Operation Bridgeport was organized by Phyllis Macklett, the director of community service, at Sacred Heart University as a method of introducing faculty not only to service-learning, but also to the neighborhood. While Sacred Heart draws a considerable portion of its student body from the neighboring community of Bridgeport, few faculty members live in the area. As a result, faculty are largely unfamiliar with the neighborhood, which is in the most poverty-stricken district in the state. Through Operation Bridgeport, a small group of faculty spend a weekend in downtown Bridgeport at the St. Charles Urban Center to learn more about the lives of the people who live just outside the place where they teach.

The program begins with a guided bus tour, narrated by a Sacred Heart professor, that transports faculty from the richest parts of the city to the impoverished downtown area. After arriving downtown, faculty meet with the leaders of community organizations from the area, between doing service work in the neighborhood at Habitat for Humanity sites, food pantries, or youth centers.

Sunday morning brings a unique twist, when faculty members cook breakfast for Sacred Heart students who live in some of the most impoverished sections of Bridgeport. After the breakfast, students deliver a presentation to faculty on their experiences growing up and living in Bridgeport. According to Ms. Macklett, the presentations never fail to move faculty members, many of whom were previously unaware of the hardships faced by some of their students.

A faculty-administration brainstorming session that comes at the end of the weekend brings ideas from faculty excited about new possibilities. In the past, faculty have suggested new courses and new community activities for Sacred Heart. The outgrowth of one weekend was a free Grassroots Leadership Training Seminar Series for community leaders from Bridgeport. Faculty involved in the series gave seminars on grantwriting, communication skills, and group organizing.

Several faculty who attend the weekend have gone on to incorporate service-learning and community engagement into their classes. Dr. John DeGraffenried, one faculty member introduced to service-learning in the first Operation Bridgeport, now offers free after-school art classes as a community service in high schools in Bridgeport and neighboring towns. He ends each year with an art show. Bridgeport youth who once would have never come to Sacred Heart University s campus have their art on display there; Sacred Heart faculty who once would have never met these youth, see the work that the youth produced under the tutelage of a fellow faculty member.

From Service Matters 1998: Engaging Higher Education In the Renewal of America s Communities and American Democracy

For more information: http://www.sacredheart.edu/mission/service/lead-serv/OpBpt/

Service Matters 1998: Engaging Higher Education In the Renewal of America s Communities and American Democracy

From Service Matters 1998: Engaging Higher Education In the Renewal of America s Communities and American Democracy

From Service Matters 1998: Engaging Higher Education In the Renewal of America s Communities and American Democracy

Contact: Josh Young, director of the Center for Community Involvement, at jyoung {at} mdcc(.)edu
? Office Number: (305) 237-7477?
Fax Number: (305) 237-7580

From Service Matters 1998: Engaging Higher Education In the Renewal of America s Communities and American Democracy

Contact: cvastu1 {at} unf(.)edu

DePaul University is a Catholic, urban institution, which was founded in 1898 to educate the children of Chicago’s large immigrant community, and has had service and citizenship as part of its core values throughout its history. DePaul has taken very seriously its responsibilities as a member of the larger community of Chicago. As it grew, the University included in its mission the education not only of first generation Americans, but also other non-traditional and underserved students and has as one of its goals being an internationally known provider of the highest quality professional education for adult, part-time students. In recent years the University has intensified its efforts at community service through a wide variety of programs that aim to provide solutions to the problems that face Chicago and many other large American cities.

“”Discover Chicago”" web site: http://condor.depaul.edu/~firstyr/discover.html

What is so special about this program is that, although it is organized by a college staff member, it is a true community effort. Over the years, the program has been supported by the Franklin Community Center, the local elementary schools, large corporations with offices in Franklin including Putnam Investments and Garelik Farms, Franklin residents, local business owners and Dean College faculty, staff and students. These community members have given gifts in kind, grants, and offered discounts on items we have needed to purchase. Also, many have volunteered their time the day of the event. The leadership of the College has encouraged all members to participate and we have had a wonderful response. Faculty, staff and students have volunteered to serve as storytellers, arts & crafts group leaders, check-in assistants, and snack and prize distributors. In addition, some members of the Dean community have engaged groups of students to participate. For example, one year a faculty member and her entire Children s Literature class worked on the story hours. Another year, the entire Men s Basketball team volunteered their time, and members of Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society did fundraising to cover the cost of providing each student with a book to take home. All of our Community Service Scholarship Students also give between 5 15 hours of their time to planning and implementing these programs.

