BEING AN INDEPENDENT SERVICE LEADER
If you are interested in organizing a service opportunity, reflect on your community's needs and issues, and organize a service opportunity for yourself, your family, friends, or even classmates.
Download our FREE plan to learn how to investigate, plan, act, reflect, and demonstrate your service-learning leadership skills!
Stakeholders - these are the people at the center of the issue or need the students deem critical. Including stakeholders in the investigation and planning of a service-learning project is key to creating meaningful service opportunities. Using this strategy, we put the issue at the center and the stakeholders around it, using the boxes to note perspectives, needs,
and assets. An example: You are planning a food drive. Stakeholders would include the local food bank, the people it provides food for, local schools, local food sources (grocery, restaurants, farms), and community members.
Partners
You may notice that most of your stakeholders are also project resources and assets! This is where you identify possible partnerships. Make contact and discuss your plans with these partners before your planning goes too far. It may save you much work and improve your project's impact.
Project Resources or Asset Mapping - We use this strategy to brainstorm assets and resources in the community.
Nonprofits - there are many nonprofits already focused on the needs or issues students hope to address. Working with these organizations is critical because some of the work has already been done. These groups, such as Feeding America Tampa Bay, need volunteers, food collections, referrals, and more.
Government Agencies - making connections with our government (elected and civil servants) not only supports investigation into how it deals with issues and needs, but it is also a powerful lesson in how democracy works.
Civic Organizations - Students need to see civic action from adults and can benefit from the expertise and connections to be made through civic organizations in their community.
Businesses - Businesses and corporations can assist in many ways beyond financial support. They can offer resources through in-kind support and marketing opportunities through sponsorships.