August 2, 2021

IN THIS ISSUE

• Social Justice Project Requirement Set for Barry Service Corps Fellows
• Students’ Participation in Various Conferences Over the Years Was Exemplary
• Alternative Breaks Provide Students With Immersion Experiences in Civic Engagement

Social Justice Project Requirement Set For Barry Service Corps Fellows

Student Leaders Will Support The Work Of Nine Community Partners

Barry Service Corps Fellows will engage in social justice projects next academic year. As in previous years, each student leader will be assigned to a team focused on a specific social justice issue. 

“The issues are categorized as Civic Health, Faith in Action, Food Security, Global Citizenship, and Youth Empowerment and Action," said Courtney Berrien, associate director of the Center for Community Service Initiatives (CCSI).

According to Berrien, "By working in teams, the Fellows are able to develop important civic skills, such as collaborative decision making and working with others who come from different backgrounds and represent different political beliefs."

Forming a cohort within the Barry Service Corps, the BSC Fellows receive specialized training to serve as community engagement event facilitators and reflection leaders. Individually, the student leaders undertake special projects that address the identified social issues.

“Each team will focus their work on projects that support a small group of community organizations,” Berrien explained. “The Fellows will also engage other Barry students in those projects.”

During the 2021–2022 academic year, the BSC Fellows are expected to support the work of at least nine community partners. The community partners include Bread for the World; the Campus Election Engagement Project; Church World Service, South Florida; the Coalition of Immokalee Workers; Dream Defenders; Florida Rising; MCCJ; Miami PACT (People Acting for Community Together); and Urban GreenWorks. 

Barry Service Corps Fellows engage in civic learning and leadership activities throughout the year. They also provide direct service in community settings.

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Students’ Participation In Various Conferences Over The Years Was Exemplary

During the first decade of the Center for Community Service Initiatives (CCSI), students participated exemplarily in conferences at the international, national, regional/state, and local levels. 

Joining CCSI staff members Courtney A. Berrien and Dr. Glenn A. Bowen, two student leaders—Paola Montenegro and Quayneshia Smith—presented “Civic Learning by Design: Developing Curriculum for Student Learning Outcomes” at the Annual Conference of the International Association for Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement in New Orleans, Louisiana, in September 2016. 

Kevin Dalia and Asha Starks were copresenters with Bowen and Berrien at the 2016 IMPACT National Conference in Amherst, Massachusetts. Their workshop topic was “Developing a Core Group of Student Leaders as Emerging Agents of Social Change.” 

Barry Service Corps (BSC) Fellows Paris Razor and Paola Lopez-Hernandez presented a workshop session, “Promoting Social Justice Through Student-Led University Clubs and Organizations While Building Mutually Beneficial Community Partnerships,” at the 2019 IMPACT National Conference in Charlottesville, Virginia. 

Another BSC Fellow, Joseph Minani, made a virtual workshop presentation on “Storytelling for Social Change” at the 2021 IMPACT National Conference.

Three student leaders—Seretse Davis, Rajon Wright, and Sydney Ingram—presented alongside Berrien and Bowen at the Florida Campus Compact Annual Conference in Tampa, in November 2016. Their presentation was titled “Diversity Training for Community Engagement.” Asha Starks and Quayneshia Smith copresented “Organizing and Implementing Public Action in Support of Social Justice” with Bowen also at the Florida Campus Compact Annual Conference. 

Psychology students Alante Simpson, David Tio, and Eve Jacobson copresented a workshop, “Using Photovoice as a Service-Learning Reflection Tool,” with Dr. Pamela Hall at the Gulf-South Summit on Service-Learning & Civic Engagement Through Higher Education in Auburn, Alabama, in March 2014. They presented a poster on the same topic at the Fourth Annual Florida Undergraduate Research Conference in Miami, in February 2014.

Over the years, BSC Fellows made oral and poster presentations at Barry’s annual Community Engagement Symposium. For example, Wills Compere presented on “Educational and Social Movement: A Partnership With Gang Alternative in Serving Little Haiti Youth” at the 2017 symposium.

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Alternative Breaks Provide Students With Civic Engagement Immersion Experiences

Over the years, students—together with faculty and staff members—took service immersion trips to several communities, at home and abroad.

Most trips took place during spring break, with a few occurring in the fall.

The northwestern region of Haiti was the destination for spring break trips in 2017 and 2018. Volunteers supported education, healthcare, and social development projects.

Alternative Spring Break in Port-de-Paix and other areas of northwestern Haiti was combined with the study abroad program of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences.

Barry volunteers clocked more than 500 hours doing community service projects during the 2014 spring break. Rather than hang out at the beach or at other entertainment hotspots, two student groups took the altruistic alternative offered at Barry. They rendered nearly 300 hours of service in an impoverished section of St. Andrew parish, near Kingston, the country’s capital. The volunteers served under the aegis of St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church. They served meals to more than 200 members of the community’s vast homeless population and visited homebound, infirm parishioners. They also assisted with St. Patrick Primary School’s Sports Day, an event that generated wide community interest.

For Alternative Spring Break 2018, a nine-person group from Barry went to Hidalgo County, Texas, where they assisted the Catholic Charities Humanitarian Respite Center in welcoming and assisting about 150 newcomers to the United States. The volunteers also rendered service with Proyecto Desarollo Humano (Human Development Project).

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