CCSI Newsletter

In This Issue:

Students to Support Farmworker Justice Efforts During Spring Break

Journal to Publish Paper on Barry Service-Learning Project

Registration for One-Day Conference in Progress

African American History Workshops Continue in Hollywood

Deliberative Dialogue on Food Access Scheduled for April 7

Students Come to Campus for Shadow Day

Students to Support Farmworker Justice Efforts During Spring Break

Twelve Barry students are spending spring break in Immokalee,Fla., where they will support projects that promote farmworker justice.

The students, all participants in Barry’s Alternative Spring Break program (ASB), are slated to work primarily with the Student/Farmworker Alliance, supporting farmworker rights campaigns organized by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW). ASB is scheduled for March 1–6.

Members of the Barry group will teach lessons on literacy and health activities to children of impoverished farmworkers attending the Immokalee CommunitySchool, a charter school operated by the Redlands Christian Migrant Association (RCMA). They will also do volunteer work with three community agencies that provide support to farmworker families. The agencies are St. Mathew’s House, the Shelter for Abused Women and Children, and Guadalupe Social Services.

“Beginning in October 2014, ASB members have prepared for the experience by attending weekly meetings designed to provide information about human rights issues in the industrial agriculture system,” said Courtney Berrien, associate director of the Center for Community Service Initiatives (CCSI). “Related human rights issues include modern-day slavery, harassment in the fields, and low wages.”

During the meetings, the ASB group heard from Steffano Montano, service-learning coordinator for the Department of Theology and Philosophy; a local high school student who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border as an unaccompanied minor; and civil rights attorney John de Leon. A past president of the Greater Miami American Civil Liberties Union, de Leon established his legal practice in partnership with Fernando Chavez, son of Cesar Chavez, the late labor leader and civil rights activist. The firm has successfully represented farmworkers in cases about immigration, labor law, and criminal law in South Florida and California.

In the fall semester, ASB group members also worked with the Student/Farmworker Alliance in support of the CIW’s Fair Food Program. Sophomore Quayneshia Smith, a leader of the ASB group, helped to coordinate a fair food demonstration on Nov. 22 in Coral Gables, where group members marched in solidarity with farmworkers.

ASB group members are Smith and Alejandro Tobon, the co-presidents; Keiara Greene-Williams; Victoria Hoelscher; Sarah Jeanty; Mayra Martinez; Paola Montenegro; Peter Nwokoye; Latania Richardson; Qiwen Su; Tamara Vuckovich; and Rajon Wright.

Berrien, who is advisor to the ASB group, and Dr. Marc Lavallee, assistant professor of practical theology, are accompanying the group during spring break. Lavallee was an active ASB member during his undergraduate studies at the Saint Anselm College.

Journal to Publish Paper on Barry Service-Learning Project

A paper titled “The Use of Photovoice for Exploring Students’ Perspectives on Themselves and Others,” by Dr. Pamela D. Hall (Psychology) and Dr. Glenn A. Bowen (CCSI), has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Ethnographic & Qualitative Research.

The paper focuses on a photovoice project in a service-learning course in the Department of Psychology. Students took photographs reflecting their experiences and perspectives on their service to marginalized groups in the local community.

Registration for One-Day Conference in Progress

Registration for the second annual Community Engagement Symposium is in progress.

The one-day conference consists of a short opening session set for 9 a.m., two hour-long seminar/workshops by the lead presenter, and two 50-minute concurrent sessions featuring peer-reviewed presentations. A short closing session is scheduled for 3:25.

Further information regarding the symposium is available from the CCSI at service@barry.edu or 305-899-3728.

African American History Workshops Continue in Hollywood

The series of workshops on African American History and Culture continues in Hollywood on Tuesday, March 10.

Dr. Terrell Brown, assistant professor of social work, and Dr. Evelyn Cartright, assistant professor of English and director of Africana studies, will be presenters at the workshop on “African American Educators and Social Reform.”

Brown is a member of the National Association of Black Social Workers and was a Frederick Douglass Doctoral Fellow in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at HowardUniversity. At the workshop, he will discuss the work of Frederick Douglass, an African American social reformer.

Cartright participates in various cultural and literary activities in BrowardCounty, where she has served as Vice-Chair of the CountyCommissioners’ Multi-Ethnic Advisory Board. She will discuss the education of Black slaves, the effects of Jim Crow Laws on the educational system, desegregation, and the roles of the NAACP and some renowned African American educators.

The city of Hollywood and Barry University launched the workshop series on Feb. 10. Two weeks later, on Feb. 24, Dr. Walter Pierce, associate professor of social work, conducted a workshop on the Black Church and the Civil Rights Movement.

Scheduled for the second and fourth Tuesdays of February, March, and April, the workshops are held at the Hollywood City Hall, beginning at 6 p.m. The workshops are free and open to the public.

The rest of the schedule is as follows:

March 24: “African American Literature”

April 14: “African Americans in the Workplace”

April 28: “African American Music and Dance: Sacred and Secular Traditions”

For further information, contact Dr. Glenn Bowen, coordinator of the workshop series, at gbowen@barry.edu.

Deliberative Dialogue on Food Access Scheduled for April 7

The next forum in the Deliberative Dialogue Series is scheduled for April 7, from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m., in Andreas 111. The forum will focus on industrial agriculture and food access.

Barry University has adapted deliberative dialogue as a method of civic learning and engagement. The Center for Community Service Initiatives (CCSI) organizes the Deliberative Dialogue Series primarily to bring together campus and community stakeholders to exchange ideas and seek solutions to social issues of current concern.

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

Students Come to Campus for Shadow Day

Fourteen students of the Van E. Blanton Elementary School in Miami participated in a “Shadow Day” program on Barry’s main campus on February 17.

Described as “fun and educational,” the program included a campus tour, classroom and laboratory activities, and lunch in the Roussell Dining Hall. The visitors spent time observing their college counterparts and learning about college life.

Dr. Gilbert Ellis, associate professor of biology, provided a biology lab inspired by his Biology of Crime course. The lab involved starch testing in saliva detection utilizing toothpicks and envelopes. In real forensic testing, saliva detection is used to detect cheek cells that may contain DNA.

Dr. Tamara Hamilton, associate professor of chemistry, provided the visiting students with a “Chemistry You Can Do” lab experience. In the chemistry lab, the visitors particularly enjoyed making an “Alka-Seltzer rocket.”

Drs. Laura Finley and Victor Romano, associate professors of sociology and criminology, coordinated Shadow Day in consultation with Mrs. Margaret Grizzle, a well-known volunteer from the local community.