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.

It’s been a while since my last blog post, and I think that’s reflective of how busy I’ve been in the past couple of months. In working to build a Civic Engagement Center at Salem State, I spent much of my fall semester hearing the needs of local community-based organizations, and am now starting to help make the connections between those organizations and the people at Salem State who might best be able to work with those identified collaboration opportunities. The hope is not one-time opportunities, but rather long term relationships between the institution and the community.

The other half of my role is to support student civic engagement efforts, which has been anything from planning a volunteer fair, to helping plan a Habitat for Humanity Alternative Spring Break to southern Georgia, to encouraging students to give urgently needed blood to Red Cross. Obviously Haitian relief efforts have been a focus of service efforts across the country over the past month, and Salem State is no exception. With over 150 students who identify as Haitian or Haitian American, the crisis has significantly impacted many on campus. Several student organizations have sponsored fund raisers which have raised over $5,000 for the Red Cross and other relief agencies. It has been incredible to see the outpouring of support on campus during this time of need.

- Jay Helmer

I attended one of my favorite events for this MACC AmeriCorps*VISTA year. I held an information table at the Dorchester FAMILY School Initiative (DFSI) Community Night. If you don’t know, DFSI is a partnership connecting three Boston public elementary schools (Holmes, Lee, and Fifield) to health and social service organizations (SCI and Dotwell among others).

I first learned about DFSI at an event run by the Office of Family and Student Engagement at Boston Public Schools. There I met the Family and Community Outreach Coordinator at Holmes, who connected me to staff at Lee and Fifield. In the fall, I had the privilege to meet parents and lead presentations about the Scholarship for Parents at parent council meetings, open houses, and other special nights for these schools.

At quite a few events, I kept running into the DFSI Community Liaison/AmeriCorps Member, who invited me to this community night. It was held at Lee Elementary and included families from all three schools in the initiative. There was dinner, raffles, performances by the students, and a speech from Mayor Menino! The purpose of the DFSI Community Night was not only to have fun but also to connect families to organizations in Boston. MATCH Charter, Boston After School and Beyond, and TechBoston were among the numerous organizations sharing resources with families.

I knew the event would be big, but it was much larger than I had anticipated. Even Mayor Menino mentioned how he was pleasantly surprised with the high turnout for the community night in his speech.

Thinking back about the night, I can’t be too surprised with the turnout. It’s just a testament to how effective partnerships like DFSI can be when community organizations and schools proactively collaborate to engage families.

If you couldn’t tell, I’m a fan of the initiative. To learn more about DFSI, check out http://www.mydorchester.org/DFSI.

Peace,

Lindsay

It’s been quite a while since I last wrote, but it’s not for a lack of things to say. Wrapping up the Fall semester and then preparing for the Spring semester kept me very busy! As I discussed the areas of greatest need with community partners, talked to professors about the setup of their Community Based Learning courses, and helped students to choose the appropriate community projects for the semester, I couldn’t help looking back to August and September, when I first started as a VISTA at Holy Cross. I was performing the same tasks in September as I did in January, yet the process seemed entirely different the second time around. It was a great feeling to understand my responsibilities and even suggest measures for improvement, especially when I remembered feeling lost and confused during my first month as a VISTA. It’s truly remarkable how much you can learn in a mere few months.

At the end of January, our office hosted a visit from Peachy Myers, White House Liaison to the Corporation for National and Community Service and a former MACC VISTA. In an address to students, Ms. Myers shared her remarkable story, beginning with her service as a VISTA at UMass Boston, and ending with a job at the White House—and she’s only 32 years old! In ten years after graduating from Vanderbilt, Ms. Myers advocated for the homeless in San Francisco, aided Hurricane Katrina victims in Austin, played a key organizing role in Obama’s campaign, and started working toward a Master’s degree—though opportunities to serve all over the United States have delayed her from completing her degree so far. In a roundtable discussion, Ms. Myers urged students to give up on the idea of a five or ten year plan, and instead to consider life after graduation one year at a time. If she had set her mind to completing a degree or working in a specific field immediately after graduating, Ms. Myers would have missed out on the amazing opportunities she’s squeezed into a short ten year timeframe. A very recent graduate myself, I was inspired and relieved to hear about Peachy’s many successes and the roundabout path that has led her to each of them.

Yesterday, I was able to visit Kate Rafey, the VISTA at Stonehill College, whose work is very similar to my own. MACC encourages VISTAs to visit one another and trade ideas, but this was the first time I’ve taken advantage of such an opportunity. While Kate’s office has a very similar set up to my own, she’s taken different approaches to many of the same issues that I’ve come across (transportation, for instance, which seems to plague most service learning and community service offices). Chatting with Kate about the structure of her office, her process for placing students at community sites, and even the CBL courses that Stonehill offers has given me new ideas that I’d like to implement at Holy Cross. It seems that every college or university has an entirely different structure of offices, especially when it comes to community engagement, and I find it fascinating to discover where VISTAs sit at their institutions and what role they play in community engagement. It’s hard to believe that half of my VISTA term is over, but I’ll definitely take advantage of more VISTA visits over the next six months.