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Grassroots Coalition Tackling Pressing Issues Gets Campus Support Sociology and Theology Students Provide Service to the Community Variety of Community Engagement Literature Available in CEMS Adrian Dominican Sponsorship Conference Participants Get Together Box Tops for Education Drive Continues Throughout Summer Next Issue of Community Engagement News Slated for July 1
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Grassroots Coalition Tackling Pressing Issues Gets Campus Support
Large Turnout at
As the academic year draws to a close, Barry’s community engagement administrators have been reflecting on campus support for the work of Miami PACT as the grassroots coalition keeps affordable housing, gun violence intervention, and immigration support high on its agenda.
In all, 109 students, faculty, and staff members from Barry’s main campus turned out for Miami PACT’s Nehemiah Action Assembly at New Birth Baptist Church in North Miami recently. As part of co-curricular civic engagement or service-learning assignments, some students assisted with registration and other tasks.
Sister Mary Frances Fleischaker, OP, DMin, an adjunct professor, attended the assembly. A good number of her students – she taught three sections of Theology 201 in the spring semester – had picked PACT events for their service-learning project.
Experiential Learning Coordinator Liz James reported that, throughout the semester, students supported PACT’s work in various ways.
At Nehemiah Action, County Commissioners Daniella Levine Cava and Eileen Higgins pledged to support an annual allocation of $10 million for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund with a line item in the county budget. City of Miami Commissioner Ken Russell committed to championing a plan to build or preserve 12,000 affordable residences by the year 2024 and to reject any plan that does not include this community-backed goal.
On the heels of the assembly, a press conference was the setting for an announcement by Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners Chairwoman Audrey M. Edmonson and Mayor Carlos A. Gimenez that a Group Violence Intervention Initiative would get underway. The initiative would be aimed at combating “senseless” gun violence, they said.
At Nehemiah Action, PACT members emphasized the need to secure a commitment from county officials to make a municipal ID program a reality by 2020.
Gimenez has since provided a mayoral report in which he cited advantages and disadvantages of such a program. And in a letter to county commissioners, he wrote: "A local card program could … alleviate barriers for several vulnerable and disadvantaged populations, including immigrants, homeless, seniors and formerly incarcerated individuals."
PACT (People Acting for Community Together) is the largest faith-based, grassroots organization in Miami-Dade County. The organization consists of some 40 churches, synagogues, mosques, and universities. Its Nehemiah Action Assembly is an annual event. This year’s event drew more than 1,200 people.
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Sociology and Theology Students Provide Service to the Community
Students taking service-learning courses in theology and sociology recently provided more than 2,600 hours of service to the community. The students took part in several community projects and events.
Service sites included social service agencies, public parks, and the Barry Urban Garden. Students also provided service through Historic Virginia Key Beach Park, PACT (People Acting for Community Together), and the Women’s Breast and Heart Initiative.
During the spring semester, 211 students were enrolled in SOC 200: Perspective Consciousness and Social Justice (6 sections). The instructors were Drs. Laura Finley, Lisa Konczal, and Christian Schlaerth.
A total of 363 students were enrolled in THE 201: Theology – Faith, Beliefs, and Traditions (11 sections) and THE 311: Sexuality, Sex, and Morality (2 sections).
The instructors for THE 201 were Fr. George Boudreau, OP, PhD; Rev. Richard Clements; Sister Mary Frances Fleischaker, OP, DMin; Fr. José David Padilla, OP, PhD; Fr. Jorge Presmanes; Karen Stalnaker; and Fr. Cristóbal Torres. Dr. Christopher Jones was the instructor for THE 311.
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Variety of Community Engagement Literature Available in CEMS
A variety of community engagement literature is available through the Community Engagement Management System, or CEMS. Among the literature are books and book chapters, journals and journal articles, manuals, and fact sheets.
The literature may be accessed directly from the “Resources” section of CEMS.
Examples of books in CEMS are Community-Based Research and Higher Education: Principles and Practices; Service-Learning and the Liberal Arts: How and Why It Works; and The Promise of Partnerships: Tapping into the College as a Community Asset. A monograph titled At a Glance: What We Know about the Effects of Service-Learning on College Students, Faculty, Institutions, and Communities is available as well.
Articles in CEMS include “Assessment of Service Learning: An Often Overlooked Vital Link”; “Canton Connections: A University-Community Partnership for Post-Disaster Revitalization”; “Civic Engagement in the Field of Psychology”; “Community Partner Perceptions about Community Engagement Experiences for Nursing Students”; “Designing Effective Reflection: What Matters to Service-Learning?”; “Peace in Every Relationship: Building an Interdisciplinary, Holistic Domestic Violence Program on College Campuses”; “Service Learning in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: Effective Practices”; and “Situating Civic Engagement in a Global Context: A Review of Higher Education and Civic Engagement.”
Available journals include the International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (Special Issue – Service Learning); International Undergraduate Journal for Service-Learning, Leadership, and Social Change; Journal for Civic Commitment; Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education; Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship; Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement; Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning; PRISM: A Journal of Regional Engagement; and the Undergraduate Journal of Service Learning and Community-Based Research.
“Engagement and Related Concepts in Higher Education” and “Indicators of Engagement” are among the fact sheets in CEMS. A Corporation for National and Community Service issue brief, “The Impact of Service-Learning: A Review of Current Research,” also may be accessed in CEMS.
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Adrian Dominican Sponsorship Conference Participants Get Together
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Box Tops for
The Box Tops for Education Drive organized by the Minority Association of Pre-health Students (MAPS) and the Center for Community Service Initiatives (CCSI) is continuing throughout the summer terms.
Proceeds of the Box Tops donations benefit two schools – North Miami Elementary in Miami-Dade County and Sheridan Hills Elementary in Broward County.
Staff, faculty, and students are urged to participate by donating box tops.
“Simply identify the Box Tops logo on household products you already purchase, including many grocery items, and cut the logo from the packaging,” the organizers explain. “You may submit your box tops in the donation boxes on campus. Donation boxes are at various locations, including in the CCSI office, Adrian 208.”
Box Tops donations also may be sent via interoffice mail to Dr. Stephanie Bingham in the Department of Biology, Siena 309.
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Next Issue of Community Engagement News Slated for July 1
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