1. Understanding and Measuring Optimal Campus-Community Relationships ©2014 The Optimal College Town Assessment (OCTA)

2. Webinar Agenda A starting point: For better or for worse? The 4X4 Town-Gown typology Piloting the OCTA/Main findings Further development of the OCTA platform The Mobilization Cycle Implications ©2014 The Optimal College Town Assessment (OCTA)

3. Where it All Started Is the Town-Gown Glass Half Empty or Half Full? “For better or for worse…” ©2014 The Optimal College Town Assessment (OCTA)

4. The Glass is Half Empty “Historically, town-gown relations have been a source of difficulty, frustration, and annoyance for both the town and the university” Bruning, McGrew, and Cooper (2006) ©2014 The Optimal College Town Assessment (OCTA)

5. The Glass is Half Full “There is an important need to identify common issues and approaches… associated with having the college or university present. Communities without a post-secondary institution simply do not have this as a factor in their galaxy of community issues, wants, needs, and opportunities. Most wish they did!” Fox (2014) ©2014 The Optimal College Town Assessment (OCTA)

6. The Main Objective Taking the Guesswork out of Understanding and Measuring Town-Gown Relationship Quality ©2014 The Optimal College Town Assessment (OCTA)

7. The 4X4 Typology Based on a recent Gavazzi, Fox, and Martin (2014) article in the journal Innovative Higher Education ©2014 The Optimal College Town Assessment (OCTA)

8. 4X4 Typology of Town-Gown Relationships Higher effort, higher comfort Lower effort, higher comfort Higher effort, lower comfort Lower effort, lower comfort DevitalizedConflicted HarmoniousTraditional ©2014 The Optimal College Town Assessment (OCTA)

11. Piloting the Optimal College Town Assessment (OCTA) Based on a second article written by Gavazzi and Fox (2015) in the journal Innovative Higher Education ©2014 The Optimal College Town Assessment (OCTA)

12. Finding #1 Effort and comfort levels were significantly and positively associated with one another –Indicates that greater contact between campus and community members will increase relationship contentment. ©2014 The Optimal College Town Assessment (OCTA)

13. Finding #2 Community member comfort levels are highest with students –Provides evidence that students serve as a key connecting point between the campus and the community. ©2014 The Optimal College Town Assessment (OCTA)

14. Finding #3 The closest municipality reported the highest levels of effort and comfort, followed by the second and third closest towns The First Law of Geography “everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things” (Tobler, 1970) ©2014 The Optimal College Town Assessment (OCTA)

15. Finding #4 Perceived comfort levels were highest among business owners, followed by non-profit leaders, and then educators Discriminating the relationships between and among different community members really matters! ©2014 The Optimal College Town Assessment (OCTA)

16. Further Development of the OCTA Building a more complete web-based data capture tool ©2014 The Optimal College Town Assessment (OCTA)

17. New Features GEOMAPPING Zip code information on residence and place of employment help you geo- locate your participants while mapping pockets of strengths and limitations within the community ©2014 The Optimal College Town Assessment (OCTA)

18. New Features ALUMNI DEVELOPMENT Information on coursework taken and degrees earned provides valuable insight into the role that alumni play in the development of town-gown relationships ©2014 The Optimal College Town Assessment (OCTA)

20. New Features MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES –Community participants can be further subdivided into smaller reference groups ©2014 The Optimal College Town Assessment (OCTA)

22. New Features MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES –Similarly, campus participants also can be further subdivided into smaller reference groups ©2014 The Optimal College Town Assessment (OCTA)

24. New Features PUBLIC SAFETY Specific information can be captured about relationships with elected and appointed government employees, as well as police and other public safety officials ©2014 The Optimal College Town Assessment (OCTA)

26. New Features EXPECTATIONS Perceptions of current and ideal relationships provide an indication of how closely aligned campus and community expectations are of one another ©2014 The Optimal College Town Assessment (OCTA)

28. New Features CHALLENGES Perceptions about concerns such as student misbehavior, economic investment, educational access and affordability, public relations, and volunteerism and visibility in the community ©2014 The Optimal College Town Assessment (OCTA)

29. New Features OVERALL PROFILE: Accumulated information about activity and comfort levels generates a picture of the campus-community relationship that can range from the very healthy “harmonious” type to more challenging forms associated with conflict and disappointment ©2014 The Optimal College Town Assessment (OCTA)

30. Implications Where do we go from here? ©2014 The Optimal College Town Assessment (OCTA)

31. The Town-Gown Relationship Mobilization Cycle Awareness Raising Coalition Building Data Gathering Interpreting Information Evidence Based Action ©2014 The Optimal College Town Assessment (OCTA)

32. Employing the OCTA UNIVERSITY ADMINISTRATION Application materials for the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification and Campus Compact initiatives TOWN/CITY MANAGERS Comprehensive planning documents for municipal management ©2014 The Optimal College Town Assessment (OCTA)

33. Employing the OCTA DEVELOPMENT OFFICERS Feasibility studies prior to Capital Campaign launches STUDENT LIFE/OFF-CAMPUS HOUSING Signaling a significant shift in efforts to improve campus-community relationships ©2014 The Optimal College Town Assessment (OCTA)

34. Employing the OCTA CITY COUNCIL/BOARD OF TRUSTEES Planning for leadership changes in city government and university administration ©2014 The Optimal College Town Assessment (OCTA)

35. Thank You! For more information about OCTA: –Collegetownassessment.com Follow the action on Twitter: –@CollegeTownGown ©2014 The Optimal College Town Assessment (OCTA)