Registration Open: UACS National Network Conference | October 26 – 27, 2026
University-Assisted
Community Schools National Network

Virtual Call Archive

These archived sessions feature panels of faculty and practitioners sharing replicable models for how higher education institutions and K-12 community schools can collaborate. Resources are organized by session date and grouped by presenter.

Virtual Calls

FEBRUARY 24, 2026

Youth as Deliverers (Not Recipients) of Service: University-Assisted Community Schools and Their Sustainable Partnerships That Improve Teaching & Learning From K-16+

Community Schools (CS) and University-Assisted Community Schools (UACS) were built on the understanding that school and community health are deeply interconnected, and that a core purpose of American education is to prepare students to be active, contributing citizens in a democracy. UACS were partnership-driven, environment-changing institutions where students served as creators—not just recipients—of services, and every service delivered became an opportunity for learning closely connected to the core missions of schools and universities.

In this webinar, co-sponsored by the IEL Coalition for Community Schools’ Research Practice (RPN) Network and the University-Assisted Community Schools (UACS) National Network, we demonstrated how UACS achieved these goals through student-led programs that advanced academic learning, leadership, and democratic development. Three programs were presented jointly by a high school student and a Penn student, highlighting mutually beneficial partnerships and real-world problem-solving: Cross-Grade Sports, Youth Anti-Violence, and Calm Space. Each program showed how students designed and implemented UACS initiatives that strengthened physical health, promoted peace, and supported mental wellness. The webinar also explored the impact these opportunities had on students’ personal and professional trajectories, as well as on the schools and universities themselves.

Recording

DECEMBER 5, 2025

Implementation Research as an Approach for Improving University-Assisted Community Schools and Why it Matters Now More Than Ever

On December 5th, 2025, the University-Assisted Community Schools National Network hosted an important discussion about University-Assisted Community Schools (UACS) and implementation research: what it is, what it can help us do, why the current moment is the right time to do it, and how we can advance the approach. The moderated panel was followed by an open discussion with attendees.

The panel featured:

  • Ira Harkavy, Barbara and Edward Netter Director of the Netter Center for Community Partnerships at the University of Pennsylvania
  • Kathleen Provinzano, Associate Professor of Community Schools in the College of Community and Public Affairs at Binghamton University and Co-Director for Research and Evaluation at the Binghamton University Center for Community Schools (BUCCS)
  • Naorah Rimkunas, Assistant Professor of Community Schools in the College of Community and Public Affairs at Binghamton University and Associate Director of the UACS National Network (moderator)

Implementation research differs from implementation science, which focuses on studying how evidence-based practices, interventions, and policies can be adopted and integrated into existing systems. See: Harkavy, I. (2023). Dewey, implementation, and creating a democratic civic university. The Pluralist.

Recording

Ira Harkavy (Netter Center, University of Pennsylvania)

Harkavy, I., Balfanz, A., & Sun, F. (2025). Realizing Higher Education’s Democratic Promise Through University-Assisted Community Schools. In J. Dresden, J. Ferrara, J. E. Neapolitan, & D. Yendol-Hoppey (Eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of School-University Partnerships. Cambridge University Press.
Harkavy, I. (2023). Dewey, Implementation, and Creating a Democratic Civic University. The Pluralist, 18(1), 49–75.
Harkavy, I. (2016, April 9). Engaged Scholarship and Implementing an Implementation Revolution Through University-Community-School Partnerships [Conference presentation]. Philosophy and Engagement Conference, Department of Philosophy, University of Pennsylvania.
Harkavy, I. (2016, February 26). Implementation Research: What Is It? Where Does It Come From? What Is It Good For? [Presentation]. National Science Foundation Committee on Equal Opportunities in Science and Engineering.

OCTOBER 24, 2025

Problem-Solving Learning Courses That Advance Teaching and Learning K-16+ Through the Development of UACS

The University-Assisted Community Schools (UACS) National Network hosted a conversation with Dr. Naorah Rimkunas of Binghamton University, SUNY, and Dr. Theresa Simmonds of the University of Pennsylvania’s Netter Center about their course-based partnerships. These courses used a problem-solving learning approach in which students worked with community school partners to identify specific problems and opportunities and then designed implementable solutions. In some cases, as students helped implement those solutions, they mobilized new university and community partnerships that expanded or improved University-Assisted Community Schools (UACS) programming. Naorah and Theresa discussed the benefits of this approach, shared examples of student research and reflections, and offered lessons learned. These courses helped students learn to solve complex problems, implement practical solutions that strengthened UACS, and become active, caring contributors to a democratic society.

Recording

Session Slides

University of Pennsylvania — Dr. Theresa Simmonds

Course Syllabus & Materials

Exemplary PSL Papers

Binghamton University — Dr. Naorah Rimkunas

MAY 2, 2025

Research Practice Partnerships that Advance Community Schools

The IEL Coalition for Community School’s Research Practice Network and the University-Assisted Community Schools National Network hosted a town hall focused on building and sustaining Research-Practice Partnerships (RPPs) in Community Schools. RPPs are long-term, mutually beneficial collaborations between researchers and practitioners that focus on problems identified by and with practitioners and result in benefits to local community schools. The town hall featured guests from UCLA’s Center for Community Schooling and UVM’s Catamount Community Schools Collaborative who had developed RPPs with their school partners. There were presentations, time for Q&A, and opportunities for open discussion. By bringing together university researchers and community school practitioners, RPPs offered one way to address problems of practice that were important to community schools. Attendees learned about strategies for building successful RPPs, the resources available to support these efforts, and how to apply these approaches in their own contexts.

