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In This Issue:
This time of year finds Washington Campus Compact (WACC) and the Western Region Campus Compact Consortium (WRCCC) focusing on the annual Continuums of Service conference, this year titled The Engagement Imperative: Academia, Students, and Communities in Partnership. Now in its 11th year, the conference will be held in Portland, Ore. on April 17-20, 2008 . We anticipate 450-500 faculty, administrators, students and community partners convening to share best practices, network and explore the restaurants of Portland (after the conference, of course!). We have stellar keynote speakers and a strong line-up of concurrent and preconference sessions. Check out the conference website at http://www.wacampuscompact.org/conference/index.shtml To increase focus and rigor of the Continuums of Service conference, the Western Region Campus Compact Consortium developed a three-year overarching conference theme: How can service-learning and community engagement be used as strategies to address critical issues in higher education and communities? The conference intends to explore different aspects of this theme over three years. The themes are: 2007: The conference first introduced the theme and focused on the general concept of using service-learning and community engagement to address critical issues. 2008: The conference will focus more deeply on how service-learning and community engagement are used to address critical education issues. (April 17-19, 2008; Portland, Ore.) 2009: The conference will focus more deeply on how service-learning and community engagement are used to address critical community issues. (Save the date: April 16-18, 2009; Seattle, Wash.). Please join us at the upcoming conferences and help continue building a strong western regional network of service-learning/civic engagement practitioners. We look forward to seeing you in Portland! Jennifer Dorr Executive Director
STUDENTS IN SERVICE
TRANSFORMATION IS REMARKABLE SUCCESS; PROGRAM
ACHIEVES FULL ENROLLMENT
Our Campus Partner’s continue to do a great job enrolling members in the Students in Service (SIS) Program. We are currently at 80% of full enrollment and have been positively recognized by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) for filling our slots and for continuously improving the management of our program. Recently, our CNCS program officer shared with me a report card of sorts concerning our management of important administrative functions of the Students in Service Program. We got high marks for achieving full enrollment in 06-07 and being on the way to achieving full enrollment for 07-08; reaching all our grant goals including our members recruiting another 11,000+ volunteers throughout the 06-07 grant year; and for improving our days between enrollment to approval of new members from 68 days in 05-06 to 12 days in 06-07 to the current 8 days in 07-08 (under 30 days is in compliance). The areas needing improvement include our retention rate of members who actually complete the program as our 05-06 our retention rate is 72% and our 06-07 retention rate is 76%. An acceptable level of retention is in the 80-90% area and campus partners have been putting more effort in trying to enroll members that are likely to complete their term of service, concentrate more on enrolling students interested in service learning classes and doing their internship at a non-profit organization, and trying to have monthly contact with their members, either through turning in monthly time logs, email or phone contact. Another area needing improvement is exiting members before their 30 day grace period after the completion date. All SIS members should be encouraged to turn in their exit paperwork with their final time log in a timely manner. Not doing so may jeopardize receipt of the award. All SIS members who have completed their hours should be strongly encouraged to exit immediately. As a program we have definitely improved our compliance over the last six months but this is one area that still needs significant improvement and I am confident campus partners are taking it seriously to exit their members before their 30 day grace period from completion date is up. Management of exits should be done with the actual completion date in mind. SIS is happy to announce that 9 participating campuses in WA/ID were awarded over $22,000 in SIS mini-grants ranging from $746 - $6640 to help with recognition events, reflection sessions, site visits, advertising, and general administration of the SIS program on their campus. Jody Shulnak, SIS Coordinator at Clark College, received an SIS mini-grant and has used it to facilitate various reflection activities for their SIS members and have used the grant funds to subsidize 8 community site visits. Jody used the SIS mini-grant funds for catering, invitations, awards, and event supplies for a February SIS Service Recognition Ceremony. Everett and Edmunds Community College also received mini-grants and the funds will go toward developing more community programs such as the one Sharon Stultz, who coordinates the SIS on both campuses, organized for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. Sharon gathered 64 volunteers, made up of SIS members at Everett and Edmunds Community College, AmeriCorps members from Edmonds Community College and Lake Washington Technical College, and 33 other community volunteers including 16 teenagers. Teams of 4-6 participants worked on projects such as household chores and yard maintenance for a homeless shelter, a senior housing center, and six in-home seniors as well as paint classrooms for a church’s latchkey program. The volunteers had a great time serving their community and ended the day with a potluck and fun activities with two local wheelchair basketball teams. Reflections activities were done before and after the event and concentrated on the social value of their service. The pictures of the event indicated a very successful event that was well-organized by Sharon. WACC hopes to continue to fund events, like Sharon and Jody’s, with the SIS mini-grant. Again, next year SIS hopes to be able to offer more mini-grants to help campus partners administer and enhance their SIS program on their campus. We hope to have RFPs for the mini-grant available during the summer months. Finally, the 11th Annual Continuums of Service Conference, April 17-19, 2008, and I wanted to announce that there will be an SIS roundtable discussion available for all SIS Coordinators to share ideas about best practices for the SIS program on their campus. It also is a good opportunity to network with other campus partners throughout the Northwest region. The roundtable, currently scheduled for the Saturday session, Concurrent V, during the conference is not mandatory, but a great informal networking opportunity to learn about some of the changes for the 08-09 SIS grant year. Keep up the great work!
^ TOP Over the course of the first year of the Washington Campus Compact VISTA project (January 07-January 08), VISTA members have worked with campus partners to engage over 1,700 students in community service activities. These volunteers have worked on a variety of projects and have completed over 20,000 hours of community service. These are just some of the outstanding outcomes we have reported after our first project year. One event that all VISTA members worked on in January was the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. VISTA members helped get college volunteers signed up for community events so it could be a “day on”. At Spokane Falls Community College, VISTA member Patrick Link joined with 70 hardy workers in a “clean up, fix up” party for Spokane’s East Central Neighborhood. The project included building a covered school bus stop with a bench for neighborhood children. Artists in the group painted a mural triptych attached to the bus shelter, protecting it from the wind and winter rain/snow. The City of Spokane provided a box-trailer into which the work crew placed old tires, mattresses, papers, car parts and other area flotsam leaving a much cleaner and safer area for the local residents. At the end of January, two of our first year VISTA members, Chriset Palenshus (Evergreen State College) and Bama Wilson (Spokane Falls Community College) transitioned out of their positions, leaving big shoes for new members to fill. While VISTA members commit to serve a one year term, their work leaves a lasting impact. Ellen Short-Sanchez, the campus supervisor for the VISTA project at Evergreen State College, made the following comments when asked to reflect on her VISTA’s work:
As we progress into the second year of our project, the WACC VISTA team hopes continue to produce such quality outcomes. We are excited to work with our new member campuses and VISTA recruits to continue to promote the project’s goals. If you want more information, contact Linda Schnee at 360/650.7263 or linda.schnee@wwu.edu or Tegan Callahan at 360/650.7554 or Tegan.callahan@wwu.edu
http://www.wacampuscompact.org/conference/
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