Connecting the Voices: Collaboration in Community Education examines the extent to which working collaboratively presents issues for consideration in program planning and implementation. It is a descriptive/analytic case study of the development and implementation of a program to prepare community-based heritage language instructors, in partnership with a non-profit organization, a community college and two government departments. The study chronicles a six year long effort to develop and implement this initiative within the context of continuous change. Interview data gathered from key stakeholders (13 learners, 5 instructors, 8 consultants, 4 advisory committee members, and 5 administrators) were supplemented by analysis of relevant documents and selected observations.Themes derived from the data were presented in such a way as to explicate each of the stakeholder groups perceptions and experiences of the development and implementation of the Heritage Language Instructor Training program. The data illustrate that the stakeholder groups held different opinions concerning factors and/or situations which influenced the development and implementation of the program, as well as the stakeholders they considered to be involved in the process. Divergent opinions were expressed concerning the forces, factors, processes and structures which influenced the ways in which the stakeholder groups worked together on this program.The major finding of the study was that collaboration is a labor intensive process that requires personal commitment by stakeholders to the achievement of clearly articulated goals and outcomes which are continuously refined in response to emergent needs. Collaborative program development and implementation will be most effective if accountability and ownership are clearly defined by the stakeholders. Collaborative program initiatives benefit from humanistic leaders who can communicate effectively, and manage interpersonal conflict and multiple priorities. Above all, these leaders must maintain a sense of hope, passion, and vision for the collaborative venture.The thesis concludes with the authors personal reflections on the consequences of this study for program design and implementation in the field of adult education. Researchers may find the methodology of this study interesting from the perspective that the researcher also acted as a program developer, instructor, and administrator over the course of the six years.