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Barry Celebrates Civil Rights Leader’s Legacy with Service Projects this Saturday
Barry University will celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. this Saturday with community service projects.Students, faculty, and staff will address social issues currently affecting Miami’s communities of color.
“The focus of the projects will be on food security, youth development, education, and environmental justice,” said Courtney Berrien, associate director of the Center for Community Service Initiatives (CCSI). “Volunteers will serve in Liberty
This year’s MLK Day of Service theme is “The Time is Always Right to Do What is Right.” The theme is drawn from a commencement address the civil rights leader delivered to students at Oberlin
“Dr. King gave that speech within the context of a turbulent time in American history, following the murder of three civil rights workers in Mississippi and riots in several
Barry marks the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service on the Saturday preceding the King
MLK Day provides “a way to transform Dr. King’s life and teachings into community service that helps empower and strengthen local communities,” according to the Corporation for National and Community Service.
For the fourth consecutive year, Service for Peace, a strategic partner of the Corporation for National and Community Service, has provided financial support for Barry’s MLK Day of Service. A $2,500 grant from Service for Peace will go toward community service projects on Saturday as well as activities for 40 Days of Peace, which begins next Monday (January 16).
MLK Day volunteers are asked to register by visiting the CCSI homepage, clicking on the “Get involved” link, and following the instructions.
For more information, contact the CCSI at service@barry.edu or 305-899-3696.
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Students Taking Theology Courses Complete Service-Learning Projects
Students taking theology courses last semester completed service-learning projects with 65 community-based organizations and programs. The students provided 2,026 hours of community service as part of four theology courses.
In an end-of-semester report, Experiential Learning Coordinator Liz James said 252 students were enrolled in THE 201: Theology, Faiths, Beliefs, and Traditions (11 sections); THE 306: Dynamics of Faith, Beliefs, and Theology; THE 311: Sexuality, Sex, and Morality; and THE 327: Peace and Justice.
The instructors for THE 201 were Sister Mary Frances Fleischaker, Rev. Dr. Deborah Geweke, Dr. Deena Grant, Dr. Christopher Jones, Dr. Marc Lavallee, Fr. José David Padilla, Fr. Jorge Presmanes, Dr. Gloria Schaab, Mrs. Karen Stalnaker, and Rev. Dr. Mark Wedig. Jones also taught THE 311.
Dr. James Nickoloff was the instructor for THE 306 and THE 327.
Service sites included local churches, food banks, nursing and rehabilitation centers, schools, and community centers. Among the community partners and programs were Carnival Arts, Church World Service, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, Feeding South Florida, Mount Tabor Baptist Church, PACT (People Acting for Community Together), Prosperity Social & Community Development Group, and Sinai Plaza Nursing & Rehabilitation Center.
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Faculty Invited to Apply for Service-Learning Fellowships
The Center for Community Service Initiatives (CCSI) invites faculty members to apply for service-learning fellowships for the 2017–2018 academic year. Two fellowships will be available.
Through the fellowships, successful applicants participate in a yearlong faculty development program focused on service-learning pedagogy, practice, and associated scholarship. Each service-learning fellow gets a course release to complete a special project and eventually to serve as a faculty mentor and engaged scholar.
Fellowship details and the application form are available in the Community Engagement Management System (CEMS), which may be accessed from the CCSI homepage. The application deadline is next Monday, January 16.
For further information, contact Dr. Glenn Bowen in the CCSI at gbowen@barry.edu or 305-899-4711.
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Symposium Proposal Submission Deadline is January 20
The proposal submission deadline for Barry University’s fourth annual Community Engagement Symposium is Friday, January 20. Proposals are being accepted for concurrent presentations during two sessions of the symposium. Relevant topics include service-learning, civic engagement, community-based research, community-focused fieldwork and internships, community-engaged scholarship, and community partnerships. Session formats are: 60-minute oral presentation, panel discussion, roundtable, and poster presentation.
Scheduled for March 29, the symposium will highlight community-focused dimensions of experiential learning. Successful proposals will emphasize aspects or features of experiential learning activities that engage faculty, staff, and/or students with community partners at the local, regional, state, national, and/or global levels.
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Community Engagement Award Categories Include Engaged Department
Engaged Department is one of the seven categories of community engagement awards for which nominations are being accepted. The nomination deadline is January 27.
The Engaged Department Award is presented to a department (within a division, college, or school) for achievements in advancing the community engagement goals of the University, educating students for civic and social responsibility, and improving community life. Departments in which faculty and staff members engage in significant community/public service, individually or collectively with students, are prime candidates for this award.
In addition to Engaged Department, the categories of awards are Community Impact, Community Partnership, Community-Based Research, Engaged Scholarship, Community Engagement Educator, and Service-Learning Faculty.
