“Cool People Doing Good Work”: A Rights-Based, Relational Model for Research, Teaching, and Outreach Rooted in Urban Settings

Urban Catholic institutions of higher education are being challenged to do more when it comes to working with communities that surround them at the same time as they face multiple external pressure and must clearly define the value of their mission. In this article, we present a model for community-engaged practices that emerge from the ground up to move these institutions more in line with Catholic Social Teaching. “Cool People Doing Good Work” is an adaptable model centered around relationship building and authentic engagement with local experts, stakeholders, and community members that then builds to institutional change. This model places integral humanism at the forefront. This humanism, sponsored by the Church, emphasizes the development of human dignity over that of the market. The model developed is countercultural in that it approaches the development of the person and community, while centering subsidiarity. We first root the model in Catholic mission and values, then describe its steps. We end with an example of its application in a midwestern city. This article seeks to highlight the ways in which community-engaged work pushes urban institutions to adopt and recognize the work by incorporating it into their broader mission.