Welcome to the Intergenerational Community Engagement page
The Vice Chancellor has designated Community Engagement as a priority institutional theme for ACU National in 2005.
According to many, community engagement practitioners and academics comprise fully distinct communities based on contrasting worldviews, goals, and preferences for research (Beyer & Trice, 1982). Thus, many commentators call for scholars to increase their partnerships with practitioners in communities. In response, communities across Australia are discovering new energy for working together to build a positive vision for the community and the future.
However, while community engagement partnerships are increasingly important in solving the complex social issues of our times, bringing together of different communities of practice is often fraught with difficulties leading to less than harmonious relationships and sometimes disappointing outcomes. The following analogy demonstrates how partnerships can be more effective.
Uniting a community to nurture positive developments for community building is much like playing in a jazz ensemble. Each musician must know the tune and listen to the other ensemble members; all players must improvise together, sometimes taking the lead and sometimes blending into the background. Thus, to create a community-wide commitment all the "players" need to be an ensemble working toward a common vision to promote a healthy nation. Instead of focusing only on economic development, or reducing risks and intervening in problems, higher education requires a sustainable approach integrated across disciplines as well as generations. By applying this example, communities will be able to rally together and strengthen the foundation that our future needs, a foundation that is fragmenting for many in society.
This website is a unique opportunity for academics, researchers, government, business, and community leaders to share and apply their expertise for connecting generations. It provides not only the opportunity to forge new links but also to strengthen partnerships for collaborative research and action that sustain learning and service delivery.
The Five Action Strategies Model
Source: Search Institute, Minneapolis , Minnesota , USA , www.search-institute.org
Engage Adults
Engage adults from all occupations to develop sustained, strength-building relationships with children and adolescents, both within families and in neighbourhoods.
Mobilise Young People
Mobilise young people to use their power as asset builders and change agents.
Activate Sectors
Activate all sectors of the community—such as schools, congregations, youth, businesses, human services, and health-care organizations—to create an asset-building culture and to contribute fully to citizenship and nation building.
Invigorate Programs
Invigorate, expand, and enhance programs to become more asset rich and to be available to and accessed by all children, youth, adults and seniors.
Influence Civic Decisions
Influence decision makers and opinion leaders to leverage financial, media, and policy resources in support of this positive transformation of communities and society.
Updated by: PVC Research and International
15 December 2005
Approved by: corporatesite
