Accepting Applications: Cultural Agility Collaboration

Over the next two years, with support from the Bush Foundation, Minnesota Campus Compact will engage diverse cross-racial groups of college/university students, community members, and campus staff and faculty in a Learning and Leadership Cohort dedicated to developing more inclusive, collaborative leaders and community-campus partnerships in Minnesota. Separate online applications are available for each cohort, as indicated below, including initial retreat dates and selection criteria. Learn more about the Cultural Agility Collaboration below and apply today!

Are you interested in developing more inclusive, collaborative leaders and community-campus partnerships in Minnesota? Then consider joining a racially diverse cohort of students, community members, and campus staff and faculty for a unique learning and leadership experience. Between January 2015 and August 2016, participants will envision and move towards new models for campus and community engagement, experiential learning, and institutional change, benefiting from:

• mentorship and training with experts in the field of campus and community engagement, racial justice education, and cross-cultural work;
• access to a network of peers who are passionate about civic engagement, social change, and creating environments of co-learning;
• the opportunity to engage in critical conversations with cohort members from other affinity groups in a democratic process where all voices are heard and valued; and
• support for strategic action steps that members identify as important to advancing related work and learning across the state (e.g., developing training materials or curriculum, convening events or conversations with others).

Initial retreats will take place at the Audubon Center of the North Woods in Sandstone, MN: students on March 6-8, 2015, community members on April 10-12, 2015, and faculty/staff on May 29-31, 2015.

With questions, you’re welcome to contact Julie Plaut, Executive Director of Minnesota Campus Compact, at julie@mncampuscompact.org or 612-436-2081—or to consult with a member of the Project Leadership Team during the following times (which will be updated periodically):

• November 19, 4:00-8:00 p.m., Nickyia Cogshell, 612-600-5756
• December 1, 4:00-8:00 p.m., Nickyia Cogshell, 612-600-5756
• December 5, 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m., Autumn Brown, 914-960-2904 or in person at the Initiative Foundation, 405 1st St. SE, Little Falls, MN 56345
• December 12, 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m., Autumn Brown, 914-960-2904 or in person at the Initiative Foundation, 405 1st St. SE, Little Falls, MN 56345

Click here to complete the student application, the community member application, or the campus staff and faculty application. While we ask for them to be completed online,PDFs of the applications are available here, so that people can read all the application questions and more background information (including our definition of cultural agility, the CAC goals, and criteria for selecting cohort members); anyone truly uncomfortable with the online form can also use the PDF to submit an application by email or mail. The deadline for applications is December 19, 2014, and all applicants will hear back about selections no later than January 21, 2015. Meanwhile, if you apply, we encourage you to save the appropriate retreat dates on your calendar—and thank you for your interest in this collaborative, change-oriented initiative!

FAQs

Is there a cost to participate? There is no fee to participate in the cohort or its retreats.

Is there support for expenses related to participation? Could I receive an honorarium for participating? We are committed to making the Cultural Agility Collaboration as accessible as possible to ensure that cohort members are able to engage fully and intentionally in our collective work. All participants’ meals and lodging at the retreats will be covered, and the application asks for you to share what accommodations (mobility, language, family, financial, etc.) would be necessary to facilitate your participation. We ask that you aim to be as open and complete in identifying your needs in the application, and the project leadership team will aim to be as open and responsive to meeting them as the program budget allows.

How much time will be involved? Participants are expected to participate in two retreats (spring 2015 and fall 2015), which will each last from Friday dinner through Sunday lunch. Other activities will be determined by the cohort and project leadership team, so we cannot provide a specific number of hours or schedule. This is meant to be a collaborative learning and leadership experience, so it may well include talking with others (in the cohort and beyond it) outside retreats, exchanging and developing educational resources, and planning other events or actions. Scheduling will be flexible to fit into participants’ lives; activities will also be related to the priorities they identify and dependent on the commitments they choose to make along the way.

I could apply in multiple categories (student, community member, campus faculty/staff). Which one should I apply in? That decision is really yours to make based on your sense of identity and “home” from which you feel you could help to create change. While the spring 2015 retreats will happen in those groups, later activities will mix groups up based on shared interests, locations, identities, or other factors shaping their collaborative action.