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| Public Service Project |
| This class is designed to be a service learning
experience where students work on an applied public
management/policy analysis project where
teams of MPA
students who are in their final semester of graduate student serve as
consultants to public and nonprofit agencies in the region.
When possible, I try to have clients representing
both public and nonprofit organizations and find projects that develop a
wide range of skills (e.g., research, preparing reports, developing
grant proposals, planning programs, strategic planning, etc.). I
also try to find projects that demonstrate an application of the
theories and concepts covered in the MPA curriculum.
Each project will result in one or more work products (e.g., report,
grant proposal, etc.) that can be used in your portfolios. |
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| Keep in mind that when working in the community you are
representing not only yourself but UNCW and the MPA program.
Accordingly, you should behave professionally at all times. Your
final reports and other work products should be professional in appearance
and include a cover, table of contents, executive summary, reference list,
and appendices as needed. At a minimum, you will present your
findings informally to the client and formally to the
faculty, students, and client agencies. |
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| Project Proposals |
| Each time I teach the course the
mix of projects and clients
changes. This
semester, federal, state, and local agencies as well as nonprofit
organizations were solicited for
proposals for potential service projects. Potential client
agencies were given the freedom to proposal a wide range of potential
projects and there proposals were asked to include information on: |
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 | Name of organization/unit; |
| Agency liaison who will negotiate the scope of
work and advise the MPA project team; |
| Short description of the project; |
| Work product or results expected; |
| Short description of the benefits to the
organization (i.e., needs addressed); |
| Short description of the benefits to the
community at large; |
| Special skills or qualifications needed by the
project team to complete the project; |
| Resources available from the client to support
the project (information, data, staff time, space, funding, mileage
reimbursements, etc.); |
| On-site time students should anticipate; and, |
| Any other information the client wishes to
submit. |
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Agency liaisons are
expected to provide the support indicated in their proposals, to
attend their team’s presentations, and
evaluate
the team’s efforts. This evaluation
will help determine their final grade.
Summaries of the potential
project proposals are
posted on the website.
Students also have the opportunity to develop their own project if they
wish provided that they can find a real client, the client can be
completed within the timeframes provided, it produces some sort of
definable work product, and provides some tangible
benefit to the client and the community. |
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| Project Teams |
| Project
teams will consist of around
1 to 3
students. Students will be involved in the
selection of their teams and the class projects. While every
effort will be made to match students with projects in an area of
interest, it is also important that students consider their own skills
and what they can contribute to potential projects. Moreover, the
reason for doing the projects is to provide a service to the community.
Accordingly, I hope students consider the potential benefits of a
proposed project to the organization and the community when selecting
projects to complete this semester. |
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| Each team
will work on the project for 12 weeks contributing about ½ day of work
per week per team member. Team members are expected
to meet periodically with agency liaisons and depend on their
on-going direction and support. You are also
expected to work with the client to
reach agreement on the scope of work to be performed keeping in mind the
deadlines associated with the class. You are free to organize your
project team as you seem fit, however, you must have a project leader or
spokesperson to report on your project.
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| The following is a tentative
timeline to help you plan your public service projects and negotiate the
final scope of work with the clients. |
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Student teams will select potential projects and meet with
prospective client agencies in late August or early September |
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Students will then meet
with the client, negotiate a scope of work (i.e., contract), and
begin the project by mid-September; |
| Teams
will present a draft work product to the client agency approximately
2 weeks before the class ends to get comments and feedback; |
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Students will present the final work product at
5:00 PM on Thursday December 7, 2006 to faculty, students, and agency liaisons; |
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final work products are due to the client agencies by 4:30 PM on
December 8, 2006.
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| Grading |
| You will be graded on both the quality of your
presentation and the final written report. Your
client will evaluate the usefulness of your final project. I will factor
their impressions into the grading process. Your group
grades will be your individual grades. You
will evaluate your own contributions to the project in a
required journal
entry. A peer
evaluation form will also be used when you complete your projects.
Your individual grade may be adjusted lower if the team reports that one
of its members did not contribute to the projects adequately. Audience
members at your final presentation will evaluate your presentations as
well. I will use this information in formulating your
presentation grade. |
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