Chapter 7: Design and Implementation of Needs-Based Collaborative Projects: Experiences From a Small, Rural Community in Rockbridge County, Virginia

In this chapter, we discuss two service-learning courses we implemented in our roles as literacy education professors at two small, liberal arts colleges in Rockbridge County, Virginia. Within these two courses, both of us teach our university students ways to nourish relationships with stakeholders in the local community carefully, particularly in the context where such partnership opportunities may be scarce. In this case, we argue that such relationships must come from careful immersion in the local community to develop projects that work with the community and not only for it. As an example, we describe several projects where our university students negotiated with a literacy-focused subcommittee of the local United Way called Rockbridge Reads. Through discussions of this collaborative, needs-based partnership, we offer examples of how to develop connections, foster university student collaboration, and present important lessons learned. Through this discussion, we argue that such collaborations are beneficial to all stakeholders when carefully planned and implemented, with the community partner, university students, and ourselves all mutually organizing and benefiting from the relationship.