m. on Friday, April 23 in the Conference Suite at 1810 Liacouras Walk on Temple's Main Campus. After remarks from Staiano-Coico, Temple students, faculty and staff can mingle and share ideas with members of community-based organizations.  On display will be examples of more than a dozen innovative projects associated with CLN —including Project SHINE, a partnership between Temple's Center for Intergenerational Learning and 13 community-based organizations; and the Temple Youth VOICES Project, a local youth leadership development initiative run by the University Community Collaborative of Philadelphia.

One of the network's goals will be to
facilitate
more community-oriented content in undergraduate courses. Courses will earn special Community-Based Learning (CBL) status according to the level of time commitment, academic integration, locational focus and other measures. To develop and redesign courses with more community-based learning components, Temple's Teaching and Learning Center is creating CLN Teaching Circles — groups of five to six faculty members with access to special course development resources, including funding (shared between faculty and community partners) and trained student peer teachers.

CLN will offer student peer teacher positions in 12 CBL classes starting in 2010-11. Peer teachers will go through a training and orientation process and receive a $1,500 stipend per semester.

CLN Director Eli Goldblatt, a professor of English and a leading expert on community-based learning, says that Temple scholars and students have been developing effective community-based academic initiatives for decades. What has been lacking, he said, was constructive pooling of effort and resources, a trend that began to change under President Ann Weaver Hart and Provost Staiano-Coico.

Goldblatt stressed that CLN's model is a departure from the service-learning model. Popular in the 1990s, service learning emphasizes student service in communities, yet often without developing equal and sustainable partnerships.

"Our emphasis is on reciprocity, on mutual benefit, on learning through principled action," Goldblatt said. "The Community Learning Network's goal is to support study and work that bring advantages to both university and community partners. Everyone involved needs to be clear about shared goals, and the relationships must not be one-and-done."

“We have so much to offer community partners,” continued Goldblatt. “We can help with intellectual resources, such as research projects or data that are useful for non-profits. We can help make connections with other non-profits in the city, as well as foundations and other funders. We can help with grant writing partnerships and student volunteers.”

More information about the Community Learning Network's programs and resources will be posted online in the coming weeks. CLN staff — Goldblatt, Assistant Director Michael Norton, Partnership and Placement Coordinator Rachel Howe and (starting in 2010-11) Faculty Director Carol Harris-Shapiro — may be reached at cln@temple.edu or 215-204-9147.