Co-editor introduction – community engagement in education with underrepresented communities

As co-editors, when conceptualizing this special theme issue, our goal was to recapture the connection between colleges and schools of education and the communities they serve. Historically, universities would engage communities like the University of Chicago Lab School model started by John Dewey (Vaughn, 2018). Later, the emergence of reading labs at teacher colleges paved the way for universities to connect with children and families in literacy instruction outside of schools. Although there are many examples of how colleges connect with communities through the establishment of key partnerships. This special thematic issue focuses on community engagement within the field of education.

Community engagement with underrepresented communities in particular focuses on partnering for equity-based projects to provide access to education, information, and to partner to build stronger communities (McMillon, 2016). The goal of these partnerships is to position the university, school, and local area agency as a member of the community which contributes to the personal, social, political, economic, educational, and basic functioning of the community at-large. Community engagement in education is not hierarchical in this sense. The faculty and staff involved in these projects are fostering these relationships to ensure that the university works in the best interests of the community to assist citizens and communities with their existing needs. The idea of community in the 21st century is a fluid concept. Within these educational projects, community engagement can take place at a library, school, local nonprofit, community center, youth facilities, and online.

In this special theme issue, there were two articles featured. The first article was an exploratory study within a rural pre-service course. The second article is about establishing a long-term model through a university partnership to #EliminateBookDeserts in urban schools. This special theme issue on community engagement in literacy is a collaboration between the Journal of Literacy Innovation and the Literacy Research Association Ethnicity, Race, and Multilingualism committee Mentoring through Publication program.

Articles

An autoethnographic exploration of ABCD within a Rural Pre-Service Education Course – Dr. Dorian Harrison

Establishing a University-Partnership Model to #EliminateBookDeserts in Urban Communities – Dr. Tiffany A. Flowers

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).