Alabama Poverty Project Higher Education Partnership 

 
COMMUNITY PARTNERS AS CO-EDUCATORS 
Co-educators
Community partners who facilitate onsite learning and reflection for students, resulting in an
integrative teaching approach that provides a foundation for student learning. 
Adapted from http://www.csuci.edu/servicelearning/communitypartners.htm  

What are the elements of a successful service-learning partnership? 

TIME 
• Commit to spending time on the service-learning project. 
• Ensure that partnership meetings are efficient and productive by encouraging
individuals to be prepared. 
TACTFUL COMMUNICATION 
• Show respect for the community partner’s work through communication. 
• Recognize that each partner will have different strengths and needs, and work toward
achieving a common vision.  
• Consult a community advisory group to help provide a third party perspective. 
• Develop methods of obtaining feedback from the community about their satisfaction
with the service-learning project. 
•

TALENT 
• Give individual skills the proper recognition and utilize them in a way that maximizes
benefit to the partnership. 
• Affirm and praise the accomplishments and successes of the community partners,
both publicly and privately. 
•

TRUST 
• Develop a shared vision and mutual priorities to establish trust. 
• Keep communication lines open. 
• Share in the leadership and decision-making power to ensure a collaborative effort. 
 
Adapted from: Plowfield, Lisa Ann, Jean E. Raymond, and Erlinda C. Wheeler. “Time, Tact, Talent, and Trust:
Essential Ingredients of Effective Academic-Community Partnerships.” Perspectives 26(2005): 217-20.

Also adapted from: Bringle, Robert G., and Julie A. Hatcher. “Campus-Community Partnerships: The Terms of
Engagement.” Journal of Social Issues 58(2002): 503-16.

PO Box 55058 • Birmingham, AL 35255 • 205.939.1408 • www.alabamapoverty.org