Ask Caroline

Q: It's been two days since I emailed my community partner and I haven't heard back. What should I do? 

A: Remember most of our community partners are small nonprofits with a small very busy staff. Patience is always key but when you are in need of an immediate response try using key signal words in your subject line. It is also okay to try calling but with the expectation they may be busy. Remember they don't operate on a student schedule.

Service-Learning at Adventure Challenge

Adventure Challenge, the volunteer site that I have worked at for the past semester and a half, is an organization that was founded in order to further assist children with special needs. Mentors (who are usually college students) are partnered with a child and their family, and both parties go through initial match meetings in order to see if the mentor is a good fit for the family, and vice versa. From there, the mentor and mentee establish a bond and work together to advance the child's social skills, as well as their physical activity. I started working at Adventure Challenge because I hoped to go on to become a pediatric occupational therapist, so I thought that this would be an experience that would help expose me to my target demographic. 

I enjoy working with not only my mentee, but his family as well, week after week. We have developed a special bond, and not only was I able to understand more about a life that is drastically different from my own, but I was able to apply my Service-Learning experience to my classroom learning. This semester I am taking the Human Services Professions course with Professor Gardinier, and I have been able to apply numerous course concepts such as civic responsibility, and self-determination to my Service-Learning experience. It has been a joy to have a very different Service-Learning partner than my classmates, because I realized that although we are all working with organizations that have very different aims, we all connect our work and learn form one another's experiences. 

-Akiera Gilbert 

B.S. Human Services, Class of 2018

Who are these S-LTA leaders?

The Service-Learning Team Manager (S-LTM) program is the newest addition to Service-Learning (S-L) at Northeastern. This pilot program was created with two goals in mind: (1) to more proactively support the growth of S-L at Northeastern, and (2) to provide additional leadership opportunities to our S-L teaching assistants. Each of the five S-LTMs have a strong background in S-L and leadership so that they can manage a small cohort of fellow S-L teaching assistants by acting as mentors to discuss individual needs, challenges, and successes. This collaborative arrangement allows for more efficient communication, more individualized attention, and more measurable course management for S-LTAs and S-L staff. 

Congratulations Kathleen Collins, Deb Pacella, Sydney Palinkas, Nicole Pantano, and Barak Soreff for being selected as the first Service-Learning Team Managers! 

Meet Our Service-Learning Team Managers

Deb Pacella
Major (s): Political Science & English
Class of 2014
S-LTA: Becoming a Global Leader

  

Kathleen Collins
Major (s): English & Education
Class of 2015
S-LTA: College Writing 

Sydney Palinkas
Major (s): Human Services & Sociology
Class of 2014
S-LTA: Human Services Professions

Barak Soreff
Major (s): Sociology
Class of 2014
S-LTA: Phonetics

Nicole Pantano
Major (s): Psychology
Class of 2014
S-LTA: Child Intervention & Treatment

NS4G RFP

Northeastern University - Northeastern Students4Giving

2014 Request for Proposals:  Trauma Treatment, Diversity & Inclusion

Northeastern Students4Giving (NS4G), a student-led experiential philanthropy education program at Northeastern University, has announced two funding priorities for the 2014 grant cycle: Trauma Treatment and Diversity & Inclusion. One $10,000 grant will be awarded in each category. Applicants must be located in or serve the Boston communities of Mission Hill, Fenway, Roxbury, and the South End. Applications for both funding tracks are due by March 7, 2014.

For Trauma Treatment, funding will be provided to an organization addressing the effects of trauma on individuals and communities within Boston.  This grant is intended to help individuals and communities that have experienced trauma as the result of a single event, a series of events, or a set of circumstances over an extended period of time.  Services must be informed by an understanding of the lasting and diverse effects trauma may have on clients’ physical and mental health and overall quality of life, as well as on their families and communities. For the complete guidelines, including eligibility requirements, and a link to the application form, please click here or visit http://www.northeastern.edu/ns4g/trauma-treatment/. 

For Diversity and Inclusion, funding will be provided to an organization working to make Boston a welcoming and inclusive city in which diversity is recognized as a strength.  Specifically, we seek to fund an organization working to:

•  foster contact, communication, understanding, and mutual appreciation among diverse social groups to address the misperceptions that can result when they do not have the opportunity to interact; or
•   empower individuals to actively participate in all aspects of life in the city without discrimination or fear of violence or intimidation, regardless of their race, ethnicity, cultural background, religion, language, socioeconomic status, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, physical ability, or mental or physical health status.

For the complete guidelines, including eligibility requirements, and a link to the application form, please click here or visit http://www.northeastern.edu/ns4g/diversity-and-inclusion/

Contact

For more information about NS4G and our application process, please contact NS4G Program Director Rebecca Riccio at r.riccio@neu.edu or 617-373-4020.

Partner Spotlight- Little Brothers: Friends of the Elderly

One of our fantastic service-learning community partners is Little Brothers- Friends of the Elderly. Very often at Northeastern service opportunities focus on youth, and it can seem like there are not many other options.  There are a variety of reasons for the youth focus. In part, it makes sense to look ahead to the future by training the next generation to be well educated, engaged individuals.  Boston public schools and their affiliated non-profits also offer Northeastern lots of volunteer opportunities, so we offer them lots of volunteers.  For some students, this is not the path they want to take.  Some people prefer to volunteer with adults or have career plans that are not youth focused. It is very important for Northeastern to cater to both these students and to adult populations in the area.  

