Why participate?

Students say, "Count Us In!"

Read more student voices.

Benefits of Participation

• Contribute to the university’s development and implementation of effective practices in community engagement.
• Contribute to the development and assessment of community-engagement learning outcomes in alignment with the Institutional Learning Outcomes of Civic Skills and Social Responsibility.
• Leverage the public purpose of your discipline and strengthen your students' understanding of vital application of skills and knowledge.
• Engage students in issues about which they are passionate.
• Network with community leaders, government agencies, and non-profit organizations.
• Collaborate and co-create with your colleagues!

Alignment with Center for Community Engagement Principles

1. Relevance, academic rigor, and connection with Dominican's Institutional Learning Outcomes: Community engagement is germane to course content, required by all students enrolled in the course, and integrated into course goals and student learning outcomes. Course goals respond to one or more of Dominican’s Institutional Learning Outcomes. Projects will be embedded in course curriculum. A learning outcome aligned with the ILOs of Civic Skills and Social Responsibility will be embedded in the course with accompanying student work. All faculty participants will assess sample student work in May.
2. Community voice and interest: Community engagement activities address community-identified issues and meet course goals. This includes determining a timeframe, a required skill-set for students, and training requirements. Projects are co-designed with community stakeholders with the aim of supporting the Marin County Committee in assuring that all residents are counted, focusing specifically on the HTC communities and population.
3. Reciprocity between all stakeholders: Dominican and Community Partners develop a shared vision and joint strategies; learn from and teach each other; and, are accountable to each other. Community Partners, as co-educators, participate in evaluating student engagement. Per above, the projects are co-designed and each faculty member and course will have a community point person with whom they will develop benchmarks, receive and apply feedback on project process etc.
4. Critical reflection: Students continuously analyze their understanding of larger contexts, societal and organizational structures, and civic responsibility. Students will be prompted to document their learning and make deeper connections regarding the larger implications of the Census and the context of their specific project. This will include an analysis of the root causes and structures that underlie low response rates in Hard to Count census tracts.
5. Assessment: Evaluation of student, faculty, and community work is embedded in the course or project to measure the progress made towards student learning outcomes and community goals. Per above, learning outcomes and student work related to community-engaged learning projects will be integral to the course and will be assessed within the course and on a programmatic level (with a shared rubric TBD)
6. Dissemination and celebration: All stakeholders are recognized for their contributions. Findings from the course or project are shared with Dominican and the larger community. Individual course projects and Dominican’s overall contribution to raising the Marin County 2020 Census response rate will be widely shared. Campus participants will be recognized in their contributions to effective practices in community engagement and embodying CUPCE principles as well as addressing the ILOs of Civic Skills and Social Responsibility.