The Swearer Center has five core values that outline our approach towards student, staff/faculty and community engagement.

Academic Rigor

We are committed to academic rigor as a critical component of a Brown education and of being civically generative community members. We will build a culture and mechanisms of transparency and accountability, measurement and evaluation and evidence-based and critical reflective practices into all that we do.

Ethical and Engaged Student Leadership

We are committed to educating the whole student, listening carefully to students’ voices and respecting students’ agency as learners, change-makers and leaders. We will create inclusive opportunities and pathways for students to build effective community-based teams, coordinate community engaged projects and lead peers into community engaged commitments.

Reciprocity and Respect

We are committed to long-term reciprocal community relationships built on respect and collaboration in co-creation of knowledge, co-education and impact. We will create structural mechanisms that facilitate community agency and community voice, and that better facilitate University responsiveness and responsibility to community.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

We are committed to active and equitable inclusion of diverse stakeholders, perspectives, identities, histories and ways of knowing. We will critically examine the roles that power and privilege continue to play in community engagement relationships and particularly in the relationship between the University and the greater Providence community.

Social Justice

We are committed to building peaceful, equitable and just communities through systematic analysis and collective action to address challenges faced by communities. We will build relationships and strategies that connect University human, intellectual and financial resources to systemic analysis and collective action for social justice