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June 18, 2018 |
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In This Issue:
Barry Service Corps Supports Community Partners Throughout Academic Year Barry Represented Among Volunteers Packing 150,120 Meals for Guatemalan Children Chapter of Student Movement Against Food Waste Established at Barry Recent Barry Graduate Awarded Fellowship with Food Recovery Network Box Tops for Education Drive Continues Throughout Summer CCSI Announces Newsletter Publication Schedule for Summer
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Barry Service Corps Supports Community Partners Throughout Academic Year
Nearly 70 students participated in the Federal Work-Study Community Service Program during the 2017–2018 academic year.
The students earned part of their financial aid award by working directly with community organizations in a variety of roles, including serving as tutors, mentors, and program assistants.
All students participating in Federal Work-Study Community Service are members of the Barry Service Corps.
Program Coordinator Barbara Destine said more than 20 students were given tutoring and mentoring roles at neighborhood schools and in not-for-profit organizations.
Hubert O. Sibley K-8 Academy engaged five Barry students in providing support to classroom teachers. Four students served as tutors and mentors in Gang Alternative’s afterschool program.
According to Destine, some of the students described their tutoring experience as “life-changing.”
Other schools and organizations that offered tutoring opportunities through the Federal Work-Study Community Service Program included Gratigny Elementary School, W. J. Bryan Elementary School, St. Mary’s Cathedral School, Breakthrough Miami, Prosperity Social and Community Development Group, and Urban Promise Miami.
Twenty-five students participated in Federal Work-Study Community Service as program assistants. They served at American International Relief, Camillus House, Chapman Partnership, Doctors Charter School, the Haitian American Community Development Center, the Miami-Dade County Foster and Adoptive Parent Association, the Peace Education Foundation, Sant La Haitian Neighborhood Center, Sinai Plaza Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, and Urban Promise Miami.
Sixteen students were selected for civic leadership roles as Barry Service Corps (BSC) Fellows. The student leaders worked closely with community partners on projects in the areas of civic health, global citizenship, and equitable communities.
BSC Fellows assigned to civic health projects supported voter education and registration efforts, and worked closely with PACT (People Acting for Community Together). PACT worked with local public officials to recommend policies in support of immigration reform, increased affordable housing, and the reduction of gun violence.
The “global citizenship” group recruited other students to promote the call for justice for farmworkers, to support refugee families, and to contribute to the university’s burgeoning partnership in Port-de-Paix, Haiti.
Working closely with organizations based in Little Haiti and Liberty City, the third group of BSC Fellows sought to foster more equitable communities by addressing food insecurity and other poverty-related issues. The student leaders helped to facilitate youth development and urban farming projects.
The Center for Community Service Initiatives manages Federal Work-Study Community Service in partnership with Barry’s Division of Human Resources and Office of Financial Aid.
The Federal Work-Study Program of the U.S. Department of Education provides funds, which are earned through part-time employment, to assist students in financing the costs of postsecondary education. Higher education institutions are required to place a certain percentage of FWS students in community service positions. Currently, institutions must use at least 7 percent of their FWS allocation to support students working in community service jobs.
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Barry Represented Among Volunteers Packing 150,120 Meals for Guatemalan Children
The scene inside a Broward church gymnasium on a recent Friday and Saturday could warm any heart: More than 550 South Florida volunteers gathered to pack meals for starving children in Guatemala.
Over a two-day period, the volunteers – including a good number from Barry’s School of Social Work – packed 150,120 meals. As a result, 411 children could receive food every day for a year.
Food For The Poor, the international relief and development organization, organized the food-packing event in partnership with Feed My Starving Children, a Christian nonprofit organization that sends prepackaged meals to more than 70 countries. Called Join The Pack, the event took place at Advent Lutheran Church in Boca Raton. For many who packed meals, Join The Pack is all about “giving back,” even to people they don't know and will never meet. The situation is dire in Guatemala, which has an extremely high rate of chronic malnutrition. It can lead to stunting, a condition that affects the physical growth and brain development of children, according to the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Food For The Poor Executive Director Angel Aloma thanked volunteers and sponsors for the loving service provided to families in Guatemala through the charity and Feed My Starving Children.
