Establishing & Sustaining Community Contacts Toolkit for Service Learning in Political Science

There should be an open, reciprocal relationship between community organizations and higher education institutions engaging in service-learning. Care should be taken to ensure that both the agency and student needs are met by the partnership. To this end, faculty and institutions should establish criteria for a "successful" placement, and the agency should also articulate their goals for the service partnership. Factors to consider in choosing an agency and establishing these guidelines include how fully the agency can be incorporated into the existing class material as well as what part the agency will play in structuring assignments and in student evaluation. In many cases, a campus-wide service-learning coordinator assists service-learning faculty in this process.

Kraft, R.J. 1996. "Service Learning." Education and Urban Society, 28(2):131-159.

Lane, Brett and Diane Dorfuran. "Strengthening Community Networks: The Basis for Sustaining Community Renewal."

Tice, Carol H. 1994. "Forging University-Community Collaboration: The Agency Perspective on National Service." Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, v1n1: 105-109.