December 14, 2020

IN THIS ISSUE

• Eighth Annual Community Engagement Awards Rescheduled for First Wednesday of April
• Community Engagement Symposium Proposals to be Submitted by Last Friday of January
• Online Engagement Session for Service-Learning Faculty Scheduled for January 8
• Committee Promoting Racial Reconciliation Explains Its Purpose While Marking Centenary of J.B. Harris Lynching
• Community-Based Research Mini-Grants Available to Faculty for Projects with Students and Community Partners
• Haitian Artisan Cooperative Project Getting Support from Barry Service Corps Members
• Barry Service Corps Information Hour Scheduled for This Wednesday Evening
• IMPACT Conference Offers Opportunity for Presentations of Community Engagement Work

Eighth Annual Community Engagement Awards Rescheduled For First Wednesday Of April

Nomination Deadline Remains January 29

Barry’s eighth annual Community Engagement Awards has been rescheduled for the first Wednesday of April, 2021. Preliminary plans call for a hybrid (in-person/remote) event beginning at noon.

The deadline for the submission of nominations remains the last Friday of January. Students, faculty and staff members, and community partners are invited to submit nominations for the awards. 

The seven categories of awards are Community Impact, Community Partnership, Community-Based Research, Community-Engaged Scholarship, Community Engagement Educator, Service-Learning Faculty, and Engaged Department.

In the wake of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the 2020 Community Engagement Awards Ceremony, scheduled for March 25, was cancelled. However, all award winners received plaques to emblematize the university’s recognition of their achievements.

The major awards for 2020 went to two students and a student club, five faculty members, two community partners, and a department.

The nomination forms are available at the CCSI website. For additional information, contact the CCSI at service@barry.edu.

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Community Engagement Symposium Proposals To Be Submitted By Last Friday Of January

Proposals for presentations at Barry’s seventh annual Community Engagement Symposium should be submitted by the last Friday of January. 

The theme of the symposium is "Engagement in Purposeful Projects: From Awareness to Action.” In relation to community engagement, purposeful projects include experiential learning practices such as service-learning, community-based research, fieldwork, study abroad, capstones, and internships.

Proposals should address the theme of the symposium and identify the experiential learning practice that was implemented. Successful proposals will specify the course or co-curricular project, the social or community issue addressed, the related activities undertaken, and the actual learning outcomes. Proposals should also emphasize how the project was designed to be purposeful and how student awareness was translated into action.

Students, faculty and staff members, and community partners are invited to submit proposals for presentations by the January 29 deadline.

The 2020 symposium was cancelled because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

Scheduled for March 31, the 2021 symposium will highlight student learning outcomes of community engagement practices in the context of Barry’s Quality Enhancement Plan titled “Fostering Personal and Social Responsibility Through Experiential Learning.” Social responsibility is one of the key elements of the QEP. 

The symposium is expected to feature a nationally recognized community engagement scholar as the lead presenter.

A student poster competition will be a highlight of the symposium. Entries will be on display in Room 112 of the Andreas Building on Barry’s main campus, and prize winners will be announced during the closing session of the symposium.

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Online Engagement Session For Service-Learning Faculty Scheduled For January 8

The CCSI has scheduled an online engagement session for faculty—especially faculty members teaching service-learning courses. The one-hour session is set for January 8, beginning at 11 a.m.

Nicole Bavon, community engagement success manager at GivePulse, will facilitate the session.

Describing itself as “a community of volunteers, professionals, civic leaders and service-learning students,” GivePulse provides an online platform with a central database that supports community engagement. It will serve as the replacement for the CCSI’s community engagement management system (CEMS).

Faculty will be able to use the GivePulse system to manage service-learning courses and projects. The “user-friendly” system is designed to make course/project management processes efficient and effective. 

Students can use the system to register for service-learning projects and connect with community partners. Also, students will be able to track their participation and contributions to the community, with information stored in one place.

Community partners will post community service events and opportunities via the GivePulse platform. They will also use the system to verify the specific service and number of hours provided by each student. 

Faculty members are asked to register for the January 8 online engagement session as soon as possible.

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Committee Promoting Racial Reconciliation Explains Its Purpose While Marking Centenary Of J.B. Harris Lynching

By Glenn Bowen 

As communities throughout the United States grapple with systemic racism and racial injustice, a small Miami-area organization has unveiled plans to promote reconciliation and racial healing.

The Miami-Dade Truth, Education, and Reconciliation (TEAR) Initiative has put “truth-telling processes” and public remembrances at the heart of its work in helping the community confront its racist past. It’s a racist past marked by atrocities such as the public lynching of Black men.

On November 29, the 100th anniversary of the lynching of a young Black man named J.B. Harris, the TEAR Steering Committee hosted an event, which virtually brought together community leaders and Barry University representatives. The event attendees observed a moment of silence at 2:15 that afternoon, the documented time of Harris’s death.

The killing of the 19-year-old has become one of three well-documented incidents of lynching in Miami-Dade County. 

“On November 29, 1920,” TEAR notes at its website, “the mere suggestion that 19-year-old J.B. Harris intended to assault the woman whom he allegedly surprised in her bedroom was sufficient for a mob to gather, capture him at his place of work, and hang him from a tree within a matter of hours.”

Courtney Berrien, a co-chair of the TEAR Steering Committee, explained that the centennial event was part of the organization’s work to “document cases of racial terror, educate the public, and bring the wider community together in dialogue for healing.”

A co-founder of the TEAR Initiative, Berrien is the associate director of Barry’s Center for Community Service Initiatives (CCSI).

