Abstract
In this paper, we describe a six-year effort to create a university-community partnership in a disadvantaged neighborhood bordering Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. We discuss the traditional community research and development (TCR&D) model employed by universities and how assumptions made by the university about the capacities of community brokering agents can significantly influence both the time and trajectory of partnership building activities and the implementation of research and planning recommendations. We present a strategy of targeted mutual interests which can advance both university TCR&D and a community's social capital formation in an environment where initial social capital levels are low.