When Service-Learning Meets Governmental Inertia: Lessons from an Oklahoma Town

How effective can service-learning be when, instead of working with a government partner, one is working against it? This chapter is somewhat of an anomaly because it seeks to address that question. Most of the time when a professor sets out to design and implement a service-learning project, a variety of supportive and enthusiastic stakeholders join her at the table: students, relevant government agencies, and the served community, for example. In this case, at the beginning of the project, most of the stakeholders were absent. There are many ways to foster relationships among university, governmental, and community groups that lead to successful service-learning projects. Many times when an idea for a civic project is born, meetings are called among the interested and affected parties, and the group moves forward consensually. Leadership is usually undertaken by the most powerful parties. This case shows how a relationship between two people - a student and a professor - can grow to encompass a city government, a neighborhood, a university administration, and hundreds of students. [author]