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The theme was lofty: True Stories of Engagement: Higher Education for Democracy . But bringing those words to life has not been easy, as became clear when more than 500 university staff and faculty gathered at Campus Compact’s biennial conference in Indianapolis last month to discuss the state of the field of community engagement in higher education. For the uninitiated, Campus Compact is a national organization dedicated to promoting community engagement by universities. The organization...

By this fall, 24 former foster youth will attend classes at the nation’s first college specifically for former foster youth. Riverbend Center for Higher Education, operated by nonprofit child welfare service provider KVC Health Systems , will open in Montgomery, West Virginia, in July, enrolling students for the fall semester. Operating in partnership with BridgeValley Community and Technical College, a community college with two locations in in the state, Riverbend will offer programming...

The distance from the Avalon Gardens public housing development in South Central Los Angeles to elite Smith College in western Massachusetts should be measured in more than the 2,900 miles separating them. The housing project near Watts is a cluster of nearly identical pale orange one- and two-story buildings surrounded by a high metal gate installed to keep gangs out. It is home to about 440 low-income, mainly Latino and black, residents whose scramble for economic survival is eased by...

Bria Davis didn’t have the easiest time growing up. Her mother suffered from schizophrenia and her father wasn’t around. As a result, she was placed into the foster-care system, which meant changing schools every year. “Coming out of high school, I never was in a stable place,” Davis says. Davis’ freshman year at Miami Dade College in Florida was challenging, and she eventually sought help. Now a well-acclimated sophomore, Davis decided she was in a unique position to give back. So she...

To listen to this podcast, click here . Federal law requires colleges and universities to track and disclose sexual assaults on campus. It’s different for kindergarten through 12th grade, where there are no similar requirements for cases involving assaults between students. In elementary, middle and high schools across the U.S., the Associated Press found a shocking level of sexual violence among students, including on U.S. military bases. On this episode of Reveal, we delve into the results...

Picture this: Sonya, a low-income student at a California high school, receives an acceptance letter from the University of Hawaii. While the tuition is higher than a public university in California, she decides to go to Hawaii, even though it means that both Sonya — not her real name — and her mother would have to take out loans. After two semesters of lackluster grades, Sonya loses her merit-based aid and has a hold on her student account (also known as a bursar’s account ) due to an...

In 1996, right after voters in California banned affirmative action in employment and college admissions, minority student enrollment at two and four-year institutions plummeted. What has happened since though, is pretty remarkable. Of the 2.8 million students attending college in California today, two out of three come from racially and ethnically diverse populations. The most eye-popping increase in enrollment has been among Latinos. They now make up 43 percent of all college students in...

In college, it's hard to learn while you're hungry. That's a message Temple University higher education policy professor Sara Goldrick-Rab has been getting throughout her career. She self-identifies as a "scholar activist." She has advocated for free college, and in 2013 she founded the Wisconsin HOPE Lab , which aims to turn research about low-income students into policies that improve equitable outcomes in post-secondary education. [For more on this story by LAUREL DALRYMPLE, go to...

The bad folks instinctively know more than the good folks.

Dennis Haffron MS Social research techniques are taught in all introductory sociology classes. The technique that I have been using in my classes is a truncated version of the nominal group process. I have recently found that this technique works very well as a trauma sensitive research technique. (I believe that it is another example of ACEs hard science supporting a best practice.) The nominal group process encourages participation, reduces conflict, increases involvement of all...

I propose to review basic ACEs and Trauma Informed responses literature so that adults can understand how ACEs affect them and how they can become part of the solution.

I began feeling pretty out of it when I was 18. I had just started college after moving away from a tight-knit friend group in my hometown and had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I’d come back from class, stuff my face with junk while binge-watching Netflix, and consciously try to shut out the world. It felt like I was slogging through mud just trying to get through each day. Despite how I was feeling, when family and friends would call to ask how I was doing, I always responded...