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Effective practices for communicating about community partnerships

The University of Washington has developed communication recommendations intended to strengthen campus–community partnerships. These include:

  • Always identify and credit community partners for their contributions.
  • Use collaborative language (e.g., “partnered,” “engaged,” “teamed up”) to reflect mutual effort.
  • Enhance visibility by linking to partners’ websites, highlighting their achievements, quoting their representatives and using location-based photos.
  • Share drafts with partners to ensure accurate representation.
  • Avoid language that implies one-sided assistance (e.g., “help”); instead, emphasize collaboration (“working with” rather than “doing for”).

These practices aim to foster respectful, accurate and empowering communication regarding community collaborations.

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