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The American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) defines service learning as the combination of classroom instruction with community service, focusing on critical, reflective thinking as well as personal and civic responsibility. Service learning programs involve students in activities that address local, community-identified needs while developing their academic skills and commitment to their community (Gottlieb and Robinson 2006). In 2000, AACC published the project brief, "Creating Sustainable Service Learning Programs: Lessons Learned from the Horizons Project, 1997-2000". The publication suggested benchmarks and steps that colleges could take toward the institutionalization of service learning programs. Ten years later--and 15 years after Learn and Serve America began funding community colleges around the country--it is time to ask if colleges are meeting the same challenges in similar ways. Are students learning better or differently? Have faculty development efforts improved? Are colleges introducing both full-time and adjunct faculty to the service learning pedagogy? Have the types of community partnerships changed? This publication looks at 13 colleges that were selected in a national competition for AACC's program, Community Colleges Broadening Horizons through Service Learning. The colleges received funding of $5,000 to $16,000 per year from 2006 through 2009 and participated in consortium-wide training and leadership development efforts. The stories in this report are those of the 13 Horizons colleges, but they represent the 60 to 70 percent of community colleges across the country that have solidly embraced service learning and community engagement. The 2000 sustainability publication looked at activities and strategies used by previous Horizons colleges to ensure institutional and community support for service learning. The strategies fell into eight major topic areas: (1) Campus Climate; (2) Student Participation and Leadership; (3) Faculty Development and Involvement; (4) Curricular Integration; (5) Community Collaboration; (6) Administration Involvement and Support; (7) Program Development and Management; and (8) Sustainability and Institutionalization. This new report describes similar strategies that the 2006-2009 Horizons colleges used or supported, and then offers lessons learned to help advance the service learning and community engagement field. Most of the strategies are similar to those used a decade ago--proven strategies that work--with the addition of new media and technologies that have been developed in recent years. In the end, sustaining and institutionalizing service learning comes down to building and maintaining reciprocal relationships. (Contains 16 online resources.)

With support from the U.S. Department of Education and advice from an external panel of experts, the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) published a book that described disability support practices and programs designed to help community college students with disabilities reach their fullest potential. The book was an outgrowth of a 1992 survey of college programs, and was followed in 1996 with a second survey of community college disability support programs. In 1994 AACC initiated a new program that became known as Community Colleges Broadening Horizons through Service Learning, with support from the Learn and Serve America program of the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS). With 15 years of continuous support from Learn and Serve America, the network has grown to 70 Horizons colleges that have placed 29,000 students conducting 466,000 hours of direct community service (a monetary value of $9.4 million); worked with more than 2,000 community college faculty; and affected more than 5,000 local agencies and schools and more than 600,000 individuals. It was within this context that AACC applied for and received funding from 2005 to 2009 through a CNCS special initiative, Engaging Persons with Disabilities in National and Community Service. With CNCS support, AACC selected 14 community colleges to become part of a new program, Project Reach: Service Inclusion for Students with Disabilities. The goal was to introduce, strengthen, or expand programs to provide service learning and service opportunities for students with disabilities. Four disability support specialists from other community colleges formed the Project Reach mentor team that helped guide the program's progress. In 2008, eight of the colleges explored ways to engage veterans and students in developmental education courses. Students who participated in Project Reach gained opportunities to learn life skills to help with employment, careers, and personal development--the requirements of the grants--but many reported meaningful life changes as well. Personal experiences of students grounded the colleges' work. This report describes briefly the students who participated and then reviews the types of strategies colleges employed to engage students, particularly those who may be out of the mainstream. (Contains 6 figures, 6 resources and 4 online resources.) [This paper was written with the assistance of Madeline Patton.]

Based on the experiences of colleges and state systems that have successfully developed and implemented Grow Your Own (GYO) Leaders programs, this publication provides a complete guide on how to start a GYO program at your college. Community colleges with GYO programs demonstrate benefits ranging from enhanced staff performance to improved communication and collaboration across campuses. Six appendixes are included: (1) Sample Invitation to Apply; (2) Sample Application; (3) Sample Selection Criteria Form; (4) Sample Self-Evaluation Form; (5) Sample Program Evaluation Form; and (6) Community College Program Contacts. (Contains 2 footnotes.)