About the Community Partnership Center

The University of Tennessee Community Partnership Center (CPC) is a center under the Associate Vice President for Research. In 2004, the CPC became a division of the Energy, Environment, and Resources Center (EERC) at the University of Tennessee. EERC conducts innovative multidisciplinary research related to environmental issues and sustainable development. Since 1994, the CPC has worked to create equitable partnerships between The University of Tennessee and low- and moderate-resource communities.

With our university and community partners, we are committed to building our collective capacity for civic engagement and social change through collaborative learning. We work towards meeting our commitment by:

• Facilitating research, service-learning, and volunteer opportunities for University of Tennessee faculty and students,

• Developing and implementing participatory approaches and methods for research and planning for sustainable development,

• Working with at-risk youth and other groups to increase their capacity for positive personal and collective change,

• Conducting applied research, and program and service evaluations, and

• Providing technical assistance and fee-for-service.

The CPC provides leadership in developing collaborative and participatory approaches and methods in research, planning, and policy development, and implements those approaches through local, regional, and national programs.

As an urban Community Outreach Partnership Center (COPC) designated by the  United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the CPC focuses its local service-learning and volunteer partnerships on Youth Programs in the Knoxville, Tennessee Empowerment Zone.