Building a Culturally-Competent, Community-Driven Partnership in East Tampa
Students in USF’s College of Education worked with USF Faculty and community leaders on community-grown projects.
Description:
Students in USF’s College of Education worked with USF Faculty and community leaders on three community-grown projects. Dr. Harold Keller of the College of Education’s Department of Psychological and Social Foundations and Dr. Richard Briscoe from Florida Mental Health Institute’s Department of Child and Family Studies work with the students. Evangeline Best of East Tampa Neighborhood Organization Works (ETNOW) provided community partnership. The project included planning a needs assessment of East Tampa. The USF College of Education students worked with the residents to get input on listing changes and improvements for the neighborhood, citizen’s needs, and awareness of available services.
In order to map the school assets, the students went to Middleton High School to conduct focus groups and interview students, parents and faculty. Interviewees were asked to identify assets that benefit both the students and community.
For the Potter Elementary after-school program evaluation, students sought ways to increase the participation of parents in their child’s education. In order to accomplish this task, they first had to understand cultural differences, and identify ways to encourage shared responsibility in education.
The results of the project show that school teachers in East Tampa display three types of assets which they labeled as Attitude, People, and Initiative. Attitude was defined as all of the teachers saying that they do whatever the kids need. People included the connections among the faculty. Also included in this category were the teacher’s relationships with alumni and the community at large. Initiative was reflected in the outreach to the community, with the goal of keeping all audiences informed. These themes were supported in interviews with both students and parents.
The Education students learned how to keep community-driven projects focused on meeting the community’s issues and concerns. Beyond that, they designed both short-term goals for the program and long-term goals for revitalization of the East Tampa neighborhood.
Contact Person: Harold Keller
Funding for Academic Year: 2004-05