Training Peer Facilitators for Community Service Learning Leadership‪.‬

A core program in the University of Michigan's community service learning offerings is Project Community. Founded in the early 1960s, Project Community is one of the nation's oldest community service learning programs. It has been jointly conducted by the Sociology Department and a unit in the Division of Student Affairs (now part of the Edward Ginsberg Center for Community Service and Learning). Since 1980 Project Community has used specially prepared undergraduate students as peer facilitators and coordinators of other undergraduates' community service learning experiences. These peer facilitators typically have been veterans of the Project's community service learning activities. This article describes and analyzes the training and support programs developed to enable and prepare these students to be successful facilitators and to link their own and their students' field experiences to the Sociology curriculum. Why and How Do We Use Undergraduate Peers as Facilitators?