Toward authentic university-community engagement

ABSTRACT University-community engagement (UCE) tends to be unequal, yielding greater benefits to the university. This creates mistrust, particularly between the university and African American neighborhoods. We propose a model of authentic UCE that builds reciprocity and trust between members of the community and university and increases their capacity to collaboratively problem solve. Through experiential learning, participants confront implicit biases, and develop empathy and stamina to confront systemic racism. Through five training workshops and action circles, participants developed strategies for using their learning to address real-life issues. Lessons learned from this model might be instructive for other universities seeking more authentic UCE.