CYFC Goals
July 1, 2005
- June 30, 2006
BACKGROUND AND
MISSION
The University
of Minnesota is nationally recognized for its scholarship and resources
on children, youth and family issues, and countless faculty, departments
and centers across the University are engaged in addressing the most
pressing concerns faced by families and the communities in which they
live. Since its inception in 1991, the Children, Youth & Family
Consortium has been charged with providing coordination, coherence,
and a larger sense of purpose to these diverse University-wide efforts.
The Consortium is guided by a commitment to integrating institutional
service and public engagement into research and teaching, to coordinating
and making accessible University wide resources, and to providing
a plan and structure for University and community partnerships around
children, youth and family issues.
Our mission is
. . . to
bring together the varied competencies of the University of Minnesota
and the vital resources of Minnesota's communities to enhance the
ability of individuals and organizations to address critical health,
education, and social policy concerns in ways that improve the well-being
of Minnesota children, youth, and families.
GOALS
- Finalize and implement the concept of thematic cycles to
organize our activities, catalyze interdisciplinary and community-university
collaborations, and permit sustained, deep work around an
important societal issue.
- Serve as a hub for incubating and coordinating interdisciplinary
and community-University education and research efforts
- Identify and work to dismantle systemic barriers
to interdisciplinary and community-university
collaborations in research and education.
- Serve as a primary link to policy-relevant child, youth
and family research for policymakers and others in the policy
and government sector
- Increase our capacity to be responsive to requests for
information and resources by individuals within the University
and in the community.
- Increase our capacity to assist policymakers and the community
in answering the question “what works?”
- Become a resource for professional development for faculty
around issues of community-University partnership, interdisciplinary
work, policy impact, and communication with policymakers
- Become a resource for professional development for community
professionals/practitioners
- Support continued definition, development and growth of
the CECMH
- Increase our reach to greater Minnesota and University
coordinate campuses
- Continue to serve as the coordinating hub for PICYF
