The University of North Dakota Center for Community Engagement (CCE) has released the first issue of Community Connect: The Journal of Civic Voices. This new community journal features profiles of communities and organizations, project reports, essays, and art.

“The journal is part of a project called Community Connect, spearheaded by the University of North Dakota Center for Community Engagement and involving dozens of North Dakota communities, organizations, and UND faculty, staff, and students,” said Lana Rakow, a member of the journal’s editorial board and professor of communication. Rakow is founder and director of the CCE.

“Community Connect journal grew out of research findings about the information North Dakota organizations and community members said they want and how they would like to get it,” said Gregory Gagnon, journal editor and UND associate professor of Indian Studies. “The Community Connect Project also includes an annual community-university forum and a website of community resources and conversations to be launched soon.”

The first issue contains profiles of communities and organizations across the state, including Buffalo, Larimore, Stanley, Towner, the Barnes County Historical Society, the Western Wellness Foundation of Dickinson, the Near North Neighborhood in Grand Forks, and the Foundation for Agricultural and Rural Resources Management and Sustainability. 

Faculty members and students from the UND departments of Sociology, Communication, Psychology, Social Work, Counseling, Indian Studies, Art & Design, Geology and Geological Engineering, and the School of Engineering and Mines contributed to the journal project.

Besides Gagnon, the journal editorial staff and board comprises both UND and community members, including Diana Nastasia, associate editor and Community Connect coordinator; Sorin Nastasia, Community Connect graphic designer and UND graduate student; David Crane, Mott, N.D.; Brenna Daugherty, North Dakota Humanities Council; Matsimela Changa (“MC”) Diop, UND Multicultural Student Services; Richard Fiordo, UND Communication Program; Richard Kahn, UND Educational Foundations and Research; Mary Robinette, Grand Forks; Wilbur Stolt, UND director of libraries; Liane Stout, Buffalo, N.D.; and Iris Swedlund, Velva, N.D.

The journal will be published twice a year. It is available free of charge and is being distributed to regional communities and organizations.  It will also be available online at www.communityengagement.und.edu

 Individuals and organizations that would like to help sponsor the publication and those who would like to contribute submissions to the journal are invited to visit the Web site for more information. 

Contacts
Lana Rakow, professor
Director, Center for Community Engagement
(701) 777-0675
lanarakow@mail.und.edu

Gregory Gagnon, associate professor
UND Department of Indian Studies
(701) 777-4314 (701) 777-6148
gregory_gagnon@und.edu

Juan Pedraza
Office of University Relations
(701) 777-6571 (office) (701) 740-1321 (cell)
juanpedraza@mail.und.edu