Fulfilling Our Mission: Service-Learning at Miami-Dade Community College

Abstract

The author, who is the President of Miami-Dade Community College (MDCC), Florida, argues that the fundamental purpose of MDCC is to preserve democracy. MDCCs open-door policy makes it possible for those who might otherwise be excluded from higher education to gain a college education, which then makes it possible for them to become active, committed, and productive citizens. MDCC is a multi-campus urban community college with more than 130,000 credit and non-credit students and nearly 800 full-time faculty members. The student body is 84% minority, and almost 70% of students are part time. In 1994, MDCC formally initiated a service-learning program. The program is now an internally funded college-wide infrastructure that includes three comprehensive "Centers for Community Involvement," a district director, three campus coordinators, faculty coordinators, part-time coordinators, 12 community Federal Work Study student assistants, student ambassadors, more than 150 community partners, thousands of students and hundreds of faculty, and myriad other community engagement projects. Since 1994, more than 200 faculty and 13,000 students have been involved in course-related service projects. The project's development was inspired by the Campus Compact Service-Learning Institute at Brown University. This paper includes key components of the program, lessons learned, and challenges, which include the labor-intensive nature of teaching in a service-learning format. (Author/NB)