Community Service Learning
Community Service Learning Programs
"Connecting to Make a Difference in the Community"
The United States Peace Corps defines Community Service Learning as: "Service-learning is a teaching method that combines academic instruction, meaningful service, and critical reflective thinking to enhance student learning and civic responsibility." This combination of academic study, service to the community and critical reflection is central to the doctrine of James Madison and the teachings of the University, which bears his name.
A formal CS-L Program was first established at JMU in 1986. Since that time JMU's CS-L Program has been nationally recognized for the outstanding services it provide by the following entities:
• Peace Corps2003JMU Ranked #5 Nationally Within Mid-size Colleges for Active Volunteers,
• U.S. News and World Reports2002JMU Ranked #24 Nationally for Service-Learning Programs,
• Break Away1999 Alternative Spring Break National Program of the Year, and
• Who Cares Magazine1997JMU, Top 10 Schools That Make A Difference
Recent state budget reductions have hampered the University's ability to continue to provide CS-L services to meet the community's growing need and accommodate student demands. Hence, we are proposing a Community Service Learning Partnership Program. It is our belief that by establishing a mutually beneficial relationship with local corporations, we will be able to continue to enrich the learning experience for JMU students, provide a valuable service to the citizens of the local community and directly make an impact on your employees and their families. James Madison University will partner with its corporate neighbors to make a difference within the Shenandoah Valley.
Program Description:
The programs' center builds partnerships between JMU and the local community. Ideas from community members, JMU students, and faculty have created the existing CS-L Center as it is today. JMU students work as mentors and tutors through the CS-L program to connect with their new neighbors and enrich their educational experience.
CS-L offers a wide array of programs that address volunteer opportunities for students and which are requested from local social service agencies such as Mercy House, the Salvation Army, or Legal Services of Rockingham County. Additionally, the faculty is constantly seeking new and different opportunities to offer practical hands on training for the students. As a result, faculty will incorporate practicum experience designed by the service provider, the University and the student. The wide- range of programs, which comprise the Community Service-Learning Programs are detailed on Table 1, attached to this document.
The CS-L Program is comprised of four major components.
(1) The Faculty Associates Service-Learning Faculty Development Program is designed to train up to five faculty members each year to develop new service-learning courses that will address an identified community need. These courses allow faculty and students to focus their expertise and time on community problems, that when addressed, improve the quality of life for everyone in the community.
(2) The CS-L Student Leadership Development Program has received national recognition for its innovative programming. University students staff the office functioning in roles usually filled by professional staff on most other campuses. This offers students leadership development opportunities that prepare them for management roles in life after graduation.
(3) The CS-L Freshman Service Week Program immerses the freshman class into their new community and the special relationship between the University and the community. This is one portion of an orientation to the Valley that new students are expected to participate in during their tenure at JMU.
(4) The CS-L Alternative Spring Break Program allows a student to participate in community service projects during the University's Spring Break. Program participants are responsible for their own expenses. The project utilizes the week out of classes to move the learning lab into communities around the United States and other countries doing volunteer projects.
Statement of Need:
The Shenandoah Valley is no different than any other region in America today. The long-term economic downturn has resulted in a higher rate of unemployment, the creation of fewer new jobs and an increase of those living in at-risk conditions. As a consequence, the need for social services is on the rise. Unfortunately, adequate resources are not available to meet those needs. Even those who are employed seek services. There is an increasing immigrant population moving from the large cities to rural communities to seek industrial employment. A number of these persons are in need of literacy training, language tutoring, health care and affordable housing. Many times they are in need of vocational reinforcement skills such as time management and job skills enhancement.
One of the negative aspects to rapid growth in any community is the influx of persons with diverse frames of reference. Often unplanned migration of new residents seeking low paying jobs brings additional crime, gang activity, drugs, unstable financial resources and low employment skills. Those elements impact the citizens, the local government and especially non-profit agencies that offer assistance to those that are at-risk. They can drain the resources of a small, under funded agency, which is dedicated to assisting the hardest and most needy populations. A dedicated group of trained and monitored volunteers can offer a social service agency needed additional manpower to achieve their goals. James Madison offers volunteer counselors working on Master's degrees, language students who can communicate with the new residents, assistance at a shelter or the ability to conduct a home visit for a family facing serious problems.
