We emphasize community-identified priorities in our approach to community engagement. The Center partners with a wide range of social and public sector organizations, matching them with the institutional resources that are best positioned to advance their work collaboratively.

By focusing our engagement on community priorities, we work to ensure that expertise, ideas, and data gathered directly from a diverse cross-section of community partners inform where and how we direct efforts and resources. The Swearer Center is also investing in a coordinated infrastructure to facilitate this matchmaking and partnership development work across the University. We strive to create a more coherent and seamless experience for community organizations that wish to collaborate with the University.

Brown University is deeply committed to working with community partners to positively impact Providence, Rhode Island and wherever Brown University students, staff, and faculty engage.

Research, expertise, teaching and learning, anchor resources and investments, and inclusive pathways are the core domains that make up a five-part framework for Brown’s community engagement. Swearer Center partnership and matchmaking staff connect and support community organizations in accessing and navigating pathways to partnership across these domains.