Community Engagement
Identify your community's demographics, needs, and aspirations to help advance your initiatives with greater impact
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SI 547: Engaging with Communities
What is Engaging with Communities?
In SI 547: Engaging with Communities, Master's-level graduate students engage with communities to help better identify community needs and inform community initiatives and outreach.
Deliverables
What do clients receive for participating in this course?
A better understanding of a community, resulting in more specialized areas of analysis regarding factors affecting the client's organization
Client Eligibility
Who can participate?
Potential clients include:
Social service organizations
Cultural heritage sites
Small - medium NGOs
Libraries and archives
Museums
What do the students do during the project?
How many projects are selected for this course?
Fall 2021: 10 projects needed*
Fall 2020: 8 projects selected
Fall 2019: 22 projects selected
Fall 2018: 12 projects selected
* Due to variability in the number of enrolled students each year, these numbers are subject to change and can be used as a rough estimate.
Timeline
SI 547 occurs in the Fall semester (September–December)
June – August
Client submits project idea
Client Engagement Team (CET) reviews project idea and requests full project proposal
CET works with client to scope and refine proposal
September
Faculty choose proposals to present to students
Students choose their project
September – October
Students begin project
December
Students finish project and provide deliverable(s) to client
*Deliverables for this course will vary based on client/scope of project. Due to the nature of this course, implementation is possible based on the project, but not likely. Clients will most likely receive a report with recommendations at the end of the semester.
Participate
How do I become a client?
Potential clients should complete this brief form with their contact information and a short summary of their project idea. Our Client Engagement Team will review your submission and reach out to you within 3 business days with next steps.
What if I don't have a project right now, but I'm interested in future opportunities or want to learn more?
If you don't have a specific project in mind for the upcoming semester, but would like to stay informed about future opportunities to work with students through our client-based courses or other programs, complete this registration form to be added to our mailing list.
Former Clients
Who's participated in the past?
Beginning Fall 2020, SI 547 is looking to expand its client industry range and work with clients from NGOs/social services as well as libraries. archives, and museums.
What do they have to say?
"The student report adds an organized structure to the data that we're using to make changes in our service hours. The report gives me the independent data needed to talk with both the library staff and library board about our service hour changes."
Amanda Winnicki, Menominee County Library