Students learned about such topics as credit, taxes, real estate, budgets, investments, etc. Twenty of them were recruited based on a written essay and their academic performance at BMCC to be Financial Literacy Ambassadors (FLA). Besides participating in the workshop, the FLA was mentored by a member of the business community and participateed in service learning with New York City high school students. The FLA reflected on what they learned in the workshop, which was demonstrated through focus group surveys and reflective pieces written by the students at the end of the workshop.

The service learning proper occured when the FLA shared what they had learned with their high school counterparts. In consultation with the Office of the Superintendent of Manhattan High Schools, BMCC targeted five high schools for participation in the project, whose student profile is similar to that of BMCC's. The FLA provided service learning to the high school students through individualized and small group advisement supplemented by visits to financial institutions where the high school students saw real applications of what they had learned from the BMCC FLA. Like the ambassadors, the high school students gained an understanding of how to organize budgets, deal with credit in a responsible manner, and save for the future, among other topics. The success of the service learning aspect of the proposal with the high school students was determined by their response to a survey comparable to the one administered to the BMCC FLA.

For further information, please contact Dean Erwin J. Wong by phone at 212.220.8322 or by email (ewong@bmcc.cuny.edu).

These service learning experiences involved students from many academic disciplines, such as English, Psychology, the Humanities and Horticulture, working in conjunction with several non-profit agencies including Habitat for Humanity, Family Services of Greater New Orleans, St. Tammany Youth Service Bureau, Bring Back New Orleans Commission, and various schools and/or school districts. Students applied knowledge from their academic disciplines to provide informational assistance to families and workers, tutoring for students and landscaping services for rebuilding schools, public areas and replacement houses built by non-profit organizations.

GWCC used classes in Geographic Information Systems to develop a community map that identified hot zones of need in surrounding neighborhoods. Boomers enrolled at GWCC were referred to the Workforce Transition Center to determine their skills, career interests and values as they related to community service choices. Once assessed, boomers were connected to a school or community agency, from the community map hot zone, with an identified need for assistance in one of 3 areas: education, social work and health care. Social Work classes connected with boomers interested in organizational management, social policy, and economic development.

GWCC's bilingual nursing served minorities needing healthcare education, and boomers with backgrounds in math and science assisted the needs of low achieving math and science students in K-12.

In its inaugural semester, the program was be offered in one Early Childhood Education course and one Mental Health and Human Services course and paved the way for future early career exploration Service-learning initiatives. The project served as a vehicle through which career students can become active participants in service-related projects or activities that aim to respond to the needs of the community. The program built upon the close relationships that KCC has established with many service organizations in Brooklyn. Through these relationships, a formal model of community involvement harnessed service-learning's full potential in the areas of career and citizenship development was established. Structured in a manner that assured effective early career exploration through service-learning experiences, the program further enhanced the academic and career goals of Kingsborough students while addressing compelling community needs.

This service learning experience initially involved students from the Small Business Development academic discipline, with the intent of expanding and integrating in to such disciplines as English, Psychology, the Humanities and Horticulture and/or campus clubs such as the Sustainability Committee, Student Government, etc. The Matanuska-Susitna borough was the fastest growing areas of Alaska and was ranked the 34th fastest growing county nation-wide according to the 2000-2007 US census estimates. While this growth has resulted in economic growth, the resultant strain on community services and infrastructure has outpaced the development or reallocation of resources, stretching most non-profit service agencies near their breaking point if not beyond their means. MSC collaborated with the United Way of Mat-Su and local Small Business Development Center to identify non-profits in need of business development expertise and formed additional partnerships with the local school district, community recycling business, trails organizations, etc.

The goal was to increase high school and college graduation rates by supporting student involvement in the community and encouraging service-learning while students are still in high school. Current enrollment in REACH is over 240 students with disadvantaged students identified by the following criteria:

1. First generation to attend college
2. Students who work 10-30 hours
3. Foster child
4. Incarcerated family member or lives in temporary housing or teen parent
5. Physical/mental disabilities
6. Single parent home, and
7. Under-represented group.

