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CCSI Finalizing Community Engagement Strategies for Next Five Years
“Creating Community Impact through Experiential Learning and Engaged Scholarship.” That’s the theme of the CCSI’s Community Engagement Strategic Plan for 2011–2016.
The CCSI (Center for Community Service Initiatives) is finalizing specific community engagement strategies to be implemented university-wide over the next five years.
“By community impact, we mean lasting, positive changes in community conditions that contribute to an improved quality of life for residents,” said CCSI Director Dr. Glenn Bowen.
In accordance with the IMPACT theme, Bowen noted, the CCSI’s community partnership development strategy for the five-year period is titled “Institutionalizing Meaningful Partnerships to Advance Community Transformation.”
The CCSI held a retreat on June 2 at the Tropical Audubon Society’s Doc Thomas House in Miami, where staff members reviewed the center’s programs, projects, events, and services. They also identified strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, which they subsequently considered as part of the strategic-planning process.
At the retreat, Dr. Karen Callaghan, associate vice president for undergraduate studies, traced the history and development of the CCSI and emphasized the center’s important role in the civic life of the university. She thanked the CCSI staff members for their commitment, creativity, and productivity over the years.
The CCSI was established in 2010 as part of the university’s Strategic Agenda for 2006–2011 and launched its first set of programs during academic year 2011–2012.
Other CCSI staff members participating in the retreat were Courtney Berrien, associate director; Liz James, experiential learning coordinator; Alicia Santos, administrative assistant; and Ashton Spangler, Valerie Scott, and Andres Quevedo, program coordinators.
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Month-Long Campaign Draws Attention to Hunger and Homelessness
The Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Campaign last month drew attention to the plight of refugees and stateless people, the need for affordable housing in South Florida, the issue of food access and food justice, and the reality of teenage homelessness.
The Center for Community Service Initiatives (CCSI) organized the campaign on the university’s main campus.
CCSI Program Coordinator Andres Quevedo reported that two specific events were focused on refugees and stateless people. The events were the deliberative dialogue, “Welcoming Refugees or Closing Our Borders,” on November 1, and the Church World Service Turkey Drive on November 12.
The need for affordable housing in South Florida was emphasized during the PACT (People Acting for Community Together) annual meeting on November 14 at the Ebenezer
Activities in support of food access and food justice included the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) public action at the William H. Kerdyk, Jr. and Family
There were two regularly scheduled community service trips that supported food justice. The first took students to Little Haiti on November 15 for a project with the Optimist Club and the second to Liberty
Regarding the reality of teenage homelessness, the CCSI promoted participation in the Carnival Arts Youth Parade on November 27 in Miami Beach. Dr. Celeste Fraser Delgado, a faculty member in Barry’s
In addition, the awareness campaign involved the presentation of information on hunger and homelessness in the society. The CCSI presented facts and myths about the twin phenomena on social media as well as on signs placed near sidewalks on the Miami
Barry Service Corps Fellows provided research-based information that was presented on 24 signs throughout the month.
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Barry Business Students Help High-School Class Understand Financial Well-Being
A class of 43 seniors in the Academy of Business and Finance at Turner Tech has looked forward to a Monday morning twice a month for most of this school term. That’s when a group of Barry business students has turned up at the north Miami-Dade school to help the class understand how finance works in the world.
The class has come to understand how to manage money, including how to save wisely, use credit cards, and make investments.
The Barry students are involved in SMIF – the Student Managed Investment Fund. Now in its fifth year, SMIF supports the Turner Tech class as an ongoing project in Finance 356, a designated service-learning course in the D. Inez Andreas School of Business.
“SMIF is a student-founded and student-run investment research and management organization,” explains Dr. Stephen O. (Steve) Morrell, professor of economics and finance. “SMIF provides experiential education where students learn via real-time, first-hand experiences the many and varied practical uses and applications of the classroom theories, concepts, and principles of security research and valuation as well as the design, construction, and management of portfolios of securities.”
In addition, according to Morrell, “SMIF contributes to community well-being by providing financial literacy programs through collaborative and mutually productive partnerships.”
Jasmine Sanchez, the SMIF community service director, coordinated the semimonthly visits to Teacher Velma Eason’s class at Turner Tech this term.