Also serving on the committee is Dr. Victor Romano, Barry’s associate vice provost for student success and undergraduate studies. An associate professor of sociology, Romano gave the “partnership overview.” He said, “Authentic partnerships and collaborations are central to the work of TEAR and essential to the process of healing and reconciliation.”  

“Foundational to the TEAR Initiative is the premise that healing and reconciliation must begin with acknowledgment of harm and a deepened understanding of the atrocities that are part of the community’s shared heritage,” Berrien said. “In order to create a more inclusive community, TEAR endeavors to preserve this history and educate the public, bring stakeholders together in dialogue, and create opportunities for relationship building and healing.”

The committee members who contributed to the Zoom event included Roni Bennett, executive director of South Florida People of Color; Heather Burdick, facilitator and coach of South Florida People of Color; and Karen Moore, founder and director of New Synergies Consulting.

Among others in attendance were TEAR Steering Committee member Dr. Judith Bachay; Parkland Commissioner Kenneth Cutler; Park Ranger Gary Bremen; and Dr. Pamela Hall, a member of Barry’s Antiracism and Equity Coalition.

TEAR Steering Committee members Dr. Marvin Dunn and Dinizulu Gene Tinnie presented information about the Harris lynching during the anniversary program. A Florida International University professor emeritus, Dunn is the author of several books and films about Black history in Florida. Tinnie is chairman of the Virginia Key Beach Park Trust.

Community Soil Collection Project

Committee members have collected soil at the site of the Harris lynching on Silver Palm Drive, Miami. The soil will be delivered to the Equal Justice Initiative’s (EJI) Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Alabama.

EJI has reported its active engagement in “a campaign to recognize the victims of lynching by collecting soil from lynching sites, erecting historical markers, and creating a national memorial that acknowledges the horrors of racial injustice.”

After slavery was formally abolished, EJI has noted, lynching “emerged as a vicious tool of social control to reestablish white supremacy and suppress Black civil and human rights.” More than 4,400 African Americans across 20 states were lynched between the end of Reconstruction in 1877 and 1950.

Dating back to August 2018, the TEAR Initiative is patterned on EJI, a nonprofit organization “committed to … challenging racial and economic injustice, and to protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society.” EJI was founded in 1989 by Bryan Stevenson, a widely acclaimed public interest lawyer and the best-selling author of Just Mercy.

TEAR Committee members first introduced their organization to Barry students, faculty, and staff on November 21, 2019. The occasion was a Deliberative Dialogue forum titled “Truth and Reconciliation: Confronting South Florida’s Racist Past.”

TEAR is expected to make arrangements for the Miami-Dade monument in remembrance of J.B. Harris, Roy Gaines, and William Simmons—currently at the National Memorial to Peace and Justice in Montgomery—to be “claimed” and displayed publicly in Miami before too long. Meanwhile, the fledgling organization has begun to make a significant contribution toward ushering in a new era in racial understanding, reconciliation, and healing in South Florida.

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Community-Based Research Mini-Grants Available To Faculty For Projects With Students And Community Partners

The Center for Community Service Initiatives (CCSI) is inviting faculty to apply for mini-grants as part of the Community-Based Research (CBR) Incentive Program. The mini-grants support the development and implementation of CBR projects.

CBR incentives are awarded through a competitive process to full-time faculty members who teach undergraduate and/or graduate courses. Up to three CBR awards are usually available each year, with applicants requesting between $500 and $1,000.

A document with a detailed description of the program, the application form, and the rubric used by the Review Committee for assessing applications are available online. CBR proposals should be submitted by February 1.

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Haitian Artisan Cooperative Project Getting Support From Barry Service Corps Members

Barry Service Corps members are managing the sale of masks made by Atelye Thevenet, the artisan cooperative in Jean-Rabel, Haiti. 

Purchasing the fair trade, handmade masks helps to keep women employed in the co-op. Each purchase also provides a second mask to a K-12 student in Haiti’s Northwest Department.

“The sale of masks supports economic development and health education as part of Barry’s long-term Nursing and Education partnership with the Diocese of Port-de-Paix, Haiti,” said CCSI Associate Director Courtney Berrien.

To learn more and purchase masks, visit <www.atelyethevenet.com/masks>.

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Barry Service Corps Information Hour Scheduled For This Wednesday Evening

The CCSI will host a Barry Service Corps (BSC) Information Hour this Wednesday evening (December 16), from 6 to 7 o’clock. Students are invited to learn about the BSC and opportunities to serve the community.

The BSC is a civic learning and engagement program primarily for students eligible for Federal Work-Study (FWS). The program fosters civic leadership and commitment to service by providing meaningful opportunities for students to support local agencies and institutions working to address social concerns.

Registration for the Information Hour is not required. Interested students should log in just before the scheduled start.

For further information, contact Liz James, experiential learning coordinator, in the CCSI at ljames@barry.edu.

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Impact Conference Offers Opportunity For Presentations Of Community Engagement Work

The IMPACT Conference provides an opportunity for presentations of community engagement work by students and faculty/staff (“administrators”). 

The 2021 conference organizers have called for workshop proposals, which should be submitted by January 8. Workshop topics may include equity and access, social entrepreneurship, leadership development, inclusion and diversity, social media and technology engagement, sustainability, social justice, and volunteer management. 

The virtual conference will be held March 4–6, the organizers have announced. 

Held annually, the national conference brings together college students, nonprofit sector professionals, campus administrators, and teams of service members to share experiences, stories, and resources related to their work for social change. 

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