Partnerships & Community Capitals

A Community Capitals Approach to
Extension Networks and Partnerships

Resources for leaders to better understanD, develop, and leverage community capitals, university-community networks, and partner relationships

The following information was prepared for the 2025 JCEP Extension Leadership Conference.

Poster
9-page Resource
Introduction

By design, Extension engages with local, state, national, and international partners. These include:

  • government agencies
  • educational institutions
  • businesses
  • non-profit and philanthropic organizations
  • faith-based entities
  • neighborhood groups
  • campus colleagues

Strategically investing in these formal and informal university-community relationships benefits individuals, families, businesses, and communities.

Various disciplines conceptualize university–community en­gagement through overlapping terms such as community partnerships, civic engagement, community outreach, scholarship of engagement, translational science, and participatory action research (Koekkoek, Van Ham & Kleinhans, 2021).

Multi-stakeholder partnerships that leverage diverse perspectives and resources are increasingly popular when addressing complex community challenges (Clarke & MacDonald, 2019). Creative collaboration requires a commitment to a shared vision; contribution of meaningful resources; unified movement toward a common goal; intentional and open communication; accountability (Ludwig, Andrews, & Ciccone, 2008) and operating as interdependent rather than altogether self-determinant (White, 2009).

Community CapitalsElements to Community Capitals

The Community Capitals Framework provides perspective on what matters to various stakeholders engaging in a shared approach to community complexities and change. This framework presents opportunities to recognize the interactive assets of social, human, financial, political, natural, built, and cultural capitals that are evident in communities and in the respective groups represented in the partnership (Emery & Flora, 2006). This provides opportunities for clear agreements, mobilizing resources, respectful reporting, and recognition of unique contributions. Institutional relationships with community partners are multilayered, often serving many purposes (Murtadha, 2016). In an increasingly networked society.

Community Capitals Worksheet

Throughout the year, Extension professionals engage in attracting and collaborating with multiple internal and external stakeholders. Each organization and community leader brings unique motivations, experiences, expectations, and resources to shared interests.This worksheet provides an outline for Extension teams to assess community networks, review interrelated stakeholder relationships, develop strategic partnerships, and reflect on network gaps and opportunities. This worksheet can be completed using software that accommodates customization.

Factors to Consider in Multistakeholder Networks
  • Diversity
    The presence of differences that may include race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, nationality, socioeconomic status, language, (dis) ability, age, religious commitment, political perspective, or other dimensions.
  • Equity
    Unique resources and opportunities needed to reduce or eliminate the barriers that prevent others from fully participating in the network and achieving their desired outcomes.
  • Inclusion
    Development of inclusive governing structures is one bridging strategy that institutions employ to facilitate meaningful exchanges with community partners (Bringle & Hatcher, 2000)
  • Privilege
    Avoid dichotomous relationships in which universities privilege their own interests over those of the other multiple stakeholders in the community (Danley & Christiansen, 2019).
  • Power
    In multi-stakeholder networks and initiatives, each partner, including Extension professionals, are only partly in control of the process as other stakeholders may be equally or even more influential (Roloff, 2008). Consider historical relationships with community partners, power relationships between campus and community, and background experiences of the network representatives (Maurrasse, 2001).
  • Reciprocity
    A symbiotic relationship between the university and communities in a context of partnership and reciprocity (Carnegie, 2010). The focus on reciprocity is to unpack intention and commitment as well as exchanges of support, services, and resources (Murtadha, 2016).

Except from the Leadership in the City professional development program, https://urban-extension.cfaes.ohio-state.edu/leadership