How can we create a sense of urgency about civic engagement that will be compelling to a high proportion of the faculty?
The report of the Commission on Community-Engaged Scholarship in the Health Professions states the need for increasing community-engagement in academic institutions and community-engaged scholarship as follows: “Over the past two decades, a steady stream of national organizations have been recommending the community engagement of health professional schools as an essential strategy for improving health professional education, achieving a diverse health workforce, increasing access to health care, and eliminating health disparities. Thanks to these recommendations, the requirements of accrediting bodies, the investments of funding agencies, and the favorable results of outcome studies of community-based education and research, community engagement is now widely viewed as fundamental to the mission and purpose of health professional schools.
