Campus Community Literacy Initiatives as Preparation for Civic Life

Like many U.S. universities with service learning and community engagement programs, the University of San Francisco (USF) works to serve the literacy needs of young people in local public schools. Through its Engage San Francisco initiative, USF meets community identified needs, while it also prepares university students for civic life in democratic communities. Faculty and administrators engaged in university school literacy partnerships have a responsibility not only to prepare college students for success as tutors, but for a lifetime of thoughtful, socially just and equity-minded decision making. University-school partnerships focused on literacy provide ideal contexts for questioning assumptions about the purpose and methods of public schools and educating university students about education for the common good.