CCSI Newsletter

In This Issue:

• Four Community Partners to be Honored at Community Engagement Awards
• Registration for One-Day Conference Continues This Week
• Students Advocate on Behalf of Human Trafficking Victims
• Haitian Diocese Hosts Barry Group for Alternative Spring Break
• Students May Volunteer at Amnesty International’s AGM in Miami

Four Community Partners to be Honored at Community Engagement Awards

Four of Barry University’s community partners have been selected for this year’s Community Partnership Award. Church World Service, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers & Student/Farmworker Alliance, The Collaborative Family Law Group of Central Florida, and Special Olympics of South Florida will be honored at the Third Annual Community Engagement Awards on March 30.

The Community Partnership Award recognizes exemplary partnerships between university and community constituencies that produce measurable improvements in people’s lives while enhancing higher education.

At the lunchtime event, awards will be presented in six categories of community engagement. The Community Engagement Awards will coincide with the Third Annual Community Engagement Symposium.

Registration for One-Day Conference Continues This Week

Registration for Barry University’s Third Annual Community Engagement Symposium continues this week. The symposium will be held on March 30 on Barry’s main campus in Miami Shores.

The symposium agenda consists of a short opening session set for 9 a.m., two seminar/workshops by the lead presenter, and two concurrent sessions featuring peer-reviewed presentations. The poster session is scheduled for noon to 1:15 p.m. in Andreas 112; however, the posters will be on display from 11:30 until 2:40 p.m.

Dr. Dwight E. Giles, Jr., professor of higher education at the University of Massachusetts Boston, will be the lead presenter at the symposium. He also serves as the director of the doctoral program in higher education administration and a senior associate at the New England Resource Center for Higher Education (NERCHE).

Dr. Giles’s interests include the scholarship of engagement, community-campus partnerships, internships, and service-learning. Much of his work focuses on linking service-learning practice with research and scholarship.

Dr. Giles will lead a 9:30–10:30 a.m. workshop titled “Deepening Partnerships to Achieve Community Engagement Goals” and a 2:45–3:45 p.m. seminar on “The Role of Community Engagement in Increasing College Access and Success.”

For additional information regarding registration, contact Alicia Santos in the CCSI at asantos@barry.edu or 305-899-3696.

Students Advocate on Behalf of Human Trafficking Victims

As one of Barry’s 75 acts of service, a group of students recently supported the Life of Freedom Center’s efforts to prevent human trafficking and support human trafficking victims in South Florida. Together with three staff members, the nine students gathered at the Miami Tattoo Company in South Beach for the Saturday of Service.

Jorge Veitia, executive director of the Life of Freedom Center, led an orientation, providing statistics on missing youth and sex trafficking. A Miami-based community organization, the Life of Freedom Center offers free support and restorative programs for female survivors of sexual exploitation and human trafficking.

The Barry volunteers distributed flyers highlighting warning signs of sex trafficking to businesses around the Washington Avenue area of South Beach. They also showed business owners and hotel managers pictures of missing children.

Sponsored by Bank of America, 75 Acts of Service is a coordinated series of community service opportunities in celebration of the Barry’s 75th anniversary. The Center for Community Service Initiatives (CCSI) is facilitating the initiative.

All faculty, staff, and students have been invited to participate in an act of service this academic year. Some service opportunities are open to Barry alumni and the wider community.

For further information, contact CCSI Associate Director Courtney Berrien at cberrien@barry.edu or 305-899-4017.

Haitian Diocese Hosts Barry Group for Alternative Spring Break

The Diocese of Port-de-Paix, Haiti, hosted a Barry group participating in Barry’s recent Alternative Spring Break trip to the island. Amor En Acción, a lay missionary organization of the Archdiocese of Miami, facilitated the trip.

The ASB participants visited schools, hospitals, and nonprofit organizations to learn from local leaders about social issues facing rural communities in Haiti’s Northwest Department. Drs. Sean Buckreis (School of Education) and Mureen Shaw (Nursing and Health Sciences) explored opportunities to forge new Barry community partnerships in the region.

Students May Volunteer at Amnesty International’s AGM in Miami

Amnesty International will hold its annual general meeting in Miami from April 1 to 3.

“This is a great opportunity for students to learn more about human rights activism,” noted Dr. Laura Finley, associate professor of sociology and criminology, “and they can apply to go for free through the scholarship program.” Students also can volunteer for a three-hour shift and therefore attend free of charge, she added.

The volunteer form is also available here.

Finley has already made arrangements for transportation on Saturday, April 2. The Barry van will leave campus at 9 a.m. and return at about 8 p.m. For additional information and to reserve a seat on the van, contact Finley at lfinley@barry.edu or 305-899-3412.

Amnesty International is a global movement of more than 7 million people who “take injustice personally” and campaigns “for a world where human rights are enjoyed by all.” The movement’s motto is: “Better to light a candle than curse the darkness.”