Campus Community Collaborations
Examples & Resources for Community Colleges

"We propose, therefore, that the theme 'Building Communities' become the new rallying point for the community college in America. We define the term 'community' not only as a region to be served, but also as a climate to be created."

-1988 Report of the Commission on the Future of Community Colleges

I n the 1988 report from the American Association of Community Colleges, from which the above quote is taken, the Commission on the Future of Community Colleges writes eloquently about developing partnerships for learning as a means for community colleges to fulfill their community-building mission. Since the publication of this report, the growth of the service-learning movement has created a powerful vehicle for helping community colleges fulfill this mission.

An important resource for community colleges to be aware of, and tap into, as they nurture service-learning is the Corporation for National Service. The Corporation offers funds and opportunities for Americans of all ages and backgrounds to make their communities safer, healthier, and stronger through service.

The Corporation was created with bipartisan support by Congress, the President, and community groups nationwide in 1993. It is a public‚private partnership that administers three national service initiatives: Learn and Serve America, the AmeriCorps National Service Network, and the National Senior Service Corps. The chart on the following page outlines these three branches and programs of the Corporation.

Learn and Serve America is the branch of the Corporation that focuses its attention on student volunteers and includes a higher education component and a K‚12 component. Within the K‚12 programs are both school- and community-based projects. Community colleges are eligible to receive grants from Learn and Serve Higher Education when they issue requests for proposals. Additionally, community colleges can partner with local schools and community agencies in K-12 projects. I have asked my college students to act as mentors for K‚12 students and help to plan, organize, and supervise service-learning opportunities for students in elementary through high school. This has proven to be a powerful use of my students with service experience since they provide positive role models and multiply their service power when they engage younger students in the service activities. The role of mentor and organizer of service opportunities adds additional challenges and responsibilities that increase the meaningfulness and impact of the college students' service.

The second branch of the Corporation is the AmeriCorps National Service Network, which includes three programs: AmeriCorps VISTA, AmeriCorps NCCC, and AmeriCorps USA. The first two programs have histories that precede the Corporation, which was created in 1993.

VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) has been meeting the needs of underserved communities since 1965. Over the years, more than 100,000 committed individuals have joined forces with twelve thousand local sponsors--public agencies and nonprofit groups--to strengthen communities across the nation. AmeriCorps VISTA members serve in economically challenged communities. The program is dedicated to increasing the capability of people to improve the conditions of their own lives through employment training, literacy programs, housing assistance, health education, entrepreneurship, and neighborhood revitalization. Members of AmeriCorps VISTA work full-time and live in the communities they serve, creating programs that can continue after they complete their service. As is the case with all three AmeriCorps programs, VISTA volunteers receive small living allowances and an educational award of $4,725 for one year of full-time service.

The NCCC (National Civilian Community Corps) takes its inspiration from the Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps, which put thousands of young people to work restoring our natural environment. NCCC members construct, map, and improve urban and rural parks; restore streams and rivers; and conduct environmental education programs in schools and community centers.

The newest program in the AmeriCorps trio is AmeriCorps USA. This program was established by President Clinton and designed to involve more volunteers in national service. AmeriCorps USA provides individuals with the opportunity to give a year of full- or part‚time service in exchange for an education grant, which can be used upon completion of service to go to school, repay school loans or enter into an apprenticeship or job training program. AmeriCorps USA has required each state and the District of Columbia to set up a network of commissions for national and community service to administer national service programs at the state level. Community colleges are eligible to become lead agencies for AmeriCorps programs, provide sites for service activities, and help students become AmeriCorps members. The network of state commissions was developed to decentralize the administration of AmeriCorps programs and keep local input alive. I highly recommend that community colleges contact and even become active members of their state commissions.

At the Community College of Rhode Island, we have a part‚time Corpsmember whose job is to develop service opportunities for other students. This past year, our Corpsmember organized agency fairs, where local service providers visited the college and recruited volunteers. She also organized our Thanksgiving food drive and the Christmas Giving Tree. Finally, she coordinated the Alternative Spring Break, where fifty students, faculty and staff spent three days together providing service during our semester break.

The third branch of the Corporation is the National Senior Service Corps. For more than twenty-five years, this branch of federally supported programs has helped people who are fifty-five and older find service opportunities in their local communities. The Senior Corps has three programs: Foster Grandparents offers support to children with special needs; Senior Companions provides assistance to elderly individuals who live independently; and Retired and Senior Volunteers tends to a variety of services that range from leading local museum tours to teaching adult education classes. Together, these programs involve more than 500,000 seniors serving in sites across the country numbering into the tens of thousands.

Obviously, colleges that have senior students can enlist them in these programs. Furthermore, nonelderly students can partner with existing Senior Corps volunteers, support their efforts, and gain from their wisdom and experience in joint service projects. This seems particularly relevant for students enrolled in human service and allied health programs that target older citizens.

For more information about the three branches of the Corporation, use the following phone numbers :

Learn and Serve: 1-800-808-SERV

AmeriCorps USA: 1-800-942-2677

National Senior Corps: 1-800-424-8867

Hopefully the information in this article can provide community colleges with a road map to navigate the resources of the Corporation for National Service.

Jim Glasson is a Professor of Philosophy and Sociology at the Community College of Rhode Island, where he has taught for twenty years. He is one of five community college faculty members nationally to be selected to participate in a project called The Faculty Role: From the Margin to the Mainstream, which is funded by the Corporation for National Service. As part of the grant, Professor Glasson has been visiting various community colleges and assisting them with the development of their service-learning programs.

Additionally, he works as a community organizer in his position as Director of Substance Abuse Prevention for the City of Pawtucket, Rhode Island. In this position, he oversees an AmeriCorps program that has twenty-eight Corpsmembers and a Learn and Serve K‚12 community‚based program that operates in a public housing development.

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