“”Kids Plus,”" which is funded by the National Corporation for Public Service and by Bates, with support from area agencies, strives to raise community aspirations and learning while engaging Bates College students, faculty and staff in meaningful service-learning projects. It focuses on the Longley School and the Lewiston Multi Purpose Center neighborhoods and acts as a vehicle to encourage service providers and residents to identify community needs and access the resources to meet those needs. The intent of “”Kids Plus”" is to assure that in-school efforts assist in implementing Maine Learning Results and that out-of-school efforts address the community’s request for high quality activities for all ages. Work focuses on student learning, arts programming, resident support and community building.

Some examples of activities that have been a part of “”Kids Plus”" include:

Teachers from Longley, Martel and McMahon worked collaboratively with Bates faculty and students to publish a curriculum document aligning Maine Learning Results with current science curricula.
The theater production “”The Great Shoe Strike”" based on a real incident in the city of Lewiston’s history was produced by the Great Escape Theater. Over 200 public school students and community members attended. The Great Escape Theater was a project of the Bates Theater Department course “”Creating Community Theater.”" It was done in collaboration with the local arts agency, L/A Arts, and leveraged funds from the Davis Family Foundation and the Simmons Foundation.
Nearly 50 Bates students were mentors to Longley School 4th, 5th, and 6th graders. The program included school visits and events held on campus for the younger students. On the average, each mentor spent 35 hours with his/her mentee. In addition, a senior psychology major designed a program evaluation format for her senior thesis.
Two Bates students and 2 Longley parents began and led a Girl Scout troop for downtown girls. The demand was so high that next year this effort will double.
Nearly 500 hours of quality after-school activities were provided children in the after-school program at the Multi-Purpose Center in Lewiston. Service-learning students, work-study students, and volunteers supported this effort.
A pre-orientation service project for first-year students was planned with Longley School parents.
Thirty-seven people, representing 13 families, participated in a 12-week “”Nurturing”" program designed to build communication and conflict resolution skills within the family. This project was funded jointly by the College and the Sisters of Charity Health System and used work-study students as support staff.
Students from the Education Department’s “”Perspectives in Education”" worked in the classrooms of Longley.
Education faculty, a first grade teacher, and an independent-study student work collaboratively during Short Term to design a model classroom experience. This will be used in the future to provide prospective secondary education majors with a background in literacy acquisition.
Anti-smoking groups were organized by psychology students during Short Term for Longley School children.
Bates faculty and students hosted a science day on campus for all Longley 5th and 6th graders. The event was organized by a Women’s Studies major who had received national funding to implement the project.

Contact Person: Sue Longley, Bates College/Longley School Project Coordinator, smartin {at} bates(.)edu
On the web: http://abacus.bates.edu/admin/offices/service-learning/