Community Agency and School Collaboration: Going in with Your Eyes Open

Agency-school collaborations are examined from the point of view of the agency. The data for the analysis were gathered through interviews with staff people from six different community-based organizations in California, all of whom have experience working with schools and youth volunteers. The study found that there often are culture clashes between agencies and schools because they inhabit different worlds. Some obstacles agencies experience in working with schools include the following: inflexibility of school schedules, controlling attitudes of the school's bureaucracy, school administrators' attitudes, teachers who fail to listen, internal problems with the agency, and the inability of agencies to work with more than one volunteer at a time. However, agencies often continue to work with schools for several reasons: agency personnel are idealistic and want to enhance learning; they hope that the relationship will help their clients; and that the schools will increase the diversity of volunteers.