Linking Students with Community in Collaborative Governance: A Report on a Service-Learning Class

Collaborative governance is increasingly becoming a topic for scholarly research and practitioner skill development as well as a component of graduate programs in public administration. This article documents a service-learning project in a graduate-level Masters in Public Administration class on cross-sector governance. The article begins with a breif review of literature on university-community relations and, specifically, the civic mission of institutions of higher education and the role of service learning in public administration programs. The teaching case is then introduced, with the full context and detail explained. Lessons are offered for replicating this kind of class. An analysis of the success of the case is offered based on reflection journals written by students throughout the semester.