Service-Learning as a Catalyst for Community Development: How Do Community Partners Benefit From Service-Learning?

Service-learning has the potential to create mutually beneficial relationships between schools and communities, but little research explores service-learning from the community's perspective. The purpose of this study was to (a) understand how community-based organizations (CBOs) benefited from partnering with students and (b) examine whether organizational capacity (e.g., organization size) or employee vision (e.g., belief in the abilities of children) had a greater impact on the extent to which organizations benefited from their partnerships. The sample consisted of 129 CBOs that received a grant from K-12 students engaged in a service-learning program. Organizational capacity was more predictive of CBO behaviors, such as involving students in service projects and interacting with students, whereas employee vision was more predictive of positive CBO beliefs, such as the future potential of their partnership. This study helps service-learning practitioners and researchers understand how to better support CBOs that wish to form meaningful partnerships with schools.