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
(2007). Educating for Equity and Social Justice: A Conceptual Model for Cultural Engagement, Multicultural Perspectives, 9:1, 32-39, DOI: 10.1080/15210960701334037