Re: Service and learning

Hi all,

I've been reading the discussion on service and learning with 
interest. I appreciate Betsy's comment about *ongoing* reflection, 
and also Larry, Andrae, and Jill's comments about community-
identified projects. Oh, and my email program cut off Jill's email 
right at that point, so if any of my comments/questions below are 
redundant, I do apologize.

I am posting with some thoughts and questions about the meaning of 
"community-identified" (note: perhaps someone else can speak more 
directly to the limitations of thinking only in terms of "need"? -- 
that is also crucial).

From the perspective of university-based service-learning, it seems 
that any substantial involvement from "the community" in shaping SL 
projects is an improvement over what can happen without attention to 
this element of SL -- e.g., the image of faculty and/or non-community 
students deciding what is best to do and then imposing it on non-
university communities. 

But underneath that layer, things can get complicated. 

First and foremost, I think that we (whether approaching this from 
the CBO side or the university side) have to be honest with ourselves 
and each other that there are often unquestioned levels at which the 
university sets the terms of engagement in most approaches to service-
learning. One major example is timeframes -- how often to we think 
about duration of service-learning processes first in terms of 
community? More often, university semesters or quarters or other 
timeframes (eg "days") are our starting point. This may in some cases 
be unavoidable; I mention it just to bring it to visibility as 
something that we should acknowledge and grapple with where it 
occurs. 

Beyond this basic layer of university and community, the question 
emerges: who speaks for "the community"? It seems to me that there 
are several more layers to this (at least). First and most obviously, 
if university faculty and staff look to staff members in non-profit 
organizations for guidance, it would be useful to be thoughtful about 
how those organizations are structured. It is absolutely possible 
(and often more "efficient" and fundable) for non-profit 
organizations to operate without real decision-making participation 
from the groups and communities they purport to serve. This may be 
especially complex in direct service -- organizations can have a lot 
of "clients" because the need is great; the presence of clients 
offers a community-based *appearance* but in some contexts may not 
translate to who makes decisions about what the community does or 
does not want or need.

Then there is the question of quality control on the university side. 
I have, for example, seen a university program that claims to be 
connected with local low income communities of color, but is actually 
just projecting this image while using the community to build a 
little empire consisting of the university and local institutions 
(which are in "the community" but not at all run by "the community"). 
In the process, communities that have been used and used and used are 
being used yet again, while university representatives are publicly 
lauded for their "good work."

It is absolutely crucial for us to name community identification of 
goals and needs as essential in service-learning. But now that this 
language is out there in the world, and especially where there is 
funding or awards or other status markers associated with this work, 
I think we also need to dig below the surface, because these words 
can lend themselves to misuse. Again -- who represents "the 
community," who speaks for and about "the community" and who in the 
service-learning field (funders included) is actually paying 
attention to whether claims of community connection, voice, and 
"benefit" are actually true from the community side of things?

And the final issue/question that I would pose is one that I am 
struggling with most directly in my own work right now. The word 
"community" (in service-learning contexts and also in some non-
profits) often functions as a euphemism for low-income communities of 
color. It is absolutely crucial to look at race and class as lines 
along which power is unjustly distributed, and thus to focus on 
decision-making structures and processes and projects that challenge 
racism and classism. At the same time, are these the only lines along 
which power is unjustly distributed? Consider, as a hypothetical 
example, a program that includes and serves young men and some young 
women from poor African American and Latino/a neighborhoods, but is 
formally and informally male-led and male-centered, and is also 
structurally headed/supervised by an adult.

How do we account for and address power dynamics including but not 
limited to race and class (in the above example, gender and age also 
seem relevant) in decision-making processes about community goals 
and/or needs? I think that it is important for anyone doing community 
work and SL to really look at the theories about power that underlie 
our approach to being "community-based." These theories (whether we 
call them that or something else) often guide not only our 
assumptions about authentic "community" but our goals and practice as 
well. I thank any community project will be partial, in terms of what 
issues it can address and try to change. So I think it is useful for 
all of us to make visible our underlying assumptions so that we know 
more about what it is we're doing.

It seems to me that these are all extremely difficult questions with 
which to struggle, 
and that this is an inherently messy and always incomplete process (I 
don't think we 
will find easy ways to deal with multiple power dynamics in decision-
making 
processes, for example). This is where authentic relationship-
building seems to 
emerge as crucial. Are there contexts in which we can trust each 
other enough to 
struggle deeply and authentically with all of these complexities and 
if so, what is 
necessary to create and utilize them?  

Or maybe there are other questions that are more relevant or useful. 
In any case, I'd 
be interested to hear if and how other people have been struggling 
with and 
addressing these kinds of messy issues and questions. 

I am not sending this post as someone who has figured any of this out 
in any sort of conclusive way. Far from it!! I am most certainly 
learning as I go.

Best,
Michelle