Building Community: University Neighborhood Partners Curriculum, with Kimberly Shmit and Kara Byrne (2021)
Construyendo comunidad, “Westside Leadership Institute,” a Spanish-language, community leadership curriculum (2012) used in the Westside Leadership Institute (WLI).
The Building Community workbook is being used by University Neighborhood Partners (UNP) to center community engagement in the West Valley health and community center project (For details, see volume 12, page 18, at https://partners.utah.edu/resources/publications/ ) It is currently employed at the center of community consultation with dozens of stakeholder groups. As such, its “transformative” impact is and will continue to be far reaching. On the West valley hospital and community center, see https://www.sltrib.com/news/health/2022/03/09/big-hospital-complex-is/
The workbook draws on the adaptive leadership methods developed by Heifetz, Linsky, and Grashow and on the collaborative input of WLI participants. In the spirit of Paulo Freire’s Pedagogía do oprimido (1968), the curriculum is a culturally appropriate adaptation grounded in the specificity of those engaged in learning (language, culture, educational levels, income, positionality).[1] Upon graduating from the 14-week course, residents have hands-on experience of taking a project from inception to completion, as well as how to develop a budget and to raise funds for their activities. Participants also learned to expand their political participation regardless of citizenship status. For more information see:
https://partners.utah.edu/
https://partners.utah.edu/resources/videos/#/lightbox&slide=8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2DckIoXPdY
The breadth of change that WLI has catalyzed can be seen in the WLI Impact Map (https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1T0unI4KiqqkGTEbjFeKaEZbqoPc&ll=40.83660774860186%2C-111.80634760859374&z=9), developed by graduate students under Professor Porter’s mentorship as a way to share research on WLI’s impact in an accessible format.
Interview with Porter on From Angel to Office Worker.
https://newbooksnetwork.com/from-angel-to-office-worker.
[1] Ronald A. Heifetz, Marty Linsky, and Alexander, The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing your Organization and the World (2009).