Presenters included:

  • Karen Hunter Quartz, Director, UCLA Center for Community Schooling
  • Dr. Beth Trinchero, English Teacher, RFK UCLA Community School (LAUSD)
  • Julian Jenkins, Undergraduate Teaching Intern and Student Researcher
  • Jonathan Oyaga, Research Associate, UCLA Center for Community Schooling
  • Adriane Nguyen, English Department Chair and Teacher, Mann UCLA Community School (LAUSD)
  • Bernice Garnett, Sc.D., Associate Professor, College of Education & Social Services, University of Vermont
  • Peter N. Knox, Ph.D., Research Assistant Professor, College of Education & Social Services, University of Vermont
  • Johannes Haensch, Expanded Learning Opportunities Program Manager, Vermont Agency of Education
  • Jess DeCarolis, Consultant, Public Education Consulting Services
  • Shelly Lanou, Principal, Newport Town School
  • Samantha Stevens, Community Schools Coordinator, North Country Supervisory Union, Newport, Vermont

Recording

General

University of Vermont Catamount Community Schools Collaborative

UCLA Center for Community Schooling

FEBRUARY 14, 2025

Parent and Youth-Run Businesses, Improving Housing, and Immigrant Family Legal Clinics: Community School Partnerships with Law Schools

The University-Assisted Community Schools (UACS) National Network was pleased to share replicable examples of the transformative impact of partnerships between law schools and community schools.

  • The founding and sustained implementation of a parent-owned early childhood education program, the Learning Together Childcare Center, in an Albuquerque community school was described by its founding members and the University of New Mexico School of Law. Examples of housing partnerships and legal clinic pop-ups were also discussed.
  • The full-time UCLA Immigrant Family Legal Clinic, located on the campus of the UCLA Community School and serving the other schools on the campus, shared how it provided legal services and advocacy in a trusted community space.
  • A youth-run healthy food business had sold more than 2 million Rebel Crumbles to the School District of Philadelphia’s food services division. The University of Pennsylvania Law School supported crucial business operations, from helping create the nonprofit corporation, to contracting with a local bakery for production, to contracting with the District for sales, and to helping create intellectual property frameworks, copyrights, and patents.

Presenters included:

  • Deanna Creighton, Deputy Director, Community School Innovation and Strategic Partnerships Department, Bernalillo County, New Mexico
  • Serge Martinez, Associate Dean for Experiential Learning, University of New Mexico School of Law
  • Paulina Diaz, Program Director, Learning Together Childcare Center (LTCC) at Emerson Elementary Community School
  • Nuvia Valenzuela, Program Director, Learning Together Childcare Center (LTCC) at Kirtland Elementary Community School
  • Wendy Salcedo-Fierro, Partnership Lead at UCLA Center for Community Schooling
  • Nina Rabin, Clinical Professor of Law, Director of Clinical Education, and Director, Immigrant Family Legal Clinic, UCLA
  • Jarrett Stein, Director of Health Partnerships and Social Ventures, Netter Center for Community Partnerships, University of Pennsylvania

Recording

UCLA Center for Community Schooling

University of New Mexico

University of Pennsylvania

OCTOBER 23, 2024

Improving Research, Teaching, and Learning K-20+: Connecting University Service-Learning Courses and K-12 Classrooms

The Southeast Regional Coalition for University-Assisted Community Schools (SRCUACS) and the University-Assisted Community Schools National Network, housed in Penn’s Netter Center, held a special coalition call on October 23, 2024, from 12:00 to 1:15 p.m. EST to explore course-based partnerships. The call featured a panel of faculty who had developed and taught university courses in partnership with K-12 partners in community schools, including during the school day. These courses advanced teaching, learning, and research at both the university and school levels. These K-16+ partnerships had positive impacts on the university, the school, and the community school’s neighborhood. Each professor provided examples of course activities, joint publications by school and university partners, and syllabi.

Presenters included:

  • Loretta Flanagan-Cato, Associate Professor, Psychology; Co-Director, Undergraduate Neuroscience Program; Director, Neuroscience Communication Lab; University of Pennsylvania.
  • Terri Lipman, Professor of Nursing of Children (emerita); Assistant Dean for Community Engagement (retired), School of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania. Division of Endocrinology and Diabetes, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
  • Amber Simpson, Associate Professor, Teaching, Learning and Educational Leadership, Binghamton University; Assistant Co-Director of the Center for Community Schools and ReImagining Schools Research Lab.

Recording

Amber Simpson, Binghamton University

Course Syllabus & Materials

Publications

Loretta Flanagan-Cato, University of Pennsylvania (Neuroscience and Psychology)

Course Syllabus & Materials

Publications

Terri Lipman, University of Pennsylvania (School of Nursing)

Slide Presentation

Course Syllabus & Materials

Publications & Articles

Awards & Recognition