Community Partners

MIAD Service Learning has partnered with over 200 community organizations in the greater Milwaukee area to provide fulfilling volunteer opportunities for students. We are continually looking to work with local nonprofit organizations that can host Service Learning students for the semester! For more information about what to expect from being a Service Learning community partner, check out the timeline below, as well as the FAQ page. If you would like to sign up as a partner, fill out the Community Partner Form and we’ll reach out to help you get started!

Timeline

The Service Learning course takes place over a 16-week period in Fall and Spring, and over a truncated 10-week period in Summer, generally during these timeframes:

Fall semester: Late August – Mid December
Spring semester: Early January – Late April
Summer semester: Early May – Mid July

The Service Learning assistant sends out an email to all Community Partners with any news about the SL program and requests submissions for volunteer opportunities. Details are provided on how to submit a volunteer opportunity for the upcoming semester, as well as specific dates for that semester (first day of class, midterm, and last day of class.)

All submitted volunteer opportunities are added to the featured placements list for that semester. Any opportunities that were not requested to be reinstated will be removed from the list in order to limit the featured placements to active organizations that are currently accepting volunteers. The Service Learning assistant will contact you when your submitted opportunity is added to the featured placement list.

Students are recommended featured placements that align with their life situations and interests, and they are strongly encouraged to reach out to placements that interest them as quickly as possible. Expect to hear from students during these first couple of weeks, and please respond in a timely manner! Students who do not hear back from a placement within a week are encouraged to contact other locations, as the sooner they are able to start volunteering, the better their chances of succeeding in the course are.

Each student is required to fill out a Service Learning contract and have it signed by their supervisor at the placement they’re working with. Students are strongly encouraged to bring the contract to their placement during their first visit/shift, but you are welcome to download and print them ahead of time if that works best for you.

The Service Learning assistant sends out an evaluation form (via email) to the person who has signed the contract for a student. If multiple students have the same supervisor, the supervisor will be asked to fill out a separate evaluation for each student. For a sample of what the evaluation form looks like, click here.

This evaluation is an important part of each student’s grade, and will be required to be filled out for each student. We also provide a space for the volunteer supervisor to verify the amount of hours that the student has completed, which we check against their self-completed timesheets.

If a supervisor has not filled out the evaluation, the Service Learning assistant will send an email reminder a few days before the deadline. After the deadline, any supervisors that have not responded will be called to ensure that students are evaluated before the end of class.

All students have until the final day of class to complete their 35 hours. (If a student is planning on fulfilling their 35 hours after the evaluation deadline, please indicate hours that they have scheduled to complete before the end of the semester in the evaluation.) If a student is granted an extension on their work, the Service Learning assistant will contact the supervisor listed on their contract to inform them of the extension.