We advertise the programs through notices that are sent home with students through the elementary schools and through press releases in the local papers. We have received a great deal of positive press coverage from these events and the Franklin community now relies on the College to provide these types of reading programs for the Franklin youth. In addition, we receive many letters of thanks from Franklin families that have participated in the program.
]]> http://www.compact.org/program-models/program-models-arts-in-service-programs/annual-reading-festival-a-fun-filled-literacy-based-event-for-children/1665/feed/ 0 http://www.compact.org/program-models/program-models-institutional-support-for-students/introducing-students-to-service-first-year-orientation/1687/ http://www.compact.org/program-models/program-models-institutional-support-for-students/introducing-students-to-service-first-year-orientation/1687/#comments Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 tdomf_26a6d http://compact.localhost.com/?p=1687 Every year for nine years, first-year orientation at Wheaton College ended with an urban plunge a day of service in the nearby town of Attleboro, Massachusetts. The urban plunge consistently outstripped all other orientation events in its success. However, there was a problem. Students left the day of service exhilarated, but without any concrete ways to connect this isolated experience to their academic and social lives at college. When a committee of faculty, students, and administrators got together last year to reconsider the freshman orientation, they decided to make service the centerpiece of the week. They proceeded to find ways to link the experience of service and community engagement into what they perceived as the three major elements of campus life: academic, social, and extracurricular.

The academic element began the summer before students arrived on campus. In the months preceding their first year, incoming Wheaton students are traditionally asked to complete an academic assignment. With the newly devised introduction to service, the students academic assignment was carefully selected. First, they would read The Call of Service, Robert Cole s Pulitzer Prize-winning book about youth and community service. Then, they would translate their understanding of Cole s ideas into a community engagement project. Students came up with a variety of ways to do this. One student assessed needs in Westborough, Massachusetts, and produced his findings in a photo documentary. Another student interviewed four community leaders to write a social science essay on community issues in Westwood. When the incoming class convened for orientation week, students presented to their peers the work that they had done in response to their reading on service.

Having introduced students to service through an intellectual and experiential exercise, the planning committee organized an event that would introduce new students to the ways that talking and thinking about service can build community. Upperclassmen transformed a house on campus into the Salon du Service, an intimate caf

From Service Matters 1998: Engaging Higher Education In the Renewal of America s Communities and American Democracy

The New Hampshire Tour of Service, held in the spring of 1998, achieved both of these on a grand scale. New Hampshire Campus Compact collaborated with seventeen colleges and universities statewide to create a media event around community service.

The Tour of Service was designed on a concert theme with a ten-day tour of the state making 17 stops for the 17 campuses. Planning began five months before the event. Releases were sent to newspapers and media outlets two weeks beforehand in each town where the tour would stop, and each campus advertised its own planned day of service. In the span of the ten days, more than one thousand students and one thousand community members joined faculty and staff to provide over eight thousand hours of service. Tour of Service projects were generally manageable events that could easily be completed within a day and provided visible service that would attract attention and media coverage. Earth Day festivals were held for more than 350 youth; 25 tons of trash were bagged in environmental clean-ups; Walk-a-Thons were held to raise money for charities; and ground was broken on a new Habitat for Humanity house.

These events brought new attention to service activities throughout New Hampshire and recognition for the service that colleges and universities were already doing. Local newspapers wrote about scholar power and the contribution of students to the community. By raising awareness on campus and in the community, the Tour of Service helped expand the scope of community engagement, and spread the word about service in higher education.

