Tell Us Your Story
We’re glad you’re interested in telling your story. Before you submit it, we’d like to say a few things about the kinds of stories we’re looking for. We’d also like to explain what we’ll be doing with the stories we receive from those who visit this website.
The Kinds of Stories We’re Looking For
We’re looking for first-person practice stories of democracy in action that involve significant levels of community-university engagement. By democracy, we do not mean voting. We embrace an expansive view of democracy as not only a formal system and method of governance but also a way of life and a philosophy of human relations. Reflecting our populist political values and convictions, we also view democracy as public work: “sustained effort by a mix of people who solve public problems or create goods, material or cultural, of general benefit,” as Harry Boyte defines it.
To be more specific, we’re looking for first-person practice stories about the collaborative engagement of communities and universities in the public work of democracy: the process and means by which individuals and groups develop and exercise power in neighborhood and community settings as they seek to understand and address technical and social problems, stand for and further key normative ideals and values, and promote, consider, deliberate about, negotiate, and take action to pursue their self-interests, their common interests, and larger public interests.
Broadly speaking, the public work of democracy has four main interrelated elements that typically play out in unpredictable, overlapping cycles rather than a linear sequence:
- the work of naming, setting, and framing a problem, and/or a positive goal (not everything is a problem—sometimes the point of public work is to pursue a positive possibility);
- the work of identifying options for what can be done, and the consequences of each;
- the work of deciding what should be done, in light of particular interests, values, and commitments; and
- acting to implement solutions and/or create something of public significance, and evaluating, reflecting on, and learning from experience.
The practice stories of democracy in action we’re looking for can be about any number of public issues or problems in a broad range of off-campus contexts. They can be about environmental issues in urban neighborhoods or rural communities. They can be about collaborative projects and initiatives that are aimed at addressing social problems having to do with crime, poverty, inequality, substance abuse, nutrition and health, illiteracy, and the like. They can be about efforts to expand economic development and opportunity, and to revitalize urban, suburban, small-town, or rural neighborhoods. They can be about youth development or K-12 education. They can be about initiatives aimed at engaging people in deliberation and dialogue about pressing public issues and policy choices. They can be about community-based arts initiatives. And more. In short, they can be about nearly anything of public significance that requires collective learning, work, and action. As long as the stories also include significant levels of community-university engagement, we’re interested in hearing them.
What We’ll Be Doing With the Stories You Send Us
As you’ll see below, we’re not asking you to give us your complete and fully detailed story now. We’re simply asking you to give us a brief abstract of your story, along with your contact information. Once we receive your story abstract, we’ll read it carefully and get back to you to explore the potential for developing it further. There are several options for developing your story, including having us conduct interviews with those who were involved in it, helping you to conduct your own interviews, or having you write your story. We’ll figure out which of these is best in conversation with you.
We look forward to hearing your stories!