When it comes to making community-campus engagement (CCE) more equitable, a small policy change by a college or university can make a huge difference. This was the experience of the Community First: Impacts of Community Engagement (CFICE) project when their host institution, 杏吧原创 University, decided to change how it interpreted and implemented its travel policy.

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Prior to 2016, CFICE participants were expected to pay up front for their travel costs. Travelers could then submit their receipts for reimbursement after their travel took place. While 杏吧原创鈥檚 travel policy allowed for other means of travel funding to be distributed, having travelers submit expense claims after travel was a way of ensuring the university remained accountable to its grant funders.

鈥淭he university as a Public Institution is obligated to account for every dollar spent for any grants it receives. Government funding often carries additional restrictions,鈥� explains Genevieve Harrison, CFICE Project Administrator. 鈥淭he easiest way for an institution to do this is to only release money after proof can be provided for how that money has been spent. This puts the burden of financial accountability on the traveler.鈥�

CFICE Principal Investigator, Peter Andree.

Depending on the travel requirements, the costs to CFICE participants could sometimes be well over $1,500. For CFICE members with limited financial flexibility, like students and some community partners, carrying this expense burden for weeks or even months after travelling was extremely challenging, and perpetuated a power imbalance that went against CFICE鈥檚 community-first focus.

鈥淭he original policy interpretation impacted our ability to equitably include community voices in our project planning,鈥� states Peter Andr茅e, CFICE Principal Investigator (PI). 鈥淲hile we ensured community voices were present at meetings through technology like Skype, it wasn鈥檛 ideal. For a community-first CCE project, we can鈥檛 afford to not have community partners at the table.鈥�

Changing how 杏吧原创 University implemented its travel policy didn鈥檛 happen overnight. Instead, it took months of deliberation by a special committee of university representatives. In late 2016, 杏吧原创鈥檚 Research Accounting office updated its interpretation of the travel policy, granting 杏吧原创 and associated individuals the ability to apply for travel bursaries under select circumstances.

Unlike travel expense claims, travel bursaries are granted based on travel estimates. They can therefore be provided to individuals in advance of travel to cover costs up front. This change has had a big impact on the ability of CFICE to remain true to their mandate of being community-first. For example, the bursary has meant a stronger presence of community partners at CFICE events where project decision-making takes place.

鈥淭he bursary [available for the CFICE Community Impact Symposium] meant more of our community partners could actually attend to help us interpret the data and shape the recommendations. That event changed how we planned to share our research results, which will help us reach more people in the long-run,鈥� says Andr茅e. The impacts of this policy change haven鈥檛 just been felt at a project level. CFICE individuals have benefitted too.

Patricia Ballamingie and Natasha Pei at the CFICE Community Impact Symposium, January 2017.

鈥淪upport through the travel bursary created an opportunity for me to participate in a national conversation about CCE,鈥� explains Colleen Christopherson-Cote, Community Co-lead of CFICE鈥檚 Evaluation and Analysis Working Group. 鈥淲ithout this support I would never be able to manage travel and participation in multiple events in Ottawa. In return, my expertise and community voice would not be included as easily in the dialogue at the CFICE table. Including, and resourcing, opportunities for equitable community participation is at the heart of the Community First approach.鈥�

This bursary is a start in addressing the costs to community partners of participating in CCE, but one significant downside is that the bursary is taxable, reducing the full amount of reimbursement that participants receive. Moving forward, it is important to keep trying to find even better resource solutions for communities. As Andr茅e notes, it鈥檚 often the little changes that can have far-reaching impacts on community-campus engagement work.

As Andr茅e reflects, 鈥淭his experience with 杏吧原创 University鈥檚 travel policy is a reminder that when institutions are more community first in their policies and practices, even in small ways, this can have a big impact on how they serve their communities.鈥�

Become more community-first!

To learn more about how to make your work more community-first, check out our list of actions for all community-campus engagement practitioners!

The Community First: Impacts of Community Engagement (CFICE) project has many community partners across Canada and one organization that CFICE鈥檚 Poverty Reduction hub has partnered with is . Station 20 West is a Community Enterprise Centre (CEC), located in the heart of Saskatoon鈥檚 west-side core neighbourhood, which aims to reduce poverty and build healthy communities through a collaborative community development approach.

A little girl gets her face painted as part of Station 20 West’s community activities. 漏Station 20 West

To further understand Station 20 West, I interviewed Lisa Erickson, Manager of Community Engagement at University of Saskatchewan鈥檚 Community Engagement Office at Station 20 West, and Colleen Christopherson-Cote, Community Partnership Facilitator for the Saskatoon Poverty Reduction Partnership.

According to Lisa, Saskatoon鈥檚 inner city faces many challenges including extensive systemic barriers for the residents; however, the vibrancy and resilience of Saskatoon鈥檚 inner city is remarkable. Station 20 West is one organization that is working to address these barriers, but in a very unique way.

Station 20 West is one building that houses several organizations and initiatives, referred to as co-locators. Each co-locator addresses a different aspect of poverty reduction and community development, but all sharing the same overarching mandate of improving the livelihood of people living in Saskatoon鈥檚 inner city (west-side core neighbourhoods).

Station 20 West started as a collaboration between , which is primarily focused on food security and sovereignty, and , which is focused on community economic development, specifically affordable housing and access to employment and training. Their collaboration led to a vision of a space where organizations could聽pool their capacity for collective impact.

Station 20 West ribbon cutting ceremony. 漏Station 20 West

Lisa and Colleen see Station 20 West as a distinctive collaborative space, and what makes it unique is that, while all the co-locators have individual mandates, there is ample opportunity for informal conversation and connectivity through聽deliberate and collective committees that have representation from each co-locating organization. These committees include an educational committee focused on planning shared professional development and a social committee aimed at bringing the building together.

Colleen believes the co-locator diversity within the building and the continuous effort to maintain it, is one of Station 20 West’s many accomplishments. For example, despite the recent closure of the聽Good Food Junction co-op grocery store, Colleen is confident that another, equally important organization will take its place. “The聽resiliency and phoenix-like resurrection of knowing something grows out of challenges without losing [the] integrity of Station 20鈥檚 mandate,鈥� is what impresses Colleen most.

Teaching the younger generation about ceremonial drumming at Station 20 West. 漏Station 20 West

CFICE and Station 20 West worked together to examine community-campus engagement (CCE) at the community enterprise center and explore the effectiveness of CCE partnerships in supporting innovative capacity building. In Lisa’s view, 鈥淐FICE is exploring questions that we spend a lot of time thinking about 鈥� and it creates opportunities to connect and reflect with key partners.鈥�

Colleen believes CCE was historically oriented toward post-secondary research needs. However, the current landscape and the relationship at Station 20 West between the university and community partners, has created opportunity for community driven inquiry with university allies. Additionally, she believes that these relationships have created an environment where scholars are producing more relevant and easier to use documents and evidence.

Given the demographics of the inner city, the work from Station 20 West is also mindful and respectful of the contemporary impacts of historical injustices toward Indigenous peoples. 鈥淚n response to recommendations and Calls to Action from TRC [the Truth and Reconciliation Commission], we have a responsibility to honor the work that went into the TRC,鈥� says Colleen.

Both Colleen and Lisa agree that, 鈥淎ll strong relationships within the 聽community are rooted in reciprocity.鈥� Station 20 West is a solid example of reciprocity at work in the community.

For more information about Station 20 West, please visit .