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Planning for Community Engagement

August 12, 2015 by reslife

HRLFinal

The Department of Housing & Residence Life at Seattle University is a featured program.

 

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Purpose: Creating the spaces and opportunities for development on a meaningful level in our residential communities.

The Community Engagement Plan (CEP) is guided by 3 principles; Connection, Community, and Exploration.

Connection is providing residents with the opportunity to create meaningful and lasting relationships with their peers, faculty, staff and Seattle U community.

Community is essential for creating an environment where residents feel like they matter and belong to a positive, inclusive, safe and secure setting that promotes their academic, social and personal success.

Exploration is the opportunity for residents to explore their identity, develop life skills and discern their academic and career pursuits.

Responsibilities

Resident Directors are responsible for their building’s Community Engagement Plan (CEP) and by the end of September should be able to present their CEP to their supervisor, as well as to the entire HRL Senior Team. Each RD has the discretion to determine how best to develop their CEP, based on what works best for their leadership style. All of the factors below must be included in the CEP, but may also include topics not included below.

What should be in the CEP?

The points below are what supervisors will be observing to be incorporated in your CEPs when you are presenting it to them.

Incorporation of Connection, Community and Exploration throughout the plan

Reflection of who you are, your staff and community identity

Long & Short term initiatives woven in your plan to foster community

Demonstrate a sequence of engagement & an understanding of student development

Utilizing strategies in engaging community through focused initiatives

Incorporation of student staff, hall councils, LCs, RMs, etc

Using past challenges and successes from previous years

Community Development Strategies

These are the different types of activities that can be incorporated into the CEP to foster community development.

Individual Interactions: Resident Engagement Meetings and Ongoing Check-Ins

New student vs returning student

Mid-way check points

Final deadline

Community meetings

Welcome meetings at the beginning of the quarter

Monthly meetings

Bulletin boards & supplementary programming

Newsletters

Emails

Facebook

Programs & activities

Community Development Activities

Building Programs

LC Signature Events

Educational conversations

Proactive conversations about impact

Response to policy violations

Response to disruptive behavior

Safety and evacuations

Quarterly Drills

Collaboration with Hall Council

Other

Success Measures

These are the different methods that could be used to measure the success of your CEP. Some of the measures will be facilitated by other areas of HRL.

EBI

Evaluations from events

Name quizzes

Sociograms

Other

Questions to Answer in Developing Your Model

These questions are to help RDs in forming the CEP for their areas. It is not a requirement to have each thing represented in your plan but it is important they are considered in the impact of the CEP.

Historical review

What does the EBI data tell you about how satisfied residents were with the community in your building last year? Using this data as a starting point, what do you think residents want from the community in your building?

Facility/Structure

What is the structure of your building? What are the challenges and opportunities inherent in that structure?

Trends throughout the year

What trends do you need to consider and plan for throughout the year? For example, orienting new students at the start of the year and each quarter, preparing for winter break and potential stressors with family, winter blues, options for spring break, preparing for next year etc.

Resident needs

Who lives in your building? What challenges and opportunities might the students in your community be facing?

Evaluation measures

Using the CEP principles as a starting point, what are the measurable you want to establish this year? How will you evaluate our success? Identify 3-5 measurable that you want to prioritize as a staff and identify an action plan to achieve the goals.

What do you want to do to help residents create connections? What does success look like? How will you measure your success?

What do you want to do to help residents form inclusive and diverse communities? What does success look like? How will you measure your success?

What do you want to do to foster students’ exploration in their personal, academic, and career goals? What does success look like? How will you measure success?

What do you want residents to say about their experience living in your building at the end of the year?

What does each RA want to be known/remembered for/by on their floor?

How often do you need to revisit your model?

Hall Council & Building Team

What role does Hall Council play in community development? How does the staff support and collaborate with Hall Council?

What role does the custodial staff play in community development? How does the staff support and /or collaborate with custodial staff?

What role does the desk staff play in community development? How does the staff support and collaborate with desk and food services staff?

Learning Communities and Mentors

How will you coordinate with the LC Faculty Directors and Mentors? How will you measure your success?

Staff buy in and accountability

How will you get the staff bought into the model? How will you assess their buy-in?

How will you hold staff accountable to the model?

How involved do you want them to be in developing the model?

Quarterly Review

Each quarter, Residential Education will provide a review of the Community Engagement Plans of the buildings from the participant perspective. The review conducted by Residential Education will be saved into the Residential Education folder by the close of the second week of the consecutive quarter.

The Building Leadership Team (RD & ARD) will provide a snapshot of the quarter, as opposed to a comprehensive account of everything that occurred during the quarter.

Here is an example of the snapshot:

Staff:
Highlights
Lowlights
Recommendations for the upcoming quarter

Learning Communities:
Highlights
Lowlights
Campus Partner(s) Relationship
Recommendations for the Upcoming Quarter

Hall Council:
Highlights
Lowlights
Recommendations for the Upcoming Quarter

Building/Complex Issues:
Highlights
Lowlights
Recommendations for the upcoming quarter

Conduct:
Highlights
Lowlights
Recommendations for the upcoming quarter

Collaboration between RAs, Desk Staff, Hall Council and Mentors:
Highlights
Lowlights
Recommendations for the upcoming quarter

References
2015 Community Development Model: Learn 2 Live; Housing & Food Services, University of Washington

 

 

 

 

 

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