Assumption College (Worcester,
MA)
Community
Service-Learning Center
Summary
For the past four years, Assumption College has partnered with Rainbow
Child Development Center, a nonprofit agency providing pre-school/daycare
and after-school programming for low-income families in Worcester, Massachusetts.
This partnership has been valuable in establishing the Community Service
Learning (CSL) program at Assumption College by providing structured,
well-supervised placements for introductory CSL students as well as students
in upper-level CSL courses.
The Practice
Three separate courses engage the Rainbow Center as a learning and serving
base for extending the learning context for students. In the introductory
interdisciplinary CSL course, “Literature of Social Responsibility,”
students volunteer for 25 hours in order to develop an awareness of social
inequality and efforts to address social problems through educational
programming. Many students enrolled in Journalism (English Department)
choose to volunteer for 30 hours at either one of Rainbow’s sites.
The course goal is to introduce students to community agencies in order
to write an article about how the agency meets community needs and about
specific members of the staff. Students in Gender Issues in Society (Sociology
Department) are placed in after-school settings to observe gendered interactions
among children while tutoring.
A key feature of this partnership practice is the teaching role of community
residents and the staff of Rainbow. An example of this was when a single
mother of a child enrolled in the pre-school/daycare program at Rainbow
came to campus to speak with student volunteers about parenting issues
for low-income families. She engaged students through a short narrative
of her life and by responding frankly to their questions.
The executive director of Rainbow has been key in the development of
the CSL program, actively participating in planning activities, serving
on the CSL Advisory Committee, and collaborating with the CSL coordinator
to develop a handbook for agencies. The CSL faculty and staff acknowledge
the crucial role the executive director of Rainbow has had in establishing
and sustaining the Community Service Learning program at Assumption. The
partnership has also created opportunities for Assumption faculty and
staff to support Rainbow by attending their annual fundraiser, providing
space for staff training events, offering facilitators for specific workshops
when appropriate, and facilitating web design.
As a result of our strong partnership, a new initiative was established
in 2002 that connects the ALANA (African-Latino-Asian-Native American)
network at Assumption with youth in the after-school program at Rainbow.
For their first event, the group attended an exhibit of Harlem Renaissance
artists at the Worcester Art Museum. They returned to the college for
dinner and shared reflections about the experience. Building on the success
of that evening, a group trip this fall has been planned to view the Reflections
in Black photography series currently at Boston College. These service-learning
activities provide ALANA students with a link to the Worcester community
while introducing Rainbow youth to various cultural opportunities.
Effectiveness
Evidence of this strong collaborative partnership can be seen through
the commitment to reciprocity by both Assumption and Rainbow. In spring
2003, there were 44 students from the CSL program, the Reach Out Center,
and the Social Rehabilitation internship program that served over 1,200
hours at Rainbow Child Development Center. The continuation of this partnership
is essential to providing Assumption students with ways of connecting
with and learning from the Worcester community, and for assisting Rainbow
in their goal of providing quality educational programming for their youth.
Resources
None listed.
Contact Information
Susan Melia
Professor of Sociology
Assumption College
Worcester, MA 01609
Phone: 508-767-7357
smelia@assumption.edu
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Effective
Practices Exchange
