More than my imagination

I suppose I’ll start this blog out with an apology, I kind of got busy, uninterested and decided that blogging in September would not happen. September was pretty wild. I spent a number of days loathing over tasks and repetitively reconsidering the realities of my program, Serving Our Communities. In all of my mental searching, I still found no real explanation that provided me with the key to unlocking my basic question, “how is this building capacity, and how will it manage without me?”

During our *VISTA/Supervisor gathering at Amherst College, my supervisor Meghan, and I were able to finally make a long overdue connection. At the beginning of my post, she had several obligations, so I went two and a half weeks without her. Within that time, I had already created a few connections and had formed my own opinion of BHCC and of some of the people within it. Meghan is the face of the Community Engagement Office, it is here from her creation and she birthed it three years ago. What I have concluded in regards to this office is a lack of structure, a lack of connections/partnerships, and a true misunderstanding of what this office is and does. So during the *VISTA/supervisor meeting, Meghan revealed a number of her barriers and ideas, and how these items have affected the progress of the office. Although I see the potential in Serving Our Communities, I would much rather focus on planning, foundation building and organizing the office, so that it is able to productively provide its services and resources as naturally as possible for students, faculty, staff and community partners.

I imagined that this conversation would move us to the next stage of planning, but it simply cracked the door, as I don’t feel that a significant move towards sharing responsibility was made. As a result, I have decided that I must begin to self initiate, make changes when I see that they are necessary, do a little cleaning up around the edges, noticed or not. As for Serving Our Communities, I have a jolly group of students, all of them spread pretty far across the Boston and North of Boston area… we’ll see how it works out. For now, I plan to develop two stylistic forms of the program. One will be for a curriculum based course, the other for a student run organization. In these fashions, SOC will likely work best. I have a lot more that I must update the world on, but for now, I’ll organize my thoughts and share them another time. To all the world there is a responsibility and that is to leave this place better than you encountered it. Thanks for tuning in.

A@ron C

THE TOUGH STUFF ON COMMUNITY RESEARCH: Exploring MassArt's Relationship to Mission Hill

I recently ventured out into Mission Hill to clinch a better lay of the land in preparation for the asset-based community research I will conduct to explore how MassArt students, faculty, and staff make a difference in their closest neighborhoods. I was walking down Tremont Street near the Mission Church, sporting my MassArt t-shirt, when a local resident stopped me clear in my tracks and made a vivid comment that will change the entire course of my research for the entire year.

“That school destroyed my neighborhood,” he voiced.

I came to an arrant halt over this statement because his outcry brought the issue of stewardship of place right to my feet. After he left, I stood on the sidewalk and simply reflected on MassArt’s perception among locals and how the community *really* thinks about the college.

Colleges and universities across America work tirelessly to assess the neighborhoods they live/work within, and, more than ever, spearhead civic engagement and service-based learning initiatives to help university and community live in accord. But a grandiose paradox cannot be overlooked; while providing educational opportunities and public services for a community, institutions often times forget that massive expansion of its urban campuses gravely upsets its closest neighbors. Another, what seems to be a non-heeded concern, is the vast growth of student populations void of adequate dorm space to house them. This debauchery forces students to seek off-campus housing in Section 8 dominated neighborhoods, which yields escalated rents for everyone, even the locals. And let us not even mention the trash and disrespect produced by America’s best and brightest students. I am not speaking of these issues to be negative, but this realm is the tough stuff on community research that we all succumb to, and more specifically, I will need to cull as part of my neighborhood analysis efforts.

My experience with that local gentleman oriented a host of new questions that MassArt wants answered. In addition to providing meaning for the college’s role in Mission Hill, now campus leaders want to know how does the community perceive the college, and how can the campus community make strides for better relationships and partnerships. The task seems daunting, albeit imperative to understanding how MassArt’s public art programs, civic engagement, and service-based curricula cut against the grain of civic and social responsibility.