The fourth annual Community Engagement Awards will be held on March 29 on Barry’s main campus in Miami
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Students Donate Numerous Items During Move-Out Drive
Students residing on Barry’s Miami
With a new schedule that includes the fall semester, Move-Out Drive will become a biannual project. What used to be an annual collection drive during Finals Week in May is now scheduled for both fall and spring.
The fall 2016 collection took place during the week of December 5–12. A 10-member group of students and staff members assisted in collecting and sorting the donated items.
The donations will be distributed this month to local community organizations serving housing- and food-insecure individuals and families.
Formerly known as Dorm Drive, the project began eight years ago as an initiative to divert students’ unwanted items from landfills to local organizations as donations to people in need. The project was the brainchild of Mrs. Margaret Grizzle, wife of Dr. Gary Grizzle, chair of Barry’s Department of Sociology and Criminology.
Now organized by the Office of Mission Engagement and the Barry Ecological Sustainability Team (BEST), Move-Out Drive is a collaborative project supported by the Center for Community Service Initiatives (CCSI), the Center for Student Involvement, the Department of Housing and Residence Life, Facilities Management, and the Public Safety Department.
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Two Barry Student Leaders Named to National Steering Committee
Two Barry student leaders were recently named to the national steering committee of an organization that promotes the rights of farmworkers and a just food system. Paris Razor and Presler Maxius will serve in the leadership group of the Student/Farmworker Alliance (SFA) this year.
Razor, a sophomore, and Maxius, a senior, are Barry Service Corps fellows.
Last year, Quayneshia Smith, also a Barry Service Corps fellow, served on the SFA’s 13-member national steering committee. Now a senior, Smith has been involved in SFA activities since 2014. She recently received an award from Florida Campus Compact in recognition of her outstanding student leadership, particularly in support of farmworker justice.
The SFA is “a national network of students and young people organizing with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to uproot exploitation in the fields and build a food system based on justice, respect and dignity for farmworkers.” A worker-based human rights organization, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) is internationally recognized for its achievements in the fields of social responsibility, human trafficking, and gender-based violence at work.
The steering committee is the SFA's main organizing body, composed of a dynamic group of student and youth leaders. Steering committee members educate, organize, and mobilize support for the CIW’s Campaign for Fair Food in local communities and regions across the
According to information at the SFA website, since the start of the Campaign for Fair Food in 2001, “students and young people have been a driving force behind 14 of the largest victories against corporate greed that our generation has seen.”
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Barry Students Lead Demonstration in Support of Farmworkers
Approximately 150 students, farmworkers, and mainly people of faith marched for farmworker rights at a demonstration in Coral Gables recently. Barry students who are members of the Student/Farmworker Alliance (SFA), planned and coordinated the demonstration as a show of solidarity with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW).
Students, faculty, and staff from Barry and St. Thomas universities joined other community members who traveled south from areas as far as
The Fair Food Program is a partnership among farmers, farmworkers, and retail food companies that ensures humane wages and working conditions for the workers who pick fruits and vegetables on participating farms. According to information at its website, the program harnesses the power of consumer demand to give farmworkers a voice in the decisions that affect their lives and to eliminate the longstanding abuses that have plagued agriculture for generations.
The demonstration in Coral Gables was part of the Campaign for Fair Food, a CIW and SFA long-term effort to educate consumers on the issue of farm-labor exploitation – its causes and solutions – and to forge alliances between farmworkers and consumers in an effort to enlist the market power of major corporate buyers to help end that exploitation. Barry students have been active participants in the campaign since October 2014 and have contributed to the CIW’s boycott of Wendy’s since it was announced in the spring of 2015.
Farmworkers’ families and CIW and SFA staff members traveled from Immokalee to speak to the university and community participants about the importance of the Campaign for Fair Food.
The 59 demonstrators from Barry included 34 service-learning students, 18 Barry Service Corps (BSC) fellows and other students, and five faculty and staff members.
Barry student leader Quayneshia Smith was the chief coordinator of the event. She planned the procession route and led the recruiting efforts. Smith consulted with CIW and SFA staff members, and made arrangements with the City of Coral Gables Police Department, to ensure that the demonstration was carried out safely and peacefully.
A BSC fellow, Smith was a member of the SFA steering committee last year.
BSC Fellows Presler Maxius, Paris Razor, Jennifer Sanhou, and Paola Montenegro supported Smith by assisting with event promotion and facilitation of service orientation and post-service reflection activities.
Dr. Marc Lavallee, assistant professor of theology, and students in his Theology 201 course marched in the procession. In his fall semester service-learning course, Lavallee and his students explored themes of hospitality, the domination system, and community.
Lavallee said the experience helped his students learn the value and importance of solidarity. The students admired the commitment of the CIW members, he noted.
