Community Voices: A California Campus Compact Study on Partnerships, Executive Summary

This study grew out of a conversation among service-learning practitioners at a retreat hosted by California Campus Compact. "What do our community partners think about service-learning? We think they are benefiting, but how do we know? Why do they choose to partner with us in the first place?" While reciprocity of benefits for the community has long been an intended hallmark of service-learning practice, service-learning practitioners often do not know if, when and how this is achieved. The unit of analysis was the community-campus partnership, perceived through the lens of community partner eyes. The research considers community perspectives on effective partnership characteristics as well as their own voices regarding benefits, challenges, and motivations they have experienced in partnering with an academic institution. Service-learning coordinators at eight California campuses self-selected a total of 99 experienced community partners to participate in fifteen focus groups. A mix of urban and rural, four-year and community college, public and private, faith-based and secular, research-intensive and liberal arts institutions were included from diverse geographical regions. Participants were primarily staff members from non-profit community-based organizations and public institutions, such as K-12 institutions, libraries and hospitals. This summary gives an overview of benefits to partners, students, and higher education institutions, and includes recommendations based on the study's findings.