The Educational Partnerships for Innovation in Communities – Network (EPIC-N) and AGU’s Thriving Earth Exchange have been working together since 2018 and formalized the partnership with a Memorandum of Understanding in 2021. Today, the organizations are building on their shared commitment to community-driven problem-solving by broadening access to data, expertise and networks to help even more communities develop lasting, science-based solutions.
Bringing universities and communities together
EPIC-N is a network of programs, mostly in universities, that partner with communities to address community-identified challenges through existing student coursework. At the end of the class, the students provide the community partner with a deliverable, such as a report or list of recommendations. Many of these partnerships last longer than a semester, with some even spanning several years, which helps build trust and a relationship between the community partner and the university.
This model is carried out across EPIC-N’s regional networks, which span the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia. The organization provides support by gathering performance data, assisting new programs in adopting the EPIC model, and connecting program managers through conferences and calls to share ideas and solutions.
“Many universities are inwardly facing, meaning that faculty are incentivized to write publications and conduct their own research but not necessarily to do community engagement work,” said Ada Inman, program manager of EPIC-N. “We are trying to make universities more outwardly facing by encouraging efforts like giving faculty extra points on their tenure promotion for community engagement work or anything within the administrative process that supports career advancement.”
Another unique part of EPIC-N is that it mandates that all the projects being implemented align with one of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, with most aligning with more than one.
A shared focus on community science
EPIC-N and Thriving Earth Exchange share a focus on advancing projects that communities themselves identify as important, rather than the traditional model of university researchers deciding what communities need.
“We see a lot of synergies between us, including where we look for funding and where we build partnerships,” said Inman. “One of the primary ways we work together is in cross-promoting and building awareness. We do this by presenting at the AGU conference, and AGU representatives present at the EPIC-N conference.”
EPIC-N began expanding into Latin America in 2022 through some scoping projects and now has 14 active universities across Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Colombia and Bolivia, with more institutions expected to join. “When I started implementing programs in 2023 and 2024, I was contacted by the coordinator for Latin America at Thriving Earth Exchange,” recalls Andrea Chavez, EPIC-Latin America and Caribbean Coordinator. “We worked to share networks and information so that Thriving Earth Exchange could approach communities and universities we were working with and vice versa.”
Paying it forward
Students from the University of Veracruzana volunteering with FIDECOAGUA members
Fidecoagua, a decentralized public agency of the Coatepec City Council, is one community partner that has benefited from this shared networking. Established in response to the severe 2002 drought in Veracruz, Mexico, Fidecoagua manages Coatepec’s Payment for Environmental Services program, the first of its kind in the country.
The EPIC-N project is a collaboration between Fidecoagua and Universidad Veracruzana, which worked to strengthen the payment for the Environmental Services Program by improving the living conditions of forest owners enrolled in it, increasing voluntary contributions to the fund and developing technical projects to support Fidecoagua’s management.
Fidecoagua learned about Thriving Earth Exchange from EPIC-N and was selected to receive funding for a project that aims to gather hydrological data across 12 communities to highlight the importance of conservation efforts and encourage investment in the Payment for Environmental Services program (read more in this blog post). Fidecoagua recently presented this project at a Thriving Earth Exchange informational session.
“This is a great example of a collaboration where sharing our partnership and network information led to a successful project,” said Chavez. “Fidecoagua is now taking this even further by sharing that experience with other prospective groups that might benefit from Thriving Earth Exchange.”
Community Leader and General Manager, Ana Karen Novoa, along with Community Leader and Administrative Assistant, Ana Laura Díaz Nieto.
Looking ahead, EPIC-N and Thriving Earth Exchange are looking for potential opportunities for joint funding applications, integrated project models and continued cross-promotion so that both organizations can further leverage their partnership to create lasting community impact and drive meaningful change.
