A Month of Thanks: Day 14 – Partnerships
“Nothing about us without us.”
The disability civil rights movement mantra is a powerful reminder to the importance of partnerships to our work. We take the mandate very seriously. Collaborating with local leaders and communities to co-create unique approaches to change. HBI’s role is to be the bridge.
This is especially important when we think about the longterm impact of our work. The kind of impact that has an eye on the generations to come. Our partnerships with universities is important way we bring a diverse group of voices together for change. Partnering with universities allows us to be the bridge for communities, diverse leaders, academic thinkers and future generations of change agents.
One of our longest university partnerships has been with Universidad Catolica de Santa Maria (UCSM) and Linfield University. UCSM is a large private Catholic university in Arequipa, Perú. Linfield University is an over 150-year learning institution with campuses in McMinnville and Portland, Oregon. Both universities have a broad range of training programs – including medicine, nursing, pharmacy, engineering, and business. For nearly 15 years, we’ve collaborated with faculty, students, and administrators from the schools of nursing in a number of research, community development, international learning, and professional exchange programs and projects.
Throughout our collaboration, one thing has been ever present – assuring the inclusion of diverse voices, perspectives, and ideas in all our work. In January of 2023, we will be hosting a group of nursing students from both UCSM and Linfield University for an immersive learning experience in Perú. This is our first service learning trip in over three years. We’re excited to bring together the future leaders of healthcare from the U.S. and Perú.
We are very thankful for our longterm parternship with Linfield and UCSM! We are doing some pretty cool stuff together.
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