Engaging Partners in the 21st Century

Engagement in the 21st century requires collaboration. When we partner with people, communities and organizations, we change lives. To be relevant, we must work with university and local partners to determine Missourians' most crucial needs and use this knowledge to identify and solve problems and empower Missourians to succeed.

Our roles, methods and practices must acknowledge the value and expertise that learners, communities and other partners bring to our work and to incorporate new ways of connecting to them. We must combine the classic extension model of extending knowledge outward into the community (push) with the strategic leveraging of university resources and partners (bring), while empowering learners to engage us, as co-partners, in identifying challenges and finding solutions (pull).

These simple principles guide our work to connect:

Find people and listen

Promise what you can follow through with

Share resources and learning

Guiding Practices to Connect

The pillars of a healthy community are the economy, health care access and a high-quality education system. The University of Missouri supports these pillars through extension and engagement programs, activities and educational opportunities that bring knowledge and resources directly to the people and communities of Missouri. Our success depends upon the quality of our engagement and connection with communities, local partners and university knowledge and research around identified needs, goals and desired impacts.