The Center for Service-Learning worked with REACH students to select sites that developed their civic skills. MCC's Center for Service Learning has over 200 active community partners. REACH students collaborated with community college students in established service-learning projects on campus such as the Dr. Seuss literary project or the rose garden environmental project. They were active in planning and implementing those events. During their senior year, REACH students were enroll in a 1 credit Service-learning course that required 50 hours of community service. A Service Learning Coach trained REACH students and their parents on the fundamentals of service-learning and civic engagement and was a support system for the participants.

Faculty in the REACH program attended a 4 hour training module on service-learning and civic engagement. Other MCC service learning faculty were recruited as mentors for REACH participants. The Office of Service Learning extended this training opportunity to all faculty in the 10 colleges of the Maricopa Community College District.

The service learning team focused on establishing service learning guidelines, procedures, and performed a baseline assessment to help institutionalize service learning at MATC. The guidelines were drawn from several institutions across the country and compiled into easy to use packets individually geared towards students, faculty, and community organizations. The guidelines fit easily into newly established procedures for the involved parties to follow when beginning or improving service learning projects. The baseline assessment of faculty who were doing service learning or “service-learning-like” activities identified target instructors for the team to follow-up with and a measure to demonstrate MATC's growth in the field.

In addition to solidifying MATC's service learning foundation, the team engaged with faculty, community organizations, and K-12 school districts in two projects that were annual events, the Environmental Survival Challenge and the Walk Against Poverty. During the Environmental Survival Summer Challenge, MATC students helped facilitate service learning projects with middle school students from Oak Creek-Franklin Joint School District, Raymond School District, and the Milwaukee Public Schools over 3 weeks in the summer. Students from each school attended several different sites to learn to save energy, retain water and maintain a healthy aquatic ecosystem, reduce trash and hazardous waste, and use alternative transportation. Each project site mixed city, suburban and rural schools, providing a diverse learning environment for the MATC students.

According to U.S. Census figures, Milwaukee has the seventh highest poverty rate in the nation. More than one in four residents lives in poverty; over 62,000 of those living in poverty are children and make up 41.3% of all the children in the city.

Milwaukee Area Technical College took action! Partnering with a variety of community organizations, a three-day campaign was hosted to raise awareness of poverty in Milwaukee and southeastern Wisconsin. Over 300 service learning students from a variety of courses participated in the second annual “Walk Against Poverty Campaign”. This service learning event model included presentations, demonstrations, art displays, advocacy, education and a march put on by students, instructors, agency organizers and community members, to call attention to various causes, effects and solutions to poverty.

SDCC welcomed the Accent on Student Success: Engaged Together in Service (ASSETS) grant as a funding source to help it establish a solid footing for a campus Service Learning Program. Since border issues such as immigration, infectious diseases such as HIV and flu pandemics, other aspects of public health, bioterrorism, and water quality have become much more pronounced during this decade in the San Diego- Baja California region, faculty and students at SDCC have recently established a Border Symposium, hosted alternately between San Diego and a community college in Tijuana. Our new Campus Service Learning program provided an excellent way to engage our students with the border issues related to Homeland Security and Domestic Preparedness.

Type 2 diabetes is a widespread problem that directly or indirectly affects everyone on the reservation. While many adults are diabetic or are at risk of becoming diabetic, the problem is also affecting children. In the fall of 2005 when the Tribal Diabetes Program screened children in kindergarten through eighth grade in the schools on and around the reservation, they found that 57% of the children are at increased risk of becoming diabetic. TMCC's service learning/community engagement project worked with area schools and other community partners, including the Reservation Diabetes Program, the 5 + 5 Coalition, the Rolette County Wellness Coalition, the Reservation Wellness Coalition, and Boys and Girls Club, to improve the health of the community by increasing awareness of the problems associate with diabetes and ways to reduce the risk of developing the disease or of having complications related to it. This was done through numerous activities that utilized the knowledge and skills relevant to the particular courses students were taking in a variety of disciplines.

For more information please contact Peggy Johnson at 701-477-7817 or via email at pjohnson@tm.edu.