At the same time it is receiving increasing demand for services, the CS-L Program is experiencing a decrease in resources. For example, as a result of state budget cuts, in 2002-03, the funding for JMU service-learning faculty development and support had to be eliminated. The success of CS-L Program has greatly increased both student interest and participation in service to the community. Unfortunately, we cannot accommodate the growing student demand without an increase in budget and staff to provide supervision. Community agencies continue to call for more direct support for their programs, yet there is no CS-L staff designated to specifically address these requests. In short, CS-L can no longer offer the quality of services it has with the current resources allocated through the state budget process alone.
Benefits of Participation:
By joining the James Madison University Community Service-Learning Partnership Program, <<Company>> will benefit in a number of immeasurable ways such as:
(1) Good Public Affairs, (2) Enhanced Public Recognition and Visibility, (3) Opportunities for Continuing Education for <<Corporation>>'s Employees and their Families, and (4) A closer connection with JMU faculty and students.
More tangible benefits to a corporation include: JMU will recognize <<Company>> for its support by listing it as a "Corporate Partner" within the JMU Annual Report, and other university publications such as the "Montpelier", the University magazine, and "The Breeze" which has a wide circulation among alumni, staff, faculty, students as well as their parents. Additionally, we will emboss your company's name on volunteer recognition items such as caps, t-shirts or tote bags, which will be worn during Freshman Service Week specifically and throughout the year at significant, highly visible events. Each year the method of sponsorship identification will be reevaluated, which facilities input from the corporate donor in methods of publicity and volunteer recognition. Within our CS-L promotional and marketing publications, the names of our supporters will be listed along with some information about how JMU and <<Company>> are working in collaboration to improve community service.
We will also include your name and a link to your website within the CS-L website. Employees from your company may also benefit from specialized adult education classes offered through CS-L. The CS-L center has already established a partnership with the Dayton Learning Center whereby our students work one-on-one or with small groups to help participants acquire or improve their personal English skills.
Family members of your employee can receive direct assistance through interacting with CS-L's Community Agency Partners. We can help your employees' children by tutoring them in the English as a Second Language (ESL) classes through the already established partnership between CS-L and the Migrant Education Program.
Budget Narrative:
CS-L requires an annual operating budget of approximately $225,000, to support the following: " administrative salaries, " programs, " training and professional development for faculty, staff, and students, " transportation expenses required to perform community service, " advertising, and " student travel to conferences, student training, retreats, and support materials for student staff and recruiting for student positions. Contributions received from corporate partners will be used to provide for critical program components impacting on all participating faulty and students, including:
Faculty Development. The Faculty Associates Service-Learning Development Program was eliminated in 2002 due to state budget cuts. By establishing this partnership, JMU will reinstitute learning modules within the CS-L Program for faculty members who supervise and evaluation student participants. The partnership would then be based upon a triangle approach, corporate partners, university wide faculty participation and student learning enhancement. This linkage of service and learning would allow JMU to be diverse in program offerings, faculty involvement and a method to increase program demands from the community service agencies.
Freshman Service Week: The CS-L Freshman Service Week Program needs financial support from a private partner to enable JMU to enhance services offered to all freshmen students. Adequate resources will enable the university to transport students to work sites within the valley. Funds will assist in the development of training materials for the orientations and to advertise services to the community. By spreading the word about the uniqueness and availability of the freshmen workforce to entities in the region, JMU will be offering a varied program menu, a quality program, and the ability to document results, effectiveness and of service delivery. Additional resources to this program will also activate a mechanism to monitor the coordination, scheduling, reporting and verifying of student volunteer hours, which much be certified as a requirement of graduation.
