Let's Chat - Cultivating Community University Dialogue: A Coffee Table Textbook on Partnerships - Softcover

As a young Black woman whose goal was to return to South Los Angeles and work to create change in her community, I became discouraged when my attempts at creating authentic collaborations between communities of color and educational institutions were thwarted. I had not experienced any real examples, until I was introduced to the work of Padres Unidos and the partnership that was begun at Chapman University. Let's Chat: Cultivating Community University Dialogue, beautifully captures the essence of the relationships, challenges, perseverance, and activism that shape this successful and thriving community-university partnership. --Dr. Kimberly A. White-Smith, Dean and Professor of Education, University of La Verne In this highly creative and genre-shattering book, stories provide the backdrop for how people of different backgrounds can engage in dialogue across difference. The authors - community members and academics - have managed to overcome what might have seemed insurmountable challenges: crafting a partnership based on mutual respect and the dignity of all parties. May it serve as a model for other universities and communities looking for a way to honor the knowledge and wisdom of all people. --Sonia Nieto, University of Massachusetts, Amherst The information generated and transmitted within universities has traditionally resulted in privilege and structures of exclusion. The engaging format of this book, which combines Freire's principles and methodology and the power of story, invites reflection, dialogue and action, modeling how the exceptional partnership of Chapman University and the community organization Padres Unidos, evolved within parameters of inclusion, honoring each other's wisdom and culture, and developing a spirit of human solidarity leading to increased knowledge and effective transformation. --Alma Flor Ada, Professor Emerita, University of San Francisco

From the home of the Paulo Freire Democratic Project and non-profit community organization Padres Unidos, the Chapman University Padres Unidos Partnership presents this truly unique coffee table textbook, Let's Chat: Cultivating Community University Dialogue - A Coffee Table Textbook on Partnerships. The volume presents a collection of community stories, concepts and analyses that highlight the journey of border crossings between two co-existing neighbors: a non-profit community organization and a university. Stories from community residents and faculty members represent how they disrupted the barriers that typically divide us by reconceptualizing how universities and communities can work together to reshape the intellectual landscape and reconfigure power differentials. Written with and by the community, this book represents a break-away genre that privileges the "voices of the people" (Freire), accompanied by academic voices, in a format that is accessible, aesthetic and attractive to both community and university audiences. Cafecitos punctuate each chapter to elicit dialogue, reflection and action towards defining and developing community university partnerships. This book will be useful to: academics interested in partnerships, public pedagogy, and community-based research students involved in community engagement/service learning community organizations immigrant families who reveal their wisdom in stories about self, others, and community building within the Chapman University Padres Unidos partnership Let's Chat presents valuable content in a new and unique format that makes it perfect for classroom teaching in a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses.