TUTORIAL 3

1. TUTORIAL 3 Finding Service-Learning Community Partners 1

2. Tutorial Goals At the end of this tutorial, you will have an understanding of: • Criteria involved in choosing community partners • General tips in maintaining relationships with your community partners 2

3. Tutorial Objectives At the end of this tutorial you will be able to: • Choose criteria most important for your course • Identify potential community partners for your course 3

4. Finding service-learning community partners • Thinking about sending your students to “any” community is like picking “any” text for your course • Important and thoughtful process of course preparation • Important for faculty involvement in site planning Howard, 2001 4

5. Criteria for finding (and maintaining) Community Partners • Placement Match (course and mission) • Meet needs to Empower Community • Objective-related • Time Commitments • Based on Understanding and Trust • Orientation • Materials within these slides are adapted from various references found at the end of this presentation 5

6. Finding service-learning community partners • Supervision • Training of Students • Communication with Site • Relationship Building • Follow-up with Site • Materials within these slides are adapted from various references found at the end of this presentation 6

7. Finding service-learning community partners • Placement Match • To match course content • Ex: class on nursing could be placed at a homeless shelter; but would be better placed at a health clinic • To match university and department mission • Be careful with any conflict of interest for values • Ex: medical students working with an abortion clinic or with a program doing research on fetal tissue 7

8. Finding service-learning community partners • Meet needs to Empower community • You are not there to “serve” the community • Rather you want to enhance their strengths and help them to fulfill their needs by working with them on how to improve their communities • Work with community to identity needs 8

9. Finding service-learning community partners • Meet needs to Empower community • Empower community members to work within and become their own resources • Conduct a “needs/strengths” assessment • Find out in advance how your class can enhance the community 9

10. Finding service-learning community partners • Objective-related Criteria • Course content objectives • Filing papers at a daycare, while doing service does little to help students experience the hands-on responsibilities of child education practices • Site needs to have complimentary interests and resources to make a match for course • If you are to work with community to enhance strengths (meet needs), they have to have some potential resources and/or interests to carry out initiatives 10

11. Finding service-learning community partners • Objective-related Criteria • Civic engagement objectives • If you want students to be advocates for public policies of unfair labor wages, visiting one plant for just one hour in a semester will not be sufficient • They need longer, more immersed experiences with the people in the community; with the workers, families, various organizations, labor unions… 11

12. Finding service-learning community partners • Time Commitments • What can you get accomplished in your semester? • Is your project something you can combine with another semester’s or instructor’s class? • Piggy Back method • How many meetings or hours will you need to accomplish your objectives? 12

13. Finding service-learning community partners • Time Commitments • What is the weather for your project or does it matter? • Ex: building a swing set in the park for a neighborhood; collecting ground water samples, being inside or outside…will you have to be weather-dependent? • Ex: when working with an elder population, visits per semester may work better than mandating x number of hours per week… 13

14. Finding service-learning community partners • Based on Understanding and Trust • Faculty need to also work with sites so the site partner understands the nature of service- learning and the course • Partners needs to trust each other that the assignments will be carried out on both ends • Faculty members need to know that students will have guidance and leadership at the site 14

15. Finding service-learning community partners • Orientation • Prepare students for the experience of service- learning • Prepare students for the population • Make sure students understand the mission of the site prior to working with the community • Cover liability issues with students (i.e., travel accidents…) 15

16. Finding service-learning community partners • Training of students • How many hours of training will students need at the site, if any? • Is training completed by service site supervisor/director? • Find out if students need background check • Who pays, what clearance level is… • Particularly important if working with young or elder population 16

17. Finding service-learning community partners • Supervision • Can students be on their own or do they need supervision? • Can they be with community members on their own? • Sometimes with children a supervisor/teacher must be on site at all times… • Sometimes with elderly, students cannot be in someone’s apartment; but can be in a common’s area (HUD regulations) – depends upon facility 17

18. Finding service-learning community partners • Communication with site • Keep consistent communication with site during the project • Open lines of feedback and assess during the project in order to make changes as necessary • As faculty, visit site on occasion to see first-hand what students are doing and to visit with supervisor 18

19. Finding service-learning community partners • Relationship building • As faculty, you should be personally invested in the service project and the community in which you are partnering • View the relationship as reciprocal and keep ties with your community partners 19

20. Finding service-learning community partners • Relationship building • Celebrate the successes at the end of the semester • Invite community to campus • Equally share in the success of the project 20

21. Finding service-learning community partners • Follow-up with site • Conduct a post-assessment with your partners • Find out what went well during the semester • What could be improved upon for the next project? • Take the time to visit with community members if possible (not only supervisor/director) 21

22. Finding service-learning community partners • Follow-up with site • Any opportunities to collaborate with other courses/instructors for a different project? • Encourage your students to continue to visit the site on their own time to keep the relationship with the community partners 22

23. Final thoughts • Overall… • Building effective community partnerships take time • Keep open lines of communication • Be patient • Enjoy the mutual benefits • Hope you enjoyed this tutorial and you are ready to go out and find your community partners 23

24. References Conville, R. L., & Weintraub, S. C. (2002). Service-learning and communication: A disciplinary toolkit. Washington, DC: National Communication Association. Gelman, S., B. Holland, B. A., Driscoll, A., Srping, A., & Kerrigan, S. (2001). Assessing service-learning and civic engagement: Principles and techniques. Providence, RI: Campus Compact. Heffernan, K. (Ed.), (2001). Fundamentals of service-learning course construction. Providence, RI: Campus Compact. Sandy, M., & Holland, B. (2006) Different worlds and common ground: Community partner perspectives on campus-community partnerships. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 30–43. Sandy, M. (2007) Community voices: A California campus compact study on partnerships. San Francisco: California Campus Compact. 24