We gathered to hear the latest from campus and community colleagues about what’s going on in user- and community-focused water work. We learned from examples of this work and the principles behind its success. And we received training in best practices for community engagement skills and resources to support our water-related work from the Ginsberg Center team.

Keynote speakers included:

• Steve Yaffee, whose practitioner-focused research on collaborative decision making in complex environmental and sustainability situations inspires and guides the next generation of engaged scholarship
• Monica Lewis-Patrick, CEO of We the People of Detroit, a water warrior who is facilitating community-engaged research and creating networks of relationships with water advocates across the state and region.

Event highlights included:

• Opening plenary with Steve Yaffee on the theory and practice of collaboration
• Facilitated Meet & Greet
• Panel discussion with representatives from the campus organizations that support engagement
• Mini-workshop on community engagement approaches and skills presented by the Ginsberg Center
• Remarks by Monica Lewis-Patrick on action-oriented research and university-community engagement processes (where to make changes and elements that work) 
• Closing reception