Building an Institutional Capacity and Social Capital through Service Learning: Unique Challenges for an Urban Professional School

Abstract

This paper reviews a project designed to challenge the rhetoric that midcareer students attending an urban professional school in an economically depressed area are too busy and face too many social and economic barriers to value a sense of community in the program. The project combines academic topics relevant to public affairs, primarily building institutional capacity and social capital as they relate to the broader study of public organizations. It also provides an innovative approach to service learning, in which both the student providers of the service and the recipient organization is the university, specifically the Master of Public Affairs program. A praxis framework for service learning in public affairs education is proposed that holds promise in meeting several key goals in equipping students to lead and manage public organizations.