Connecting Campus and Community Through Service and Learning
Community-University Mixer: Promoting Caring and Collaborative Communities
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Community members and organizers gathered with campus faculty and staff on Thursday, Feb. 19 for a Community-University Mixer focused on Community Care. Attendees deliberated over topics like Public Health, Equity & Access, Immigration Rights, and more, working together to connect over shared interests, build relationships, share resources and potentially seed partnerships.
See photos from the mixer below.
Attendees included university faculty, staff and students and members of a variety of community organizations.Attendees circulated to stations in three separate rounds that each built on the previous. The first round was to identify community interests and assets, the second round was bridge building and collaboration opportunities, and the third round was to develop ideas and strategies for action.Aracely Portillo, a family navigator at the Waisman Center, attended her first community mixer. Portillo says that some of the work she does is finding resources for families with children with special needs. “I really liked to see all these agencies and people who really care about changes in the community, how to increase help and find answers for families,” Portillo says. “I’m taking with me some information that I can share with families.”Brian Benford, a UW Odyssey Project Success Coach, connects with other mixer attendees.Lisa Becher, Division Chief of the Madison Fire Department, which oversees Community Alternative Response Emergency Services (CARES), shares the development and growth of the program.
