Beyond service learning: Student, partner, and relationship outcomes in a place-based university-community partnership for climate justice

Place-based community engagement (PBCE) is an emerging approach characterized by long-term, reciprocal university-community partnerships with equal focus on student learning and community impact. Despite growing interest, comprehensive and rigorous evaluation of PBCE remains limited, especially regarding community partner and relationship outcomes. This study assessed a regional climate justice PBCE initiative using a participatory mixed-methods case study design that triangulated surveys, interviews, and social network analysis (SNA). Students reported significant gains in community knowledge and demonstrated complex systems thinking, nuanced understandings of intersectionality, and strong intentions for sustained civic engagement. Community partners reported increased organizational and research capacity but identified short engagement timeframes as a key challenge. SNA revealed moderate connectivity among partners, indicating opportunities to strengthen collective action. Both students and partners reported that longer-duration, higher-intensity engagements yielded better outcomes. Findings suggest PBCE holds promise for advancing real-world climate justice when designed with sufficient duration, intentional relationship-building, and shared governance.