Chapter 7: Connecting Landscapes: A Collaborative Collegial Exchange and Community-Engaged Youth Environmental Project

With the intention of building on and revitalizing the long-standing relationship between UW-Madison and the University of Guadalajara (UDG), a team of colleagues from UW-Madison sought and received a modest internal incubator grant. This grant funded a series of exchanges during a one-year period. This chapter focuses on the project the grant-funded project, which focused on the UDG Museum and built upon an array of long-standing relationships—both institutional and among faculty and staff. Informed by a theory of change that emphasized the power of networking and long-term bidirectional partnerships, this effort included participants with expertise in global health, urban planning, community and nonprofit studies, environmental science, environmental education, museum studies, youth civic engagement, arts, and the humanities. Participants had opportunities for cultural and scholarly exchange, relationship-building, and collaboration focusing on furthering the programs of the UDG Museum. An important institutional outcome was an updated Memorandum of Understanding between the institutions, which then established a steering group and visiting scholar arrangement to guide future collaboration. Programmatic outcomes included: the launch of a new Museum outreach effort modeled after the UW-Madison Earth Partnership program; a range of additional in-person and virtual classroom exchanges; delegation visits; collaborative grant-writing and project development; and an engagement with the Museum related to the translation of award-winning poetry related to the environment. This modest grant strengthened existing relationships, catalyzed new programs, and engaged a new generation of participants. Overall, the exchange set the stage for continued collaboration.