MassArt, while naturally flawed at times, truly takes its role in Mission Hill seriously; that’s why I am here – to research and analyze the level of HOW serious the nation’s first art school collaborates. New Student Orientation begins tomorrow and 400-plus students will pile into various parts of Mission Hill and lower Roxbury to explore the neighborhoods that MassArt hopes will provide a collaborative and healthy synergy between locals and artists. Moreover, the Center for Art and Community Partnerships has an impressive amount of public art programs and partnerships ready to go for the fall semester.

In addition to New Student Orientation duties, I began meeting with MassArt leaders to lay the groundwork for my research efforts. By the end of September I will be on the streets interviewing community leaders, distributing asset surveys, and engaging MassArt (and local high school) students to help analyze the data. The research may yield partnerships and collaborations not strongly cultivated by MassArt, and so I welcome and otherwise encourage the art community to help decide exactly how the campus community can further nurture these local organizations. I am also thinking broadly about how my research will be published and disseminated.

One last thing: Many people asked about the galleries at MassArt; yes, most exhibits in our galleries are free and open to the public (with exception to opening nights). More information can be found here: http://www.massart.edu/Galleries.html.

Until next time, continue to inspire without boundaries and make a difference in the communities you live!



Peace, love, and happiness to everyone,

Jeff~
MACC AmeriCorps*VISTA serving Massachusetts College of Art and Design
Jeffrey.Robinson@massart.edu

Adaptation

In the first few weeks of settling in at Bunker Hill Community College, I thought for sure that a mistake had been made. Generally, my over-optimistic, cheerful attitude and perspective are appreciated and in addition to that, I often find others that share the same excitement and energy. Here, it just seemed… different. I spent all summer thinking of ideas, strategies and resources to make the work plan that I envisioned, successful and inspiring. I had ideas to really engage students and faculty members into the works of community organizing. I wanted to provide an opportunity for students at Community Colleges to really take on the meaning of “community” and come together with members of their neighborhoods to challenge social issues and stigmas. But, my optimism has been slightly doused. There are politics within the seams of every institution. There are barriers, the do’s and don’ts, and all of them have a way of sapping your vision of its color… Turning it from bright blues and yellows to dark browns and grays… With that, comes the real challenge, and in this case it’s the ability to adapt.

“The art of life is a constant readjustment to our surroundings” Kakuzo Okakauro. Adapting and transitioning to this foreign environment has in fact, been the challenge of my first month as an AmeriCorps*VISTA at Bunker Hill Community College. In North Carolina, I had created a haven, a place of safety. Here in Boston, I’m new and I’m learning more about the area and more about myself. What has been extremely helpful during this month of orientation to my new life in Boston is the support I’ve received from my fellow VISTAs. I have never met such a wonderful group of encouraging and intelligent people, all of whom are willing to lend a listening ear and advice whenever I need it. With their support, I feel I now have more pieces to the puzzle of my work plan configured. In the next month, I’ll be implementing the structure for Serving Our Communities, a six week “Common Interest Community" that includes, orientation to, exploration of, and service to one of the many cities of Boston. This program is in its pilot stage, and has a lot of barriers and possibly unrealistic expectations. Having no real example to lead by, I’ve struggled to create the structure of such a tedious program in a place as transitory as a Community College. I’ve been given great ideas from other VISTAs and I’m equally anxious and excited about putting them to use.

I’ll be blogging about this challenge and my adjustment to life outside of North Carolina… I hope you’ll stick around to see what a year of internal and external growth brings to fruition for this Bunker Hill Community College VISTA!

Warmly,

A@ron

UMASS Boston on the road to engaging their students in the community

It has yet to be a full month since I started my placement at UMASS Boston. However, I can say that it has been one of the most interesting experiences of my life. I have been blessed with a very welcoming group of individuals to make sure I get acclimated to the campus.

I have been working in the Office of Student Leadership and Community Engagement at UMASS Boston. This department thrives off of working to every individual's strengths, rather than focus on improving the weaknesses. This view fuels greater productivity amongst a team. The few students that I have met thus far have an enormous amount of passion and creativity towards their missions and I think that the motto of this office has contributed a great deal towards their enthusiasm.

