Public Engagement

This and the next few blogs are contributed by Kathryn Draeger, Statewide Director of the UMN Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships based on the work of program evaluators Richard Krueger, Mary Anne Casey, Randi Nelson and Okey Ukaga. They provide important insights into what works, and what needs improvement, in community-university partnerships.

The UMN Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships: Determining the impacts of a public partnering

The following series of articles are part of an impact evaluation of the UMN Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships. The UMN Regional Partnerships are located in five regions of the state and their mission is to support sustainable development in greater Minnesota through community and University partnerships in outreach, education, and research. The three bedrock principles of this initiative are:

• Develop and sustain a richer and more vibrant partnership with the citizens of each region and their land grant university.
  
• Address agricultural, natural resources, and tourism issues consistent with sustainable development principles identified as central to our work.
  
• Promote the concept of active citizenship, which calls on us to think first and foremost as citizens with a commitment to working through issues and exploring opportunities in an integrated and democratic manner.

On June 5, 2006 Richard Krueger, consulting evaluator, reported:

A grand experiment has been quietly unfolding across the Minnesota countryside. Since 1997, small groups of citizens and University employees have been building and testing a new model of land-grant university outreach. It is called the University of Minnesota Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships. In this model, regional citizen-led boards match locally identified needs with University resources. The boards provide support to these projects, including limited funding for citizen groups to “buy” University help. Citizens work in partnerships with University faculty, staff, and students to solve local problems. In this model local citizens make the decisions. They decide which needs to address and then access University resources to help them address those needs.

So how well is this model working? In the spring of 2006, we held 15 focus groups across Minnesota. They were designed to help evaluate the Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships (also known as the Partnerships).

The executive directors of each of the five regions invite three types of people to join in the evaluation:

• Board members
  
• Partners (these are people who represented a project that received a grant from the Partnerships)
  
• Community Observers (these are people who are considered to be keen observers of what is happening in the region)

We asked what’s working well, what’s not working well, and what should be done to make the Partnerships better. This is what we heard.

What’s working well?

Each Partnership has deeply committed and active citizen leadership.

• There is a network of enthusiastic, hardworking people within each of these regions that is committed to these Partnerships and their projects.
  
• Board members work well together. They feel free to share diverse opinions. They are respectful. They seem to enjoy working together.
  
• The Partnerships are also learning more about how to foster citizen-driven projects.

• They believe the Partnerships have great potential to be a catalyst in the revival of rural areas.
  
• They believe in citizen-driven decision making.
  
• They believe in creating equal partnerships between communities and the University.
  
• They already see successes and outcomes.
  
• They have a vision of how the Partnership and its Clean Energy Resource Teams can revitalize their regions.

• They believe the University is one of the treasures of the state.
  
• They feel ownership. “It’s our University.”
  
• They believe in the land-grant university concept and they want to be able to access the University’s resources.
  
• They believe that the University has valuable resources that can be used to make their regions better places to live, work, and play.
  
• They believe the University brings credibility to issues like sustainable development and alternative energy.

• Board members believe their relationships with the University have evolved to be more cooperative and less contentious.
  
• Initially, some boards found it difficult to balance the goals of active citizen leadership and university involvement in projects. Some projects had extensive citizen leadership but little university involvement. Other projects had extensive university involvement but little citizen leadership. Boards said they are now better able to recognize potential problems and steer projects to develop better community/university relationships.
  
• The Northeast, Northwest, and West Central Partnerships have created strong partnerships with their local campus. Some people said projects that involve local University of Minnesota faculty and staff are better examples of true partnerships. It seems that local University employees are seen as citizens bringing expertise rather than University experts.
  
• Partnerships have learned better strategies for accessing and involving University faculty, staff, and students. They’ve learned more about what works and what doesn’t.

• Sustainable development is no longer seen as a fringe issue belonging to “tree huggers.”
  
• There is still debate about the definition, but not about its importance.
  
• The boards’ understanding of sustainability has grown over time.

• Some people see renewable energy as the future of rural Minnesota.
  
• This is a win-win effort that benefits individuals, rural communities, Minnesota, and the nation.

• The regions have created an organizational structure, goals, boards, and systems for operationalizing the model.
  
• As of April 2006, a total of 273 projects have been funded by the Partnerships.
  
• In general, people think the Partnerships have been “moderately successful” at accomplishing their three goals: to promote active citizen leadership in strengthening the long-term social, economic, and environmental health of greater Minnesota; to advance the understanding and achievement in regional sustainability; and to build and strengthen effective relationships between citizens, communities, and their university. They believe they have made tremendous progress, but they also believe there is a long way to go before these goals are achieved.
  
• Board members are proud of what has been accomplished.