Mission
Catalyze and support mutually-beneficial partnerships that advance knowledge, and inform policy and practice for the benefit of Hennepin County residents.
Vision
Meaningful collaborations help reduce disparities and enrich the lives of Hennepin County residents.
Values
- Collaborations are intentional | Every collaboration or project starts with clear intentions. The project partners ask themselves: what are the goals for this work? How will the results be used? What is the impact we hope to achieve? How does the process or project facilitate equitable and mutually rewarding collaboration between those involved?
- Collaborations help reduce disparities | Community members see how the County and the University are working together to solve real, impactful problems affecting their communities. County residents’ lives are demonstrably improved because of University-County collaborations, and both institutions are better agents of prosperity by engaging residents’ different ways of knowing and thinking in collaborations.
- Relationships are reciprocal | A partnership flows both ways, so collaborative teams plan for reciprocity and align the unique institutional rewards. Project team members seek to understand the other entity or person’s interest, clarify what's being asked or offered, and ensure the work remains meaningful to all.
- Work enables meaningful partnerships | The Partnership’s work aims to empower students and faculty to apply their research better and more practically, leverage impactful research and opportunities to improve Hennepin County services and policies, and improve the lives of the County’s diverse communities. Together, the University, the County, and the community, are all made meaningfully better by being in partnership together.
- Work is reflective | The Partnership is internally reflective—it adapts and evolves based on collaborations together. The Partnership recognizes learning is multidimensional and collaborative activities have ripple effects on both institutions. The HUP Office staff encourages teams to be reflective in their work and consider learnings not just from outcomes of the project, but also from the process of being in relationship with one another.
- Follow-through is critical | Follow-through metabolizes all the excitement and energy from gatherings into meaningful action. The health of vibrant partnerships rests on the promises people keep, so the HUP Office believes, supports, and promotes clear expectations and follow-through.
- Learnings are lifted up | Learning about the outcomes of impactful research, activities, and processes contributes to a vibrant partnership. Great work has been done and it’s important to capture learnings that have occurred through discrete projects and share back themes that may apply across collaborations to foster a network of learning.