Asset-based Community Engagement

The Service Learning Academy (SLA) applies an asset-based lens to service learning and community engagement work.

This means that faculty, students, and community partners collaborating with the SLA are encouraged to consider the following: ¹

• Value the assets and strengths in the community
• Actively engage everyone in the learning
• Cultivate cultural effectiveness to encourage positive interactions with diverse communities
• Work cooperatively
• Build reciprocal relationships
• Listen and learn from each other, and
• Embrace all participants as capable of making valuable contributions

The below video explores what it means to have a service learning mindset by defining cultural humility and asset-based community engagement.

Service Learning Mindset: Cultural Humility and Asset-Based Community Engagement

References

1. Deborah J. Hess, Hilreth Lanig & Winston Vaughan (2007). Educating for Equity and Social Justice: A Conceptual Model for Cultural Engagement, Multicultural Perspectives, 9:1, 32-39, DOI: 10.1080/15210960701334037