The procession was one of several similar demonstrations that took place the same day in communities across the country. The annual event was initiated three years ago as a joint effort by Barry
The Center for Community Service Initiatives (CCSI) oversees Barry’s partnership with the CIW and manages the BSC Fellows Program. The CCSI also supports the involvement of service-learning students in the Campaign for Fair Food.
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Barry Students Promote Green Awareness in Community
A group of Barry students supported EcoFest Miami by contributing to a social media campaign and other marketing strategies. They also assisted with event coordination on the day of the Liberty
An EcoTech Visions green awareness event, EcoFest was billed as “an opportunity for the community of Liberty
The six Barry Service Corps Fellows on the Urban Health social justice team partnered with EcoTech Visions throughout the semester to promote EcoFest. The students conducted research and produced a series of short videos about sustainability-related topics. The videos were circulated on social media throughout the day of the event.
In addition to the videos, the fellows created flyers with sustainability facts that EcoTech Visions staff posted on social media during EcoFest as part of the event’s digital awareness campaign.
A group of seven BSC Fellows and service-learning students also assisted with event coordination for EcoFest Miami. Before and after the fest, students assisted with setting up and dismantling event facilities. Throughout the day, the students also circulated information regarding monetary donations to EcoTech Visions for Give Miami Day.
Give Miami Day was a 24-hour philanthropic effort coordinated by the Miami Foundation, in which the foundation offered bonus monetary gifts for all individual donations given to partnering nonprofit and government agencies in this area. EcoTech Visions raised over $3,600 in individual contributions for Give Miami Day.
EcoTech Visions is a business incubator and accelerator designed to assist entrepreneurs in creating, planning, and launching innovative and “green” manufacturing businesses in South Florida. The organization provides business resources – including office, manufacturing, and event spaces – to support the development of products made with recycled materials.
Barry has partnered with EcoTech Visions since its founding in 2014 through service-learning courses and co-curricular programs such as Major Days of Service and the Deliberative Dialogue Series.
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Two Forums in Deliberative Dialogue Series on Semester’s Schedule
Two forums in the 2016-2017 Deliberative Dialogue Series will be held during the spring semester. The first, on February 16, will focus on the rights of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) persons in relation to religious freedom; the second, on April 11, will draw attention to the Turkey Point nuclear power plant.
LGBT rights and religious freedom is one of the hot-button issues that will put religion near the center of public life and debate, the CCSI has noted.
“In a divided, angry America, religious freedom is frequently seen through the lens of the [so-called] culture wars,” according to a January 3 story in The Washington Post. “Once Donald Trump is inaugurated, many religious conservatives will seek to [roll back] culture war advances made by President Obama, including on abortion rights and LGBT rights.”
Turkey Point – located about 25 miles south of Miami, near
The CCSI organizes the Deliberative Dialogue Series as a method of civic learning and engagement. The series brings together campus and community stakeholders to weigh perspectives on social issues of current concern and to work toward practical solutions.
Each academic year, the CCSI includes at least one environment-focused forum in the Deliberative Dialogue Series. Last year, for example, one of the topics was “Rising
The CCSI has noted also that one of the key issues on which the Adrian Dominican Sisters have taken a stance is climate change/ecology. According to the Sisters, “We acknowledge the reality of climate change and the urgency of addressing this issue for the sake of the whole Earth community.”
For further information, contact Courtney Berrien, CCSI associate director, at cberrien@barry.edu or 305-899-4017.
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Faculty Learning Community Schedules Three Sessions for Spring Semester
The Faculty Learning Community for Engaged Scholarship (FLC) has scheduled three sessions for this semester. Engaged scholarship seminars are set for January 30 and February 27, and a regular meeting is scheduled for April 24, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. in the CCSI, Adrian 208.
Engaged scholarship is shorthand for the scholarship of engagement, the term used in 1995 by Ernest Boyer, then president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. This kind of scholarship integrates faculty work in the areas of teaching, research, and service that addresses community needs, issues, and priorities.
FLC members attending a recent engaged scholarship seminar learned about a Broward County-based initiative focused on “helping kids to help kids.” It’s called The Humanity Project, and its mission is “to create innovative arts-based programs that help youth solve pressing social problems through collaborative efforts that emphasize the value of each individual.”
Bob Knotts, founder and president, told the FLC that The Humanity Project involves programs to tackle such social problems as school bullying, distracted teen driving, and social isolation among youth. The organization is based in Dania
“A scientific study of our programs would be welcome,” Knotts told FLC members.
He praised the university for its commitment to community engagement and added: “I appreciate Barry and the idea of tying teaching to service. What is education for, if not to serve the community?”
Any faculty member may join the FLC. For further information, contact FLC Facilitator Dr. Laura Finley at lfinley@barry.edu or 305-899-3412.
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CCSI Newsletter
Posted On : January 09, 2017