This year I will be working greatly with the students of UMASS. The ultimate goal is to get the students more engaged in working with the community. The students would be volunteering and creating programs for the benefit of creating a more unified community where they feel connected to the individuals and families they live with.

Currently, I am planning a Volunteer Fair to make the students aware of the various opportunities there are to get involved in the community. I hope to have a large variety of community based organizations attending it in order to gain the interests of the diverse population of students.

From what I have seen, the VISTAs before myself contributed a great deal towards this goal. I have some big shoes to fill and I look forward to working with the students and the community organizations this year as well as building on and improving all of our strengths.

Please feel free to contact me. My email is debra.harris@umb.edu.

One love,
Debra Harris-MACC Americorps*VISTA at UMASS Boston

Boston University Metropolitan College: Extending College Access to Non-Traditional Students

When we talk about education (especially post-secondary education), we tend to focus on acquisition and development of vocational skills; for instance, when I tell people I hold a literature degree, the consensus follow-up is, “What are you going to do with that, teach?” While it is important to think of an education as preparing the student for a career track, some of the most essential benefits of completing a college degree become peripheral to simply getting a job.

I am spending my AmeriCorps*VISTA year recruiting for the Scholarship for Parents at Boston University’s Metropolitan College; the Scholarship is a 50% tuition discount for parents of Boston & Chelsea Public School students to complete a Bachelor’s degree. I will be spending much of my time this year, as I am today, at community events meeting parents and community outreach coordinators to discuss the opportunity and eventually enroll non-traditional students at BU.

The reason this Scholarship exists, besides of course developing job skills and opening career opportunities to first-generation college students, is one of those peripheral benefits of higher education: connecting the campus community to the residential community. Unfortunately, college campuses can sometimes become insulated from the neighborhoods that surround them. Traditional college students often transplant or commute, and they naturally spend much of their time with only other students. When students graduate, they move away, and a new batch of students moves in. Likewise, in lower-income neighborhoods, nativity is very high, and residents do not always have opportunities to interact with people from very different backgrounds. The distance between the college campus and the permanent residential community, while only a few blocks, can seem like miles.

By reaching out into Boston and Chelsea neighborhoods like Roxbury, Dorchester, Mattapan, and Hyde Park (for example) and pulling them into the campus experience, we catalyze an otherwise unlikely but immeasurably enriching relationship. Our Parent Scholars go to class and study with an incredibly diverse community contained on the BU campus. Conversely, out-of-state students learn about the challenges facing Boston residents and people who attend school while working full-time. Experience breeds confidence and understanding, and the product of the BU Experience is not only academic achievement but also civic engagement and community-building.

This year, I will be experiencing this first hand, as I will of course be voraciously engaging community members, but also taking classes at the Metropolitan College. I am very fortunate to be living this experience as I advocate for it, and look forward to its many lessons both in and out of the classroom.

Like Jeff, I will also be documenting my projects, successes and challenges, and thoughts of general interest here periodically. Also feel free to contact me at avillere@bu.edu.

One love!

Aaron Villere

MACC AmeriCorps*VISTA

Boston University Metropolitan College

Helping Build Community at MassArt…One Paintbrush at a Time!

Beloved community activist Bob Moses once asked a family living in the Mississippi Delta during the tumultuous Civil Rights era,

“How do you build and organize a community?” He answered, “By throwing a ball into your neighbor’s yard; that way you have to cross the fence and engage in a dialogue with them. And then your neighbor throws the ball into their neighbor’s yard.”

I took Bob’s spirit to heart when I showed up at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt) for day one of my AmeriCorps*VISTA service with the Massachusetts Campus Compact (MACC). As my supervisor and I walked around the bohemian campus I could only imagine the creativity and ingenuity behind how MassArt builds partnerships and community.

