In areas where community housing or architecture is outdated or starting to crumble, local universities often encourage students to go out into the community and volunteer to help renovate houses, businesses or places of worship. For example, Louisiana State University (LSU) has a community university partnership that helps with community revitalization. According to LSU, student volunteers have painted homes and worked on architecture projects. Many other students have helped to raise money for these efforts.
Some university-community partnerships focus on the exchange of knowledge and information. Students benefit from the knowledge of local professionals, while residents of the community have access to the perspectives and understandings of students of the next generation. The principles of the University of Brighton's community knowledge exchange exemplify what this type of program tries to accomplish. University of Brighton's program aims to promote "the equal status of different types of knowledge" and "working together to identify and meet community needs in a sustainable way," according to the school's website. Activities in the knowledge exchange program include improving health among deaf and LGBT communities.
Other institutions of higher learning use community partnerships to bolster the research and evaluation skills of its students. Those students who wish to progress to a graduate program need to know how to conduct ethical and effective research before attempting to tackle a graduate degree. Schools like the University of Alberta have community-based research and evaluation (CBRE) workshops that help achieve this goal. Students who participate in the University of Alberta's CBRE program work with members of the community to "develop collaborative principles, identify research questions, and design project parameters," according to the school's website.
Students in some university-community partnerships take a less hands-on approach to working with local residents. Instead of meeting with locals on a more consistent basis and working off-campus, some programs are geared to raising funds for community programs or needs. The Office of University Partnerships (OUP) works with schools to "encourage and expand the growing number of partnerships formed between colleges and universities and their communities," according to OUP's website. Students work on grant programs like the Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian Institutions Assisting Communities and the Community Development Work Study Program.