From

Service Matters 1998: Engaging Higher Education In the Renewal of America s Communities and American Democracy

Contact: Campus Compact for New Hampshire at http://www.compactnh.org/

A series of over fifty commemorative activities centered on the theme of “”Experiencing Democracy: Inquire, Learn, Reflect”" were planned for the spring semester 2000 and beyond. Alumni, faculty, staff, students and members of the community joined in observing this milestone commemoration. Events held included the Fifth Annual Violence Symposium which featured leading experts on prejudice and violence, a film “”Journey to a Hate-free Millennium”", and artistic expressions on violence and recovery. Performances by the Lakota Sioux Indian Dance Theatre, the Pontanima Interfaith Choir, Dance Alloy, and School of Music gave artistic expression to the theme. The University and the Cleveland Orchestra commissioned Augusta Read Thomas, composer-in-residence with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to write a large scale work for orchestra, chorus and soprano soloist. Song in Sorrow will be premiered on July 1 by the Cleveland Orchestra and Blossom Festival Chorus. Town and gown joined in many of these events, some of which were held in off campus locations.

A scholarly symposium, The Boundaries of Freedom of Expression and Order in a Democratic Society, on May 1 and 2, was a significant component of our programming. This multi-disciplinary symposium explored the limits of freedom of expression in American society as they apply to business, education, media, law, politics, the Internet and other venues. The symposium included keynote addresses by three First Amendment experts as well as the presentation, discussion and critique of nine scholarly papers selected through an international call for papers. Audiences actively engaged in discussions with the presenters in each session. The papers of the symposium will be published by the Kent State University Press. Kent State plans to host an annual symposium on democratic values as part of its future May 4 observances.

Kent State University strives to honor the past in a manner befitting a major American university; focus world attention on issues related to the basic tenets of our democracy; and show the world that Kent State responded to its greatest tragedy with caring, creativity and commitment.

“”Experiencing Democracy”" web site: http://dept.kent.edu/30yearMay4/home.htm

Committee co-chairs: Dr. Richard A. Bredemeier and Dr. John Jameson

During the fall of 1998, Defiance College participated in Kids Creation Community Playground. This project constructed a playground for the children of Defiance, and helped build a sense of community. The project cost $200,000. Defiance College faculty, staff and students joined the community in the weeklong build. Through the efforts of 4500 volunteers, the playground was built in six days.

This project gave Defiance College a perfect opportunity to put to work its service-learning philosophy. Students in marketing classes helped with promotions while those in communication classes served on committees and art students helped with murals. Instructors were able to tie course concepts and theories to the work that was being done by Kids Creation before and during the build. Our students gained an opportunity to see how their coursework relates to service as they enhanced their sense of civic responsibility.

For the six participating non-profits (The Rhode Island Community Food Bank, Amos House, Travelers Aid Society of Rhode Island, McAuley House, St. Charles’ Soup Kitchen, Urban League of Rhode Island), the benefits go beyond meals prepared and served. The JWU Management Development Program Education Coordinators, graduate students with both culinary and education backgrounds, supervise the Practicum students and help educate them about each agency’s mission and challenges. They also often provide culinary demonstrations for economically disadvantaged clients and help agency personnel learn good management practices, current sanitation procedures and more efficient food preparation techniques.

Web site (Feinstein Community Service Center): http://www.jwu.edu/artnsci/fein/

The student chapter asked for donations to purchase supplies and building materials. Local churches and civic groups responded, as did University faculty, staff and students. Donations and student volunteers have been so extensive that in 1999 two Habitat for Humanity homes will be constructed. Once Homecoming is over, homes are transported by professional house movers to a permanent site in the community where construction is completed. Students affiliated with Clemson s landscape architecture and horticulture programs donate time to landscape these homes.

The number of students involved in the construction is not known because of innumerable “”drop-ins”" during Homecoming week. However, the tally of known students participating in construction this past October was just shy of 500.

All campuses develop traditions that last for years. At Clemson the all-night efforts to construct Homecoming displays is one of those traditions. An icon of that tradition is the Habitat for Humanity project, which is viewed by our student body as a true “”service”" project provided by Clemson students as a distinctive and memorable part of their Homecoming experience.

Contact person: Chris Heavner, Habitat for Humanity Advisor, pastorc {at} clemson(.)edu
Web: http://people.clemson.edu/~habitat/

From Service Matters 1998: Engaging Higher Education In the Renewal of America s Communities and American Democracy

From Service Matters 1998: Engaging Higher Education In the Renewal of America s Communities and American Democracy