Recognizing outstanding higher education programs and initiatives that make meaningful impact by partnering with communities to address complex social issues.
Campus Compact’s Excellence in Community-Engaged Partnerships Award recognizes outstanding programs and initiatives that demonstrate meaningful partnership with communities to address complex social issues and further equity, justice, and prosperity for all. Programs that receive the award exemplify the core principles of effective civic and community engagement—reciprocity, collaboration, transdisciplinarity, and sustainability—and address specific social issues, such as public health, violence prevention, economic development, K-12 education, climate change, or houselessness.
Eligibility
Partnerships can be led by a team or an individual. The applicant must:
- Be affiliated with a Campus Compact member institution
- Complete the full application and provide materials that demonstrate a substantive impact
Additional details
Selection Criteria
- Degree of engagement with an established community partner centered on reciprocity
- Level of community voice in decision making
- Breadth and depth of program outcomes/impacts
- Integration of engagement principles that center accessibility and inclusion
- Durability of long-term sustainability plan
Application requirements
- Program title
- Program abstract
- Applicant information
- Additional team members information
- Program description, including:
- Program goals
- Team member roles
- Timeline
- Outcomes/impacts
- Sustainability plan
- Description of community partnership
- How was the relationship initiated?
- How was the need for the program/project identified?
- In what ways will the relationship continue?
- Community partner letter of support
- Up to three additional supporting materials (publicity, recognition, promotion, scholarly products, etc.)
- Up to three photos that illustrate your program
Timeline
For the 2026 Excellence in Civic & Community Engagement Programming Award:
- The online nomination/application form will open September 8, 2025
- The nomination deadline is October 13, 2025
- The application deadline will be October 31, 2025
- The 2026 recipients will be notified in December 2025
- Public announcement: February 2026
- Recognition: at Compact26, March 16 - 18, 2026
Recipients of the 2026 Excellence in Community-Engaged Partnerships Award
AHIVOY and Chemeketa Community College: Partnering to Provide Education, Opportunity, and Empowerment for Those Who Work the Vines in Oregon’s Mid-Willamette Valley
Chemeketa Community College
2026
University of Rochester-East Educational Partnership Organization
University of Iowa
2026
CARE in Action: Collaborative Approaches to Health Equity in New Haven
Southern Connecticut State University
2026
Inclusive Research at the Kansas University Center on Disabilities
University of Kansas
2026