Addressing the “How” and “Why” of student preparation for community partnerships

“Preparing Students to Engage in Equitable Community Partnerships” by Tryon, Madden, and Sprinkel provides a guide to prepare students for meaningful and transformative community partnerships. The authors emphasize student preparation, critiquing traditional service-learning models and advocating for community-based learning to avoid perpetuating unequal power dynamics. They offer strategies for developing student humility, cultural awareness, and social justice education, aiming to transition from a charity model to critical community engagement focused on systemic change. The book includes tools, resources, and reflections to support educators in implementing effective community engagement strategies, ideally to be incorporated into a semesterlong course prior to entering a community. However, service learning and community engagement is rooted in experiential education. While some advance preparation is essential, frontloading all learning “in theory” and divorced from real-world experience contradicts the principles of experiential learning. Next, given their student demographics and the need to prepare students for engaging with diverse populations, the authors acknowledge that the material they introduce is primarily geared towards preparing (their) white students. Student preparation often focuses on those “crossing a border” during community-engaged work but many students are “returning home.” Overall, the text is a valuable contribution with limitations that must be overcome.