Resources for our community partners

College students work with children
Missouri State service-learners work with students at Robberson Elementary

Community partner/ learning sites

Alternative Service-Learning Examples

Explore these methods for implementing service-learning for students who may not be able to participate on site in the community.

Indirect Service-Learning Advocacy-based Service-Learning Research-based Service-Learning

1. Identify the problem/issue that you are currently working to address (Example: Access to healthcare; Environmental Issues in communities; Child Abuse and Neglect; Citizen Engagement in Communities; Hunger, Homelessness, Pollution in the water due to incorrect disposal of medications; lack of cultural knowledge and language for first responders; etc., etc.)

1. Work with your assigned community learning site partner to develop an advocacy campaign to address a topic important to that partner (Examples: Healthy Eating; Stop Smoking; Drunk Driving; Clean Water)

1. Conduct research about a topic or problem/issue (Examples: Vision Deficiencies and Congestive Heart Failure – Is there a relationship or correlation?; Healthy Eating and Vision Deficiencies; Stroke Victims and Vision Deficiencies; Addressing how Medications are Disposed of – the Impact on Clean Water; etc., etc.)

2. Review current literature on the issue in your community (Reading the Community Focus Report is a great place to start)

2. Creating Educational Material to be used for Classroom Learning (lesson plans; activities; etc.)

2. Conduct research to map areas of food insecurity, or drugs, or crimes, or lack of educational facilities, or afterschool programs, etc., for a community

3. Identify at least two articles that discuss the issue or problem in a community that you have identified

3. Writing a Grant or looking for/identifying potential grants for an organization/community learning site partner

3. Impact of vision deficiencies on learning

4. Critically think about how you would work to address this problem in a community

4. Writing a business plan for a new program

 

5. Write a plan that discusses elements 1-4 and submit in a report form fashion that can be provided to your community learning-site partner

5. Developing a new program

 

Where the service-learning magic happens

Community Learning Sites are crucial to the success of the Service-Learning program. Our students need experiential opportunities in their learning.

We value any opportunity to collaborate with community organizations committed to addressing social issues and see our partnerships as win-win situations.

Sign up, then take a look through our resources in the dropdown below, including the Learning Site Handbook, where you'll find important information about working with Missouri State's service-learners: