For further information on project requirements, contact Jennifer Cochrane: cochrane {at} iupui(.)edu.

The IUPUI Center for Service and Learning began an America Reads tutoring in 1997. Annually, more than 60 IUPUI college students serve over 350 preschool and elementary students with one-on-one tutoring at eight community sites. Youths receiving this tutoring assistance demonstrate an average increase of 1.4 reading levels each year. In January 2003, the Center for Service and Learning expanded its Federal Work-Study-based service programming with the America Counts program. In its pilot semester, this program connected eight IUPUI students with over 60 middle school students who were struggling with mathematics. The combined efforts of IUPUI’s America Reads and America Counts programs helped college students contribute more than 15,000 hours of service in the 2002-2003 academic year. In Fall 2003, the Community Work-Study Program will launch Hispanic tutoring and family literacy initiatives.

While these programs allow IUPUI to contribute in a systematic way to the community, they also provide students with opportunities for growth. All Community Work-Study Programs provide a comprehensive orientation and ongoing training opportunities throughout the year. These trainings incorporate reflection, professional growth, and training in the program’s focus area. Through the opportunity to become engaged in the community and the structured trainings and reflections, IUPUI students become better prepared for their careers and more interested in serving their communities. Over 85% of IUPUI students involved in the America Reads program say that their interest in serving their community increased through their work. IUPUI Reading Coaches also report that their involvement helps them develop academically (60%), professionally (87%), and personally (93%).

In the fall 2003, IUPUI added the Family Literacy Program and the Hispanic Reading Initiative to this program. The Family Literacy Program works with families currently served by the Indy Reads adult literacy program through enrichment activities and tutoring. The Hispanic Reading Initiative places IUPUI students with Hispanic children in preschool through 6th grade in schools or after school programs. Tutors help children retain their Spanish skills and gain new skills and knowledge of the English language.

Contact: Meg Easter-Dawson, measter {at} iupui(.)edu
Website: http://csl.iupui.edu/neighborhoodpartnerships/americareads.html

The result from the planning was the development of two service learning courses (one for America Reads and a second for PAD). America Reads Tutors are required to take their course during their first semester of work, as well as a second semester follow-up/monitoring course. The America Reads course teaches students about literacy development and provides training on tutoring, learning, and professionalism.

There are 25 work study students who perform 20 hours per week of literacy assistance in some 20 elementary schools located in Escondido and Oceanside. Students are selected from the list of potential work-study students who are Liberal Studies majors (pre-teaching). They are invited to an orientation session and then must apply. They also go through an interview process before they are selected.

Community Service Learning Program website: http://www.csusm.edu/ocsl/

Website: http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/JEP/

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

Website: www2.coloradocollege.edu/Students/Pathfinder/Opportunities/OtherOrganizations.html

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

The partnership involves the Miami-Dade County Public Schools, the University of Miami, Barry University, Florida Memorial University, Florida International University and Miami-Dade Community College. This partnership of K-12 public schools along with private and public higher education institutions is unique in the country. Under the leadership of M-DCC these institutions jointly provide nearly 175 federal work study students to serve as one-on-one tutors at 34 elementary schools and six after-school programs. Together, the tutors provide individual assistance to nearly 2,000 first-grade students every week, and this requires significant energy and resources to assure that FWS students receive appropriate training and support. Also, the coordination of the placement of these student-tutors is a positive example of dedication to collaborative use of institutional resources to maximize the benefits for the community.

The partnership also includes a comprehensive training program for the tutors that addresses the development of essential tutoring skills as well as specific sessions to emphasize civic responsibility and the importance of individual commitment to community good. These training and support activities occur on an continuous basis throughout the semester.

An additional feature of the partnership is a separate series of training events for teachers, teachers aides and others who desire to help children learn to read better. This is a jointly developed training program called “”Buddy Reading”" and it provides basic skills for individual volunteers. It also serves as a means to involve volunteers from the community at-large as well as from within each of the partner-institutions.

Finally, this partnership provides a way for us to introduce our students to the importance of corporate citizenship responsibilities. In other words, we model for them how the different sectors of a community must work together for the strength of the community; that through the combined efforts of our different colleges, we can do far more than any one individual school in assisting our community. We believe that it is essential our students understand that higher education has a common commitment to enhance the learning of children in the K-12 system.

Joshua Young, College-Wide Director, Center for Community Involvement, jyoung {at} mdcc(.)edu

CCI web site: www.mdcc.edu/cci/

Contact: Teresa Taylor at (478) 445-5772 or ttaylor {at} gcsu(.)edu

One outcome of these campus-community partnerships and leadership collaborations is the very successful “”2+4=Service on Common Ground”" initiative funded by the Corporation for National Service and the Campus Compact National Center for Community Colleges. From 1997-2000, this initiative developed five major pathways engaging more than 70 faculty and 1,500 students at KCC and UHM. The pathways were developed to engage students in service to their community, and integrate their service with academic study in general education core courses and disciplinary majors. The pathways included:

1. Partnering with the Community – Students chose to serve at more than 70 community-based organizations and two dozen K-12 schools.
2. Educating for Citizenship – Students tutored hundreds of elderly Chinese immigrants to pass the U.S. Citizenship Test.
3. Adopting an Ahupua a – Students cared for the environment (our literal common ground) between Diamond Head and Manoa Valley. An ahupua a is a traditional Hawaiian land tenure division from the mountains to the sea. Both KCC and UHM students developed environmental responsibility stewardship skills in our Waikiki Ahupua a.
4. Celebrating Teen Reading - Students led reading circles with hundreds of local teenagers and built critical literacy skills and authentic interpersonal relationships. Funding from the Hawaii Council for the Humanities also supported this pathway and an annual Teen Reading Festival where students met face-to-face with the authors of the books shared in the reading circles.
5. Caring Long-term – Students provided direct services to 100 home-bound elderly through Project Dana, Hospice Hawaii, and numerous long-term care programs.

Faculty partnerships also resulted in a sustainable faculty community that is now exploring new collaborations in service-learning, cultural diversity, community development, technology integration and teacher preparation as well as fast-track transfer agreements.

KCC Service-Learning faculty have taken the lead in developing new General Education Academic Skills Standards emphasizing “”Understanding Self and Society”" to prepare students for lives as civically engaged local, national and global citizens. The UHM College of Arts and Sciences is drafting a new mission statement which emphasizes preparing students for lifelong active learning, productive careers, personal enrichment, involved citizenship, and the challenges of the future. Thus, for KCC and UHM, service-learning is not only changing how we teach but leveraging institutional and curricular support for what we teach the skills and intellect for engaged citizenship.

A recent Carnegie Foundation external assessment states, “”It would be wonderful if all community colleges would take up the challenge that KCC has set for itself: to educate all students to understand the connections between their learning, their work, and their larger communities, and to help them take seriously their role in improving those communities.”"

Contact person: Carol Hoshiko, Dean of Business Education, Food Service, Travel Programs and Community Linkages, hoshiko {at} hawaii(.)edu

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

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-arts-in-service-programs/co-curricular-art-based-community-programs/1674/ http://www.compact.org/program-models/program-models-arts-in-service-programs/co-curricular-art-based-community-programs/1674/#comments Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 tdomf_26a6d http://compact.localhost.com/?p=1674 Through co-curricular programs, students have the opportunity to work outside the classroom on art-based community programs.

One example is a team of six students who worked with an anti-youth violence agency to create a “”national peace sculpture”" made out of five thousand toy guns turned in by children across the country. The sculpture is a permanent installation at the Capitol Children s Museum in Washington DC.

Students also coordinate an after-school program for second graders, and serve as mentors. Called “”Sharing Our Stories,”" this America Reads program was designed by the College to improve the literacy skills of children through the visual arts. Each year, forty children write stories based on their own lives, and with the help of MassArt students, illustrate and bind them into books.

Many MassArt students work on creating murals in collaboration with community agencies throughout the City. Recent mural sites include a Salvation Army daycare center and a pediatric oncology center. All service programs offered by the College provide students with opportunities for meaningful reflection on both issues and their goals for themselves as artists and citizens.

Website: http://www.massart.edu/at_massart/ (“”Community Partnerships”" is in the left sidebar)

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

America Reads web site: http://www.ed.gov/americareads/

Website: http://www.soe.umt.edu/grants/slate/

This year, the program was held to allow three tutoring sessions, totally sixteen weeks of tutoring. There were forty-six different students tutored. Twenty-five different community and university volunteers were recruited. ASAP has opened up service opportunities for the teacher education majors on Northern’s campus. The community’s response has been overwhelmingly positive as measured by the thank-you notes, phone calls, and comments throughout the community. The program is in its second year and still evolving. Additional volunteers will be recruited and trained next year as the program is promoted through on and off campus activities. The university students who have been involved with ASAP have learned a great deal about volunteerism and its role in community life. Both the volunteers and paid helpers have spent countless hours developing materials and working with one another to strengthen their skills, resulting in, of course, improved learning for the students in elementary school, grades 1 3.

Community Service Center web site: http://www.msun.edu/grants/csc/

In their emphasis on more than mere skills acquisition, SLC tutors develop reciprocal learning/teaching partnerships with learners in order to focus on the learners’ own goals, and more broadly, on community-building and empowerment. In its nearly decade-long history, Ramapo College Student Literacy Corps tutors have joined with learners in creating booklets of their original writings and drawings, in redressing problems with the withholding of wages and in becoming more actively involved in their children’s education. This type of community involvement, of service-learning practice, strengthens and nurtures habits of democratic participation among students, community members and faculty. As students prepare for lives beyond the academy, as community members work toward making their lives more livable, and as faculty learn to teach beyond their finite disciplines, each constituent group becomes more practiced in living lives of public participation for the promotion of the common good.

Student Literacy Corps web site: http://www.ramapo.edu/studentlife/cahill/stud_literacy.shtml

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

Contact: Office of Community Service at 25 W. 4th Street, 3rd Floor Telephone: 212-998-2329

The program is implemented within the context of meeting targeted NYS Learning Standards through interdisciplinary arts programming and a school to work philosophy. VTC students receive 90 minutes a day of academic instruction from 9 teachers and spend the remainder of the educational day in service learning activities.

Students participate in weekly reflection classes at their site. The Empire State Partnership (ESP) grant received by the three partners has enabled artists to work with both groups of students and with faculty. Two of the FDLC classes are preparing puppet shows with Brooklyn College based Puppetry in Practice. They will perform at their local nursing home, the elementary school and at VTC nursing home sites. Similarly, VTC students based at Hyam Salomon also will work with the puppeteers to prepare productions which will be performed at the nursing home. The students will perform at their schools and libraries also. Students from both schools are working as well with poets, visual and performing artists to create productions based on their own writing, oral histories they collect form family or community members, and picture books. Last year FDLC and VTC students worked together with a performance artist to prepare a production of student poetry which they then performed at a nursing home, a library and a park.
]]> http://www.compact.org/program-models/program-models-arts-in-service-programs/using-interdisciplinary-arts-programming-to-provide-service-learning-and-literacy-enhancement-opportunities-to-high-schoolers/1916/feed/ 0 http://www.compact.org/program-models/program-models-arts-in-service-programs/building-bridges-empowering-high-school-students-to-become-problem-solvers/2037/ http://www.compact.org/program-models/program-models-arts-in-service-programs/building-bridges-empowering-high-school-students-to-become-problem-solvers/2037/#comments Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 tdomf_26a6d http://compact.localhost.com/?p=2037 Alcoa High School in coordination with the School to Career programs have selected violence reduction and reading improvement as the two areas where “”Building Bridges”" between the schools, businesses, and community agencies create safe pathways for children. The objective is to empower high school students to become problem solvers as they address the issues that deal with violence and diversity. By utilizing reading, drama, art, music and puppetry this group of student role models will impact younger children with the message of peaceful resolution and making positive choices.