My thoughts became more defined later that day when I met a cohort of MassArt and Harvard students (working with the Phillips Brooks House Association) running a summer art camp for a throng of underprivileged Mission Hill kids. I stood back and witnessed three worlds ally in perfect accord: Harvard, arguably the poster child of wealth and prestige; MassArt, the artistic capital of Massachusetts; and, kiddos from one of Boston’s most high risk neighborhoods. Sure, the kids concentrated their attention on the fun painting and printmaking activities (much of which ended up all over my clothes), but much more happened that day. Everyone learned a lesson on what it means to be part of community and a neighborhood; whether as a public or private institution providing services to a certain demographic or as a low-income family tapping the neighborhood’s resources. That experience properly oriented me to the notion that MassArt is not just an art school. The institution cultivates strong relationships with its Mission Hill and Roxbury neighbors, and to Bob Moses’s delight, the university community is constantly throwing balls (or maybe paintbrushes) to learn more about them and their needs.

So…what fun things will I be doing in my year of service? The Center for Art and Community Partnerships (CACP), the department wherein I work, needs me to research the impact MassArt’s public art initiatives (colloquially known as the Neighborhood ArtZones) have on the communities it serves. In other words, MassArt wants an official university publication illustrating the difference it is making in Mission Hill and lower Roxbury. The CACP also wants me to explore further community partnership opportunities and hone in more closely on the needs (affordable housing, educational opportunities, etc.) of the neighborhood and how MassArt can address those needs by facilitating public art programs. All that said, the President of MassArt, Kay Sloan, gave me her blessing and sent me to my 12^th floor office to begin this important work and make a difference in the world.

I will also work on other public art programs and student initiatives. Last summer, the CACP invited the Combat Paper Project, a program where returned veterans turn their uniforms into paper and participants make art projects on the paper, to come and work with the community. We want the Vermont based organization to come next summer, so I plan to assist in the logistics and writing the grant to make that a reality. In the coming weeks I will also play an important role in the New Student Orientation. I am assisting with a “creative mapping” activity with 400 plus students, which will orient them to the community and reasons why MassArt works so closely with its neighbors.

When I finished graduate school at the University of Massachusetts I never thought I would embark on this journey. In fact, I thought I was bound for a doctoral program in American History, but I needed to make my education practical and useful for humanity, which is why I applied for this MACC AmeriCorps*VISTA position. I think it is everyone’s civic duty to vote and do some small feat to make a difference in the world, whether that means serving your country or your community, those of us privileged with education (and housing for that matter) should disseminate our skills to those who do not have fair or adequate access to basic necessities. So here I am! I plan to write bi-monthly on the projects I am working on and discuss ways that others can be involved. Please stop back often because the other bloggers have pretty awesome posts too. And if you’re ever in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston make sure to visit MassArt and come say hello.

Feel free to contact me at Jeffrey.Robinson@massart.edu.

In Peace and love,

Jeff Robinson
MACC AmeriCorps*VISTA serving at MassArt

Updates from William Dowd at North Shore Community College

Yesterday wrapped up our Haiti relief efforts here at the North Shore Community College. I must admit the planning stages were a bit tedious; our committee had been meeting since January, all went swell at last night’s benefit though, as MC of the night, and it having been my first time ever, I was totally nervous. We pulled it off by raising over 3,100 dollars for Partners in Health.

The evening was slated with back to back performances by local Lynn performers with cool names like Lois Lane and the Daily Planets, Historic Hysteria, Sadi, a poet, that goes by the name of “Big Brother,” Lynn’s St. Mary’s Choir, and guitarist/singer Julio.

Our keynote for the evening, Dr. Annekathryn “AK” Goodman, an Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School and member of the International Surgical Response Team, elegantly and gently read from a piece she wrote of her time in Haiti. Dr. Goodman was one of the first responders. Such a selfless and kind person, wish you could have heard her. I told her she had a perfect radio voice. She laughed.

During our planning stages the committee worried that too many benefits were happening simultaneously, deciding to hold off until April, but with that we considered media repercussions. As with most catastrophes, media outlets tend to cover them unfailingly until the next big story. Until big stories like Lady GaGa’s new outfit, Tigers new mistress, Sandra Bullock getting a divorce, which certainly takes precedent in headlines over the current state of Haiti or international efforts. It’s quite sickening. Our challenge was getting people to still actively pursue helping Haiti despite the dip in media attention.