OCEP works to bridge the research, practice, and service missions of the School of Education and Social Policy (SESP) and Northwestern University to create initiatives and partnerships that positively impact our home communities of Evanston and Chicago, but that can be shared and scaled far beyond.
OCEP partners with faculty, students, colleges, departments, and centers from across the university. OCEP also supports Neighborhood and Community Relations at the university.
Scholarship
OCEP promotes and leverages SESP's scholarly expertise and resources to advance research, develop programs, and engage in teaching and service-related activities that help to understand and improve learning, public policy, and well-being in our home communities of Evanston and Chicago, and beyond.
Infrastructure and Capacity Building
OCEP provides infrastructure and builds capacity for researchers, practitioners, students, and diverse community stakeholders to work together. Providing institutional support for cooperation, coordination, and collaboration among these stakeholders allows us to build, share, and maximize human and financial resources; be more efficient and effective in our work; more easily identify new opportunities for engagement; and therefore, amplifies impact and makes our efforts more sustainable and scalable.
Community Partnerships
Improving learning and human development requires new ways of working together in and across communities. Thus, OCEP is committed to developing community partnerships that are based on collaboration and mutual respect; common vision and goals; community needs and priorities; and the valuing and sharing of resources and expertise and seeks to document and share models and promising practices for university-community partnerships.