From l to r: Jason White (Tuskegee), Shauntice Allen, Max Michael (UAB), Meena Nabavi (UAB), Kimberly Littlefield (USA), Shannon Shelley-Tremblay (USA), Mercedes Morales-Aleman (UA), Marjorie Lee White (UAB), and Lecarde Webb (Tuskegee) posed in front of a national monument dedicated to educator Booker T. Washington, “Lifting the Veil of Ignorance,” on the Tuskegee campus.

On Aug. 3rd, nine academic members of the CCTS Regional Community Engagement (CE) Consortium gathered in Tuskegee for a strategic planning meeting. The CE leaders represented four CCTS partners, including Tuskegee, UAB, University of Alabama, and University of South Alabama. The agenda addressed both new and ongoing initiatives such as the PURE research database, an R13 grant, and a region-wide Community Engagement Institute (RCEI).

The PURE database, which launched this past spring, is entering “phase 2,” in which community organizations will be asked to document their active projects. Meeting attendees explored the idea of an interview template to make it easier to increase the number of profiles of community projects in the system.

Discussion turned next to exploring what an RCEI might look like and the need for Planning Committee volunteers. During the working lunch attendees received updates on the simulation model proposal at the heart of the R13 grant and proposed changes to the Consortium web page. The last part of the meeting was spent developing a timeline for developing the grant, including its budget and associated roles, which will be executed over the next 9-10 months.

All are welcome to attend the next quarterly Regional Community Engagement Consortium meeting, stay tuned for details. Click here for more information on CCTS Community Engagement activities and visit our Events and Recurring Events pages to stay up-to-date on all of our CCTS activities.