Student Affairs
Community Partners Directory
The Haas Center’s success in realizing our mission depends upon partnerships with local, national and global partners. Our partner organizations offer an extension to the Stanford classroom by providing valuable opportunities for our students to apply and expand their academic learning, explore their interests, develop as public service practitioners and leaders, and contribute toward addressing community needs and a just and sustainable world.
We recognize and honor our partners for the important work they do and for their commitment to community and to our students’ learning and professional development. The Haas Center has identified three different community partners:
- Program Partners: Community organizations and/or government agencies that work directly with Haas Center staff to offer ongoing local service opportunities for Stanford students.
- Placement Partners: Community organizations and/or government agencies that host, mentor and provide valuable service learning opportunities for our students around the world.
- Signature Partners: Community organizations and/or government agencies that have developed a deep, enduring relationship with the Haas Center. Signature partnerships meet the center's identified needs in local, national, and/or global communities, focusing on education, environment and health. The following description is intended to guide the identification, development and evolution of these partnerships.
The Haas Center’s concept for signature partnerships uses Etienne Wenger’s definition of “communities of practice” as a foundation. A community of practice is a group that is defined by a) a shared domain of interest; b) mechanisms for building community, (i.e., interacting, establishing and maintaining relationships, and sharing information); and c) a commitment to practice (i.e., the development of “a shared repertoire of resources: experiences, stories, tools, ways of addressing recurring problems”).
Furthermore, signature partnerships are defined by their ability to a) engage Stanford students, faculty and staff in all six of the public service pathways; b) foster the development of civic leadership competencies; and c) create a measurable impact within a domain of shared interest at the local, national and/or global level.
It is essential that signature partnerships be mutually beneficial. As the Haas Center continues to form and evolve a small number of signature partnerships, we expect that they will adhere to the Principals for Good Community-Campus Partnerships established by Community-Campus Partnerships for Health and the Haas Center’s criteria for establishing new programs or partnerships.
