Below is a list of guiding principles that have sustained our work in transformative community-campus partnerships through interpersonal accountability, honoring, and shared imagining:

Establish trust and build rapport: Conduct research on the organization and introduce yourself by phone/email with hopes to participate in a site visit as you build bridges in your relationship. Share backgrounds and lived experiences, pathways to the work, visions for liberation, thoughts on the political and social climate and movements of resistance, your interpretations of community-engaged learning, and the history and culture of the communities we are working alongside.

Transparency and communication: Specify roles, expectations, and hopes of the partnerships, student internships, and work alongside the community—what worked in the past, what was challenging, how to navigate anticipated barriers, and how to nurture meaningful and reciprocal partnerships—while being mindful of people’s time, space, energy, and the workload that community partners carry.