Alternative Spring Break Scholarship Program: New streams of revenue to this program will offer assistance to students who don't have the funds to participate as a result of limited financial resources. The experience is only as valuable as the Universities' ability to have total representation from the entire student body. James Madison values community service as one of the necessary bench marks in a fully developed education but lacks the funds to offer this to worthy students lacking the financial resources to join their classmates.
Summary:
A multi-year pledge to support the Community Service-Learning Partnership Program. will allow the program to continue to operate and achieve successful results. A multi-year pledge enables both your corporation and the university to develop a strong relationship, make modifications as needed and plan for more robust programs which fulfill its mission to create distinctive opportunities for employees and neighbors.
Table 1. Summary of Community Service-Learning Programs
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Programs |
Purpose |
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Service-Learning Courses |
Each year JMU offers approximately 30 service-learning courses that require over 1,400 students to serve a minimum of 20 hours during the semester in one of over 100 local community agencies as part of the course. Many local agencies could not function without the human resources supplied by students and faculty from these courses. While improving the services to the local community, students gain real life application to what they are learning in the classroom, develop personally and develop a life-long commitment to service to the community.
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Community Partnerships |
CS-L partners with more than 100 community service agencies to help satisfy community needs and improve the standard of life for Shenandoah Valley residents. All agencies are listed on the CS-L web site at http://www.jmu.edu/csl/agency Examples: Dayton Learning Center Refugee Resettlement Program Migrant Education Program Association for Retarded Citizens Blue Ridge Area Food Bank Big Brothers Big Sisters Shenandoah Valley Pure Water 2000 Forum
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Faculty Associates |
This faculty development program gives faculty the resources and training they need to develop new service-learning courses that meet community needs. The program strives to match faculty with the expertise to meet identified unmeet community needs. For more information see: http://www.jmu.edu/csl/faculty
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Technology Assistance Program (TAP) |
This program matches JMU students and courses with community service agencies to meet their under resourced technology needs. Projects include creating and maintaining web pages, creating and maintaining computer and communication networks, developing office management tools and computer set up and training. This program was developed as a direct response to the local community's identification for lack of technology assistance for small non-profit agencies. With out this program many of the agencies served would have no technology assistance and would be limited in the services they could offer.
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Community Based Federal Work Study and America Reads |
These two programs places eligible JMU Federal Work Study students in community service agencies at no cost to the agency. Each student serves the agency for approximately ten hours each week during the academic year. Students in the Community Based program are placed in local non-profit service agencies. Students in the America Reads program tutor elementary school children who reading below grade level. Research shows that if a child is not reading at grade level by the third grade they will have difficulties in school for the remainder of their school years. This program has helped alleviate some of this problem in our community. For the academic year 2002-03 122 JMU students were placed in area agencies and schools
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Freshman Service Week |
This program immerses first year ad transfer JMU students in the local community before they begin classes. Students spend a week in August serving in local community agencies and learning about the community. Experience shows that these students continue to be involved in service to the community throughout their academic career at JMU. These students also report spending more time in the community and advocate for their peers to do the same.
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Alternative Breaks |
In this program students dedicate their spring break vacation to service to communities in the United States and other countries. All trips are alcohol and drug free. Each trip is student lead and includes a faculty "Learning Partner". The purpose of each trip is to connect students and community members while enhancing personal growth, mutual awareness and a life long commitment to service. Students report that they continue to serve in the local community after they return from these service trips. JMU Alumni chapters also host alternative breaks within their communities ad continue service to these communities throughout the year. JMU alumni can also participate in an annual service trip to Dominica each November. For the 2002-03 academic year 30 of these service trips were offered to locations throughout the United States, Mexico, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Bahamas, and Dominica. This program was recognized as the National Alternative Spring Break Program of the Year in 1999.
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For more discussion and information, please contact:
Janet Wendelken
Director, Corporate and Foundation Giving
MSC 4401
Leeolou Alumni Center
Room 3102
Harrisonburg, VA 22807
540-568-7879
or
Dr. Richard A Harris, III,
Director, Center for Leadership Service
Wilson # 201\MSC 1010
James Madison University
540-568-3463