“The students (at Turner Tech) are learning to budget and to evaluate financial statements,” Sanchez said. “This is important so they will understand what’s going on in the economy.”
When Center for Community Service Initiatives (CCSI) staff members Liz James and Dr. Glenn Bowen dropped by the school on one of those Monday mornings, they saw Sanchez and four of her classmates in action. Joined by Rodrigo Celotto, Keanu Evans, Bradley Jean Joseph, and Ivete Mukaz, she clarified for the high-school class the concept of investment risk.
The Barry group’s presentation that day was aimed at sharing knowledge and building practical skills in handling investment risk and return.
The Academy of Business and Finance is one seven academies at William
Dr. Eugenie Anim, the academy leader, was on hand to welcome the visitors from Barry.
At the end of the session, Principal Uwezo Frazier expressed gratitude to the Barry representatives for the university’s support of Turner Tech’s Academy
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Communication Students Address Community Needs as Part of Social Media Projects
Students enrolled in two sections of COM 201: Introduction to Communication engaged in various advocacy projects involving the use of social media as part of a service-learning course during the fall semester. Working in teams, students developed social media sites, prepared informational literature, worked on event promotion, and used other mechanisms to raise awareness of various social issues.
The course instructors were Drs. Katherine Nelson and Nickesia Gordon, associate professor of communication.
The student teams were assigned to the following community partners and projects: The Coalition of Immokalee Workers, Feeding South Florida, the Florida Immigrant Coalition (FLIC), the McDuffie Project (with Dr. Marvin Dunn), PACT—People Acting for Community Together, Pass It On Ministries of South Florida, the Prosperity Social & Community Development Group, Special Olympics Florida, St. Mary’s Cathedral
Projects were aimed at raising awareness about such issues as farmworkers’ rights, food insecurity, the treatment of immigrants, and negative language affecting persons with intellectual disabilities.
Students also supported several organizations’ fundraising efforts on “Give Miami Day,” November 17.
As the semester wound down last month, the 10 student teams made in-class presentations of their projects. Some demonstrated how they had integrated course content with hands-on experiences as part of their service-learning projects.
Experiential Learning Coordinator Liz James assisted Nelson and Gordon with coordinating the service-learning components of COM 201. James attended the student presentations for both sections of the course; CCSI Director Dr. Glenn Bowen attended the presentations by students in section 2.
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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 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 2017 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 IncludeService-Learning Faculty
Service-Learning Faculty is one of the seven categories of community engagement awards for which nominations are being accepted.
The Service-Learning Faculty Award is presented to faculty members for exemplary integration of community service into the curriculum or for demonstrating excellence in using service-learning as a teaching and learning strategy. Instructors of designated service-learning courses are prime candidates for this award.
In addition to Service-Learning Faculty,the categories of awards are Community Impact, Community Partnership, Community-Based Research, Engaged Scholarship, Community Engagement Educator, and Engaged Department.
The fourth annual Community Engagement Awards will be held on March 29, 2017. The nomination deadline is January 27.
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CCSI Offering Incentive for Community-Based Research Projects
The Center for Community Service Initiatives (CCSI) is offering an incentive (formerly “mini-grants”) for community-based research (CBR). Full-time faculty who teach undergraduate and/or graduate courses may apply for the $500 incentive.
CBR proposals for the current academic year should be submitted before February 1. For further information and the application form, contact the CCSI at service@barry.edu or 305-899-3696.
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Berrien to Co-facilitate Florida Campus Compact Regional Network
Courtney Berrien, associate director of the Center for Community Service Initiatives (CCSI), will serve as a co-facilitator of Florida Campus Compact’s South Florida network of colleges and universities.
The other co-facilitators are Patricia “Patty"Lopez-Guerrero, director of the Center for Leadership and Service at
Florida Campus Compact is a coalition of college and university presidents who affirm the value of reciprocal campus-community partnerships and engagement pedagogies as contributors to a quality education that yields civic-minded, career-ready graduates. The South Florida network consists of 15 colleges and universities in Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade, and
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CCSI Newsletter
Posted On : December 12, 2016