Little Brothers is an organization that pairs youth volunteers with older persons and offers opportunities to improve the lives of the older generations.  It also has the added effect of connecting the youth and elderly in a way that allows for an even exchange of information and opinions.  This may be as simple as matching two people to have coffee and talk every couple weeks.  It can also be more in depth, and youth can plan and cook meals for big events in the area, which will allow you to meet a much larger group of people.  Even if you don’t want to work with the elderly personally, you can volunteer to serve in the office for a few hours a week. 

Little Brothers: Friends of the Elderly is an excellent opportunity for students looking to fulfil CEP volunteer hours, a Service-Learning requirement, or for those who are simply looking for something interesting to do near campus.  For more information, check out their website and full list of volunteer opportunities: http://boston.littlebrothers.org/volunteer.html

Civics 101: Getting youth involved with Generation Citizen

Generation Citizen is a community organization that works diligently to help mold students in public schools into active, civically engaged citizens.  They attempt to show students how important their voice is in the democratic system, with the hope that those students will go on to make it a better system for the next generation.  Recently, we had the chance to see Stephanie Eisemann and Stephanie Witek, two S-L students from Northeastern, facilitate in their classroom.

Sitting in the back of the room, my colleagues and I quietly observed as high school students worked collaboratively with their school Wellness Committee to ensure that there is some sort of healthy relationships workshop in Boston Public Schools.  I was impressed, and not only because of the lofty goals that these students had set.    They had laid out a comprehensive plan; including laying out action steps and targeting the community members that could help them accomplish their goals.  By the end of their project, the students at the Community Academy of Science and Health hope to have a mandatory assembly every year in Boston Public Schools to discuss healthy relationships, as well as smaller discussion-based meetings on the same topic. 

                From looking around at this site visit, Generation Citizen is obviously helping to get students involved in the democratic process. What I was not necessarily expecting was the deep impact that serving at Generation Citizen was having on the students from Northeastern.

Stephanie Eisemann was placed with Generation Citizen in the fall of 2012, her freshman year at NU, as part of the Civic Engagement Program.  She has apparently enjoyed her work there, as she has maintained a relationship with Generation citizen ever since.  Her work has even inspired her to pick up a minor in Political Science, which will hopefully keep her involved in the Democratic process for years to come.  Stephanie Witek is newer to the program, having just begun to serve with Generation Citizen through her service-learning Connections and Decisions class.  Despite only beginning to serve with Generation Citizen this fall, it seems that the programming she has facilitated has inspired her to pick up a social activism minor.

If you are interested in volunteering with Generation Citizen as a Democracy Coach, please click here: http://generationcitizen.org/apply-here/

Journey to the Center of the YMCA

When a Community Partner requests a site visit, we usually don’t quite know what to expect.  On top of that, November 1^st was a Saturday and I was fully expecting to be going on a site visit to the Wang YMCA of Chinatown alone because of that. However, it seems that some other people at Northeastern were fully aware of the kind of visit this was going to be. I ended up being part of a group consisting of Professor Julie Miller, S-L co-op Barak Soreff, and Service-Learning Teaching Assistant Jennifer Hum.  Northeastern student, former S-L student and Service-Learning Teaching Assistant, and YMCA volunteer Nathan Hahn was nice enough to show us the program, and took us to see students serving in their classrooms.

Angela Tang, the student supervisor for the site, popped her head in a couple times to answer questions and make sure we had access to everything we needed.  She even pulled a couple volunteers away from their conversation groups so that I could talk to them face to face about their service experience.  The resounding consensus was that the service was going very well, and the students felt like they were making a difference.  I’m inclined to agree with them, as I personally have not seen students with the kind of connection to their mentees that they had.  It was instantly obvious when I entered the room that the kids being tutored here were extremely warm and friendly with their tutors.

The students at the Wang YMCA are almost entirely Chinese immigrants with limited English proficiency.   Most of them came from China within the past year, and as such have a very hard time in school.  Nathan had us flip their experience around, and imagine taking science classes in Chinese after six months to a year of taking Chinese lessons.  That is the kind of experience that is hard to imagine doing as an adult, but it would be flat out daunting as a young child.  Their tutors at the YMCA sit in the classroom with them for two hours every Saturday, helping them with homework and reading stories alongside them.  At the end of the session, all of the students come together to read a story out loud, which helps them with comprehension as well as making them more comfortable with speaking in English.  The amazing thing about this program, apart from its successes (notably, 1 student recently went to Boston Latin Academy, 5 more went to John D. O’Bryant High School) is that it is entirely spread by word of mouth.  There is no advertising aside from kids and parents who are already involved in the program spreading it to their friends and family. Despite this there are currently 3 classrooms being used to house the program, and it is still growing.

After we had been shown around each of the classrooms, Angela took us all out for Dim Sum.  It was both delicious and plentiful, and once we had finished Angela would not let us leave without taking home leftovers from at least one dish. During the meal, I got a chance to talk to her about her involvement in the program.  I was extremely impressed by her dedication to the students.  She seemed bolstered by their successes, and genuinely worried about their futures.  When queried about the program overall, she said, “We have one purpose, we give them a chance.”  She also had a lot to say about the efficacy of the program.  The defining factor, it seems, is the kind of time commitment that she believes in.  She encourages programs to foster deep relationships between their students and mentors.  Many of her mentors have been with students for more than one semester and she swears by that.  It allows the students to take time to open up, and when they are comfortable with their tutors they are much more likely to actually focus on their learning.  It is difficult to fully capture the drive that I saw in Angela and Nathan in writing, but suffice it to say that they are passionate and affectionate individuals, and are running a fantastic program. 

                                                                                                            By: Dan McKenna