The mission of the Montana Campus Network of Civic Engagement (MCNCE) is to educate students for civic responsibility, and partner with communities to inspire, empower and promote community service and civic engagement.
This network emerged from the Montana Campus Compact, which was founded by eight Montana college and university presidents, including Richard Littlebear of Chief Dull Knife College and George Dennison of the University of Montana. Through the mid-1980s and early 1990s there was a great deal of new activity and organization across many sectors to better respond to community needs, and strengthen American democracy. Some examples include Campus Compact, founded nationally in 1985, Points of Light in 1990, the Corporation for National and Community Service in 1990 and AmeriCorps shortly after, The Campus Opportunity Outreach League, and more.
In Montana, this time saw the creation of the Governor’s Office of Community Service, and the Montana Commission on Community Service, two influential bodies that have advanced service and volunteerism in Montana. Higher education administrators took action and decided to organize themselves around a common charge of “educating students and building communities,” and began to invest in a small organization that trained faculty, provided resources and expertise, researched and published on campus-community engagement and community-based research, and helped bring together the community of higher education staff and faculty to share best practices, grow the field and act collectively for a greater impact.
Throughout the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s, the network won numerous federal Learn and Serve America and AmeriCorps grants, and successfully administered programs that trained faculty in service learning pedagogy, and which placed college student AmeriCorps members in service in schools, nonprofits and with government partners. The Faculty Fellows (Learn and Serve) and Campus Corps (AmeriCorps) programs engaged hundreds of participants, leveraged several million dollars in grant funds and AmeriCorps Education Award for Montana College students. In 2000, the network won its first AmeriCorps VISTA grant, and began offering anti-poverty, capacity building VISTA members to its affiliate campuses and to community nonprofits and schools. The network has operated a VISTA grant as an intermediary organization, supporting anti-poverty, education-focused capacity building work in Montana ever since.
In 2014 the CEO Council voted to amend its bylaws and created a standing Advisory Committee, which would convene more regularly than the board, for the purposes of advising the network office and advancing its mission. The Advisory Committee has been co-chaired by staff and faculty members from the network since its inception. These leaders set the agenda and work collectively on important campus-community engagement needs. In 2015, to honor the 20th anniversary of AmeriCorps, thirteen campuses voted to begin offering campus funding to match the AmeriCorps Education Award, a match which continues.
Beginning in early 2023 the CEO council charged staff with leading a robust change process, including listening sessions, strategic planning and community needs assessment. Over the course of the winter and early spring of 2024, staff and CEOs, Advisory Committee members, funders and supporters What resulted from those months of focused work, conversations and listening was a new network called the Montana Campus Network for Civic Engagement, a clear focus on providing support for student community engagement, and a clear commitment to service from Montana’s higher education community and what was born was the Montana Campus Network for Civic Engagement!