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

Website:http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/gateway/programs_services/DIRprograms.html

Contact: Roberta Ann Johnson, Dept of Politics, at (415) 422-6296 or johnsonr {at} usfca(.)edu< /a>

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

Website: http://www.coloradomtn.edu/distlearn/syllabi/soc270whsp02i.pdf

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

One-day projects are often seen as feel-good experiences that do little to effect real change. One-day projects are criticized for providing a fusillade of service designed more to look good for pictures than to help the community. One-day projects are criticized as ignoring evaluation, disregarding learning, and running roughshod over community relationships.

A glimpse into the development of an action day a weekly one-day event out of Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville provides a sound retort to the critics. The story shows how an idea built on relationships, learning, reciprocity, and continuity can lead to a high-quality, one-day project.

It starts with an idea. For instance, a student interested in women s issues wants to do a service project, but doesn t know where to go. The student suggests the idea to Suzanne Kutterer-Siburt, the director of the office of leadership development who organizes the campus s action days.

It is built on relationships. Suzanne has already established these relationships by regularly meeting with leaders of community organizations, taking the time to sit down and talk with them about what their organizations need and how students might be able to help. As a result, she knows that the Holy Angels Shelter, a shelter for homeless women in St. Louis, could use a day of student support, and she calls a contact there to suggest the idea. They discuss a possible service project and agree that it would be useful to the site.

It incorporates reflection. The relationship goes two ways students help the agency by providing services, and the agency helps the students by providing reflection. When the idea is suggested to her, a social worker at Holy Angels gets excited at the prospect of teaching about the issue. The social worker agrees that over lunch she will present an educational session to students, a practice that is common at the university s action day events.

Saturday comes and the action day goes off without a hitch. Sixty students gather on campus to go to the shelter, where they meet homeless residents and staff while providing much-needed fixing up. At lunch, they pause for reflection with the social worker.

And it continues beyond. Even after the day is over the connections with the community organization goes on. Suzanne remains in touch with the shelter, so that she can get their feedback on the project. Often community members will come onto campus later to speak to students in the leadership development program. In this instance, the social worker comes back to present a module on civic responsibility and citizenship.

Southern Illinois University s Action Days are built on strong relationships with the community. They turn to the community to identify needs and plan projects, build reflection into the project, and maintain the connection between campus and community beyond the duration of the project. While common criticisms of one-day events should be heeded, projects like the action days help prove the skeptics wrong.

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

Contact person: Suzanne Kutterer-Siburt, skutter {at} siue(.)edu

Kimmel Leadership Center web site: http://www.siue.edu/KIMMEL/

See New York Times article “”For Homeless, Rebirth with Socrates and Plato”", by Ethan Bonne

In the initial planning stages for this day, the schools were asked to engage in a needs assessment that involved school staff, parents, and students to determine a project which met a specific need in the community and, at the same time, engaged students as well as enhanced their learning. These projects were identified as a result of School-Site-Council discussions and joint sessions between Lesley College and Cambridge school representatives, including the student government organizations. The Lesley College Council for Community Service worked with members of the President’s Office to facilitate planning of ABC Day over the course of six months.

The specific project of the Agassiz School showcases Lesley College undergraduate students as active, community citizens. This particular Cambridge community project was concerned with homelessness. Over the course of a month, students throughout the school collected cans from neighborhood residents for a citywide food pantry. On April 10th, after the cans had been collected, this group of students also made lunches for the homeless in Harvard Square. Lesley College students who are members of the undergraduate service club walked with the Agassiz students into the Square, helping with the distribution of food, while sharing in a discussion with the students about the issue of homelessness in our communities.

As Lesley College celebrates its 90th anniversary, the ABC Day is a good example of a campus-wide initiative that clearly indicates the long-standing commitment of the college to the development of active, educated citizens among its students and to the cultivation of collaboration between the College and its surrounding communities.

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

Contact person: Ms. Andrea Goicochea – Beans & Bread/Frederick Ozanam House Partnership Liaison, mgoicochea {at} loyola(.)edu

Web: www.loyola.edu/about/jesuitidentity/centerforvaluesandservice

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

Website: http://www.davidson.edu/student/service/

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

Through this effort, the students were able to “”put a face on”" homelessness and to see that in small ways, they could offer comfort and support to members of the community who are often forgotten. They also learned about the system of services available to Veterans and to the homeless in general. This is an effort that the College of Saint Mary community has been involved with for the last several years and expects to be involved with each year in the foreseeable future.

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

Website: http://www.waynesburg.edu/~bonners/ccfoodbank.html

Community Action Research Internships

Statements about Higher Education’s Responsibility to “”help overcome”" poverty in local communities

Concepts, mapping and measurement of economic poverty

Concepts, mapping and measurement of schooling and poverty

Concepts, mapping and measurement of family structure and poverty

Concepts, mapping and measurement of ill health and poverty

For more information about the Action Semincar, please contact hillarya {at} pobox.upenn(.)edu

Website: http://www.upenn.edu/ccp/PHENND/initiatives/pas.html

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

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/

Website: http://www.brown.edu/Students/Hourglass_Cafe/

The Downtown Clinic started in 1990 as a partnership with the City of Johnson City and the local Salvation Army organization to provide primary health care to the homeless. The clinic was originally housed in one room in the Salvation Army, and had enough funds to be open for primary care visits on two days each week. From the beginning, nursing students were involved in the care of patients, and outreach efforts at local soup kitchens and in homeless camps. Approximately 1500 primary care visits were provided during that first year of service.

In the intervening years, the Johnson City Downtown Clinic has become an important force in providing care to vulnerable populations, and has only increased its commitment to partnering with local organizations to offer services. Students and faculty across the university are involved in assuring the success of the venture through volunteer projects, clinical placements, preceptored learning experiences, and community activism. Clinic staff serve on the Advisory Boards of the local women’s shelter, the Homeless Advisory Committee, and the Washington County Health Council. Graduate and undergraduate students from nursing, medicine, public and allied health, nutrition, social work, and others have benefited from clinical placement in the setting, and have given back to the community through their clinical assignments. Volunteers from the health professions, both those on the ETSU faculty and those in the community, have offered their time and expertise to assure specialty services. Many community agencies and organizations, such as the Johnson City Medical Center, Frontier Mental Health, civic clubs, and churches have joined together with the university and college to offer services and financial support to the clinic.

In 1999, more than 8,500 primary care visits were provided to homeless and lower income residents of northeast Tennessee. Outreach efforts to migrants, the local public housing authority, soup kitchens, and homeless camps continued. The dedication of ETSU’s students, faculty, and staff, in partnership with local citizens, agencies, and organizations, make access to primary health care possible for those who are in need.

Contact: Office of Practice and Research at http://www.etsu.edu/etsucon/office_of_practice_and_research.htm