Re-Building Coal Country: A Church/University Partnership
This paper describes a developing partnership between a church-based service learning center and a university initiative to build a field station in a low-income community in the anthracite coal region of Pennsylvania. It is a case study of how secular and religious institutions have been collaborat...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2016-06-01
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| Series: | Religions |
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| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/7/6/75 |
| _version_ | 1819326958851325952 |
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| author | Carl Milofsky Brandn Green |
| author_facet | Carl Milofsky Brandn Green |
| author_sort | Carl Milofsky |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper describes a developing partnership between a church-based service learning center and a university initiative to build a field station in a low-income community in the anthracite coal region of Pennsylvania. It is a case study of how secular and religious institutions have been collaborating to achieve the shared goal of improving social conditions in specific communities. The theoretical focus of the paper is on how a change from a “glass is half empty” to a “glass is half full” perception of the community opens new possibilities for change. This paper concentrates on the story of one partnership as a case study demonstrating current trends in service learning both within universities and within the Catholic Church in America. Analysis centers on the basic question of why the project had symbolic power for both partners and on the institutional processes within both organizations that helped the partnership grow. We use the framework of Assets-Based Community Development (ABCD), also known as the “strengths perspective”, to conceptualize the contrast. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-24T13:03:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3641ebd33f7949c58f54dc2a017c8f32 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2077-1444 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-24T13:03:13Z |
| publishDate | 2016-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Religions |
| spelling | doaj.art-3641ebd33f7949c58f54dc2a017c8f322022-12-21T16:54:05ZengMDPI AGReligions2077-14442016-06-01767510.3390/rel7060075rel7060075Re-Building Coal Country: A Church/University PartnershipCarl Milofsky0Brandn Green1Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA 17837, USAIndependent Scholar, Washington DC 20011, USAThis paper describes a developing partnership between a church-based service learning center and a university initiative to build a field station in a low-income community in the anthracite coal region of Pennsylvania. It is a case study of how secular and religious institutions have been collaborating to achieve the shared goal of improving social conditions in specific communities. The theoretical focus of the paper is on how a change from a “glass is half empty” to a “glass is half full” perception of the community opens new possibilities for change. This paper concentrates on the story of one partnership as a case study demonstrating current trends in service learning both within universities and within the Catholic Church in America. Analysis centers on the basic question of why the project had symbolic power for both partners and on the institutional processes within both organizations that helped the partnership grow. We use the framework of Assets-Based Community Development (ABCD), also known as the “strengths perspective”, to conceptualize the contrast.http://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/7/6/75community-based researchservice-learningcommunity developmentinterinstitutional relationsorganizational case studies |
| spellingShingle | Carl Milofsky Brandn Green Re-Building Coal Country: A Church/University Partnership Religions community-based research service-learning community development interinstitutional relations organizational case studies |
| title | Re-Building Coal Country: A Church/University Partnership |
| title_full | Re-Building Coal Country: A Church/University Partnership |
| title_fullStr | Re-Building Coal Country: A Church/University Partnership |
| title_full_unstemmed | Re-Building Coal Country: A Church/University Partnership |
| title_short | Re-Building Coal Country: A Church/University Partnership |
| title_sort | re building coal country a church university partnership |
| topic | community-based research service-learning community development interinstitutional relations organizational case studies |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/7/6/75 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT carlmilofsky rebuildingcoalcountryachurchuniversitypartnership AT brandngreen rebuildingcoalcountryachurchuniversitypartnership |