The Collaborative for Community Engagement (CCE) launched a strategic planning process in January of 2018 with one core goal - to forge a strengthened vision for how the CCE could cultivate and deepen community-engaged teaching, research, and action in ways that advance the mission and strategic plan of the college.

To determine our focus areas and strategies, we sought to co-create our strategic plan democratically with communities on and off-campus. To do so, the CCE coordinated a Semester of Listening to gather input from stakeholders through town halls, focus groups, interviews, collective visioning sessions, and survey data. We engaged the ideas and visions of around 500 people: faculty, students, staff, community partners, and residents.

Our strategic planning steering committee crafted the core outcomes of this semester, including the CCE's new vision and mission, as well as six strategic goals that reflect central themes from input sessions. CCE staff then participated in a Summer of Planning to strategize how our office would realize this shared vision. The following pages elaborate this vision and how we plan to turn ideas into reality. Our vision for crafting a campus-wide community engagement strategic plan was rooted in the national "Civic Action Planning" initiative launched by Campus Compact, a national coalition of over 1,000 colleges and universities committed to the public purpose of higher education. In 2015, the Compact charged member institutions with reinvigorating their public missions by engaging in community work more deliberately, thoughtfully, and coherently. As a first step, the Compact suggested creating a Civic Action Plan that set goals and identified approaches for how to best leverage campus assets to invest in public goods. We join over 100 colleges and universities across the nation who have responded by writing and implementing such strategic plans.

We invite you to explore our plan and initiatives, and to share with us your feedback and questions as we implement this vision.