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Reflective Essays

Vol. 28 No. 3: Special Issue on Community-Engaged Scholars, Practitioners, and Boundary Spanners: Identity, Well-Being, and Career Development

Nurturing Community and Resilience: Four Years of Reflection on Virtual Coworking Among Boundary-Spanning Community-Engaged Scholar–Practitioners

  • Kathryn A. V. Clements
  • Michele C. Fritz
  • Makena Neal
  • Diane M. Doberneck
Submitted
December 14, 2023
Published
2024-10-18

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically changed the practice of community-engaged scholarship and challenged internal and external boundary spanners to maintain and grow authentic and meaningful relationships. Female-identifying scholars and practitioners faced, and continue to face, extra personal and professional demands in the postpandemic era (Purcell et al., 2022). In this reflective essay, four female community-engaged scholar–practitioners reflect on the importance and value of cocreating a weekly, virtual coworking space to support professional and personal resilience. Over 4 years, this coworking space shifted in focus from solely a cowriting accountability time during the COVID-19 virtual work era to more of a “relational pause” (Barton et al., 2022) focused on encouraging, caring for, and uplifting one another. We offer readers practical ideas to organize and lead their own virtual coworking spaces or, for institutional leadership roles, strategies to support others in developing communities of care that sustain boundary spanners.