Service Learning in Urban Politics and Policy: Incorporating the Big Picture
Many service learning projects, and much of the literature about these projects,
focus on fairly narrow and applied projects. In addition, a recent study of service
learning in political science departments found it is not often used in political science
classes as there is often a fear of politicizing students. This study also found that few
service learning projects place students in government organizations and that there was
no evidence that the use of service learning is growing in political science departments.
Thus, it seems that a critical question is how to incorporate service learning in political
science classes in a way that allows students to learn about politics generally without
politicizing them. Given the value of service learning projects, it seems important to
think about how such projects can be integrated into classes that focus on broad topics,
such as urban politics, public policy or state politics generally. One way that this might
be done is to have students help (either officially or unofficially) government entities
with master planning.
In my Urban Politics and Policy class at the University of Massachusetts
Dartmouth (UMD), students worked on a project focusing on aiding the city of New
Bedford, Massachusetts, a city that has fallen on fairly tough times in recent years. The
project focused on two key goals: helping the city develop a master plan, focusing on the
concept of sustainability, and laying the groundwork for applying for an external grant
that would help coordinate university service and research in the community. In this
paper, I will provide some background information about UMD and New Bedford,
discuss the organization of the class and service learning project and then reflect on the
outcomes of this project.
1
Hepburn, Mary A., Richard G. Niemi, and Chris Chapman. 2000. “Service Learning in College Political
Science: Queries and Commentary.” PS: Political Science and Politics 33: 617-622.
2
Convention