Community Engagement News

Students and faculty members will receive awards as well

South Florida People of Color and Hubert O. Sibley K–8 Academy are on the list of awardees.

Two community partners will be honored at Barry’s Ninth Annual Community Engagement Awards next Tuesday afternoon. Hubert O. Sibley K–8 Academy and South Florida People of Color will receive the Community Partnership Award.

The Community Partnership Award is presented in recognition of exemplary partnerships between university and community constituencies that produce measurable improvements in people’s lives while enhancing higher education. Special consideration is given to partnerships that aim to achieve the systems and policy changes needed to address the root causes of social, economic, health, and environmental disparities in the community.

Mrs. Chandrell Larkin, principal of the north Miami-Dade school, and Ms. Roni Bennett, executive director of the Miami Shores-based racial healing organization, have been invited to accept the award plaques.

During the first 10 years of the Center for Community Service Initiatives (CCSI), 22 community partners won the community engagement award in the Community Partnership category. Feeding South Florida, Miami Edison Senior High School, and Mount Tabor Missionary Baptist Church (now Mount Tabor Baptist Church) won the Community Partnership Award for the inaugural year. Bread for the World received the award last year.

The CCSI will host next Tuesday’s awards luncheon at the Health and Sports Center, beginning at noon. During the 75-minute event, students and faculty members will receive awards as well.

Barry Service Corps Members Take Top Prizes in Community Engagement Poster Competition

Maria Stampolkou, a fellow in the Barry Service Corps, will receive her prize during next Tuesday’s Community Engagement Awards Ceremony. Her winning entry is on display as part of the 2022 Community Engagement Poster Exhibition in Thompson Hall.

Barry Service Corps Fellow Maria Stampolkou is the first-prize winner in this year’s Student Poster Competition, and her poster is among those being exhibited in the Salvaneschi Commons, Thompson Hall.

Stampolkou’s winning entry, titled “Supporting Broward County Children in Foster Care by Securing Resources to Improve Stability and Well-Being,” earned her an 11.6-inch Acer Chromebook. The criminology and sociology major and runners-up will receive their prizes during next Tuesday’s Community Engagement Awards Ceremony.

The second-prize winner is Skylar Smith, also a fellow in the Barry Service Corps. She will receive a digital air fryer for her poster, “Addressing Racial Inequality on and off Campus through the Formation of a Black Student Union at Barry University.”

The third prize— a Litra Glow Premium LED streaming light—has been awarded for Amanda Gonzalez Garcia’s poster, “Exploring Ways to Improve Family Connections to Reduce Instances of Juvenile Delinquency.” Gonzalez Garcia is a member of the Barry Service Corps.

Dr. Victor Romano, associate provost for student success and undergraduate studies, announced the prize winners at Barry’s Eighth Annual Community Engagement Symposium last Wednesday. He will present the three prizes next Tuesday.

“The posters demonstrate how the students have been impacting the community through their engagement,” Romano said, “and how their projects have improved their understanding of academic content and enhanced their civic learning.”

The posters presented as part of the symposium are being exhibited from March 28 to April 8.

Members of Barry’s Community Advisory Committee judged the submissions in the Student Poster Competition on four criteria: content, relevance, visual presentation, and audio presentation. The judges were Mrs. Florence French Fagan, the committee vice-chair and Florida state organizer for Bread for the World; Mr. Andrew Hoo, executive director, A New Start: Financial and Social Services, Inc.; Rob Collins, Esq., an education and outreach coordinator at Housing Opportunities Project for Excellence (HOPE), Inc.; and Mr. Anthony Grisby—Community Development Division manager at the City of Hollywood.

Students See Advocacy at Work While Attending Annual Event Focused on Issues Affecting County Residents

Part of the Barry group who attended Nehemiah Action, an annual gathering organized by Miami PACT. PACT members called on county and municipal governments to reform the system regarding traffic-related civil infractions and to address the issue of insufficient tree canopies as a priority.

A group of Barry students, faculty, and staff members showed solidarity with Miami-Dade County residents last Monday evening by gathering with a representative number of them for Miami PACT’s Nehemiah Action Assembly.

High on the agenda were the reportedly routine suspension of the driver’s licenses of county residents and the lack of tree canopy in low-income areas.

Suspended licenses often result from unpaid traffic citations. Miami PACT’s research has revealed that the driver’s licenses of many county residents are suspended 75 percent of the time because of unpaid traffic tickets—a minor offense—rather than for reckless driving.

Quite a few low-income, urban areas of Miami-Dade are heat islands; they absorb and retain significantly more heat than do the surrounding areas. For neighborhood residents, it means high utility bills and unsafe living conditions. For Miami PACT, it is a call to action in creating urban tree canopies.

PACT members presented data and shared personal stories that shed light on how these and other issues have caused psychological, financial, and physical hardships to residents. They called on county and municipal governments to reform the system regarding traffic-related civil infractions and to address the issue of insufficient tree canopies as a priority.

The drive-in event took place at Dezerland Park in North Miami. Miami PACT—People Acting for Community Together—is a coalition of mainly faith-based organizations that prides itself on leveraging people power to hold public officials accountable.

Barry students, faculty, and staff members alike saw advocacy at work as PACT members brought the issues to the attention of local legislators and other elected officials at the assembly.

Student leader Barry Service Corps Fellow Autumn Davis had facilitated an orientation for the Barry students. They learned about Miami PACT’s work and the purpose of Nehemiah Action, an annual event.

Miami PACT—People Acting for Community Together—is a coalition of mainly faith-based organizations such as churches, synagogues, and mosques. PACT prides itself on its work in leveraging “the power of [a] large [group of] organized people to hold public officials accountable to create systemic change in Miami-Dade County.” It is at community assemblies like Nehemiah Action that public officials are encouraged to adopt solutions to serious problems identified by county residents.

Students, faculty, and staff members show solidarity with residents of Miami-Dade County by attending Nehemiah Action and lending their support.

Miami PACT’s Nehemiah Action Assembly took place on March 28 at the Dezerland Park drive-in theatre in North Miami.

Liz Valdez James, an adjunct faculty member in Barry’s School of Social Work, was pleased that “students saw firsthand that officials are listening to constituents.” Students found the event “informative,” and Dr. Valerie Scott, experiential learning coordinator, appreciated how “powerful” it was.

Courtney Berrien, associate director of the Center for Community Service Initiatives (CCSI), called Nehemiah Action an “energetic event that connects Barry students to the community and allows them to see public officials up close.”

GivePulse is the community engagement platform that supports service-learning courses at Barry.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AWARDS: All arrangements are in place for Barry’s Ninth Annual Community Engagement Awards, an in-person event this year.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT SYMPOSIUM: Community partners, students, and faculty members indicate impact of community engagement during concurrent sessions of last month’s symposium.

MARCH TO END MODERN-DAY SLAVERY: A representative group of students and staff members from Barry participated in a “March to End Modern Slavery in the Fields” on April 2 in Palm Beach.

Community Engagement News is a publication of the Center for Community Service Initiatives.

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