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Chapter of Student Movement Against Food Waste Established at Barry
Barry now has a chapter of the Food Recovery Network (FRN).
The Washington, D.C.-based organization welcomed Barry University as an FRN member on June 1.
In an email to chapter’s leader Paola Lopez-Hernandez, FRN wrote: “Congratulations! You are now a member of the largest student movement against food waste and hunger in the nation. We’re honored to have you in our network, and we hope you feel proud to be joining thousands of student leaders across the country in their efforts to fight waste and feed people.”
Barry’s food recovery location is the Roussell Dining Hall on the main campus, and the community partner agency is Miami Rescue Mission.
Barry has joined nine other higher education institutions in Florida with FRN chapters. Chapters can be found at Broward College, Eckerd College, Florida Atlantic University, Florida State University, Jacksonville University, Stetson University, the University of North Florida, the University of South Florida – St. Petersburg, and the University of Tampa.
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Recent Barry Graduate Awarded Fellowship with Food Recovery Network
While a senior at Barry this academic year, Dominique McMillan developed a project to combat food waste while meeting a requirement of the civic learning and leadership program in which she participated.
In organizing the project, the Barry Service Corps Fellow got some of her peers engaged in research as well as in promoting and implementing the project. In the process, they learned about the issues of food waste and food insecurity, and they identified the Food Recovery Network (FRN) as an effective model of campus-based food-waste prevention.
This led to the formation of a Barry FRN chapter aimed at “fighting waste (and) feeding people.”
Fresh from her graduation last month, McMillan was offered a fellowship with FRN. And she accepted.
What would normally be a one-year fellowship, starting in mid-July, will be extended to a second year. That’s because FRN Program Manager Hannah Cather is quite impressed with McMillan’s demonstrated skills and experience.
As part of the Washington, D.C.-based FRN fellowship, McMillan will be responsible for creating a strategy to increase the number of network chapters from the current 230. She will also identify resources to strengthen the chapters.
McMillan thanked CCSI Associate Director Courtney Berrien for the professional development support provided through the BSC Fellows Program.
“I don’t think I would have had all the skills if I didn’t come into the … program,” McMillan told Berrien in an email on May 25. “So, thank you for everything! I cannot express my gratitude enough.”
Self-described as “the largest student movement against food waste and hunger,” FRN prides itself on its achievements in recovering and donating more than 2 million pounds of food since its founding in September 2011. That’s enough food for 1.8 million meals, the organization has indicated.
The CCSI organizes the Barry Service Corps (BSC) Fellows Program, the civic learning and leadership initiative that produces a growing number of civic-minded college graduates.
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Box Tops for
The Box Tops for Education Drive, organized by the Minority Association of Pre-health Students (MAPS) with support from the CCSI, will continue throughout the summer.
Box Tops proceeds 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,” MAPS Advisor Dr. Stephanie Bingham has explained.
Cereals, household-cleaning supplies, paper products, and school supplies are on the list of eligible products found at the following site: <http://www.boxtops4education.com/earn/participating-products>.
Box Tops logo clips may be dropped in the labeled boxes found in the CCSI office (Adrian 208), the Monsignor William Barry Memorial Library, and Thompson Hall. Logo clips also may be sent via interoffice mail to Dr. Stephanie Bingham in the Department of Biology, Siena 309.
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CCSI Announces Newsletter Publication Schedule for Summer
The Center for Community Service Initiatives (CCSI) recently announced the publication schedule of this newsletter for the summer.
Only one issue of Community Engagement News will be published this month and one issue also next month. The next issue is scheduled to be out on July 16.
The July 16 issue will highlight a visit to campus by middle-school children as part of the KAPOW (Kids and the Power of Work) Program.
Regular weekly issues of the newsletter are expected to return on August 20.
Community Engagement News is published by the CCSI in partnership with the Department of Brand Marketing and Communications.
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Community Engagement News
Posted On : June 18, 2018
