 |
Welcome to the Summer 2008 Edition of SLYPN Update, a quarterly newsletter brought to you by the Service-Learning Youth Professionals Network. SLYPN is a network tailored to provide opportunities for young professionals to develop the skills and capacity needed to pursue their interests in and to advance their careers in field of service-learning.
Advocacy
ServiceNation: Join TIME Magazine and Others to Promote Service-Learning and National Service
Join thousands of citizens and leaders from every sector of American society in a national campaign to call on the next President and Congress to enact a new era of service and citizenship in America. This is our chance to help others realize how service-learning can contribute to solving our greatest and most persistent societal challenges.
ServiceNation is a campaign for a new America that will launch with a national Summit, Sept. 11-12 in New York City, and build with a national grassroots movement aimed at inspiring widespread public support for a new and transformational legislation for national service and service-learning that will encourage all Americans to step forward and take the lead in bridging our divides, strengthening our communities, and building a more vibrant democracy.
Learn more about ServiceNation.
ServiceNation needs committed citizens who are ready to help lead America toward a new era of service. We especially need more service-learning advocates to participate. Contact ServiceNation today if you are interested in organizing or participating in an event in your community.
New Research You Can Use:
Engaged for Success: Service-Learning as a Tool for High School Dropout Prevention
Engaged for Success: Service-Learning as a Tool for High School Dropout Prevention, a new report by John M. Bridgeland, John J. Iulio, Jr., Stuart C. Wulsin, has been the buzz since its release at the 2008 National Service-Learning Conference in April 2008. This report is the result of a national study exploring the utility of service-learning as a strategy for engaging students in learning and decreasing the likelihood of dropping out. This report builds on the April 2006 TIME Magazine cover story Dropout Nation.
Are you ready to respond to the nation's dropout crisis? Learn more about how to use service-learning as a strategy for dropout prevention.
Participate in a FREE Online Forum featuring Engaged for Success
On June 19, 2008 (12:00 p.m. eastern), join Stuart C. Wulsin of Civic Enterprises for an informal presentation and exchange about the report. Identify ways you can put the report's findings and recommendations into action in your own school or community. The forum is free. To sign-up today, email ckwon@aed.org.
Join the National Dropout Prevention Center for the Solutions to the Dropout Crisis Radio Webcast
On June 24, 2008 (3:30 - 4:30 p.m. eastern), Joan Liptrot of the Institute for Global Education and Service-Learning and Mike Schwarzbauer or Blythewood High School in Columbia, SC will present "Keeping Youth in School: How Service-Learning Can Help."
The National Dropout Prevention Center/Network has long advocated service-learning as a teaching methodology with considerable potential to prevent dropouts. This session will provide an overview of service-learning and how to effectively incorporate specific strategies to promote youth engagement and foster student resilience through service-learning.
Access supplementary materials. On the day of the webcast, link to the live broadcast at www.dropoutprevention.org/webcast.
Questions? Contact the National Dropout Prevention Center at ndpc@clemson.eduor (864) 656-2580. Participation in the radio webcast is free and no registration is required.
Read what other young professionals are saying about Engaged for Success?
Marc Morgan of City Year writes: "The high school dropout epidemic is a deplorable social issue facing America today. With places like Detroit and Cleveland graduating 24.9% and 34.1% respectively, gaps in graduation rates between urban and suburban areas like Baltimore (Urban 34.6% and Suburban 81.5%; 46.9% gap), and racial divides in rates with Blacks and Latinos rates lower than 60% and Whites and Asians above 75%, we must have an immediate call to action." Read Marc's complete blog post.
Service-learning advocate Heather Margolis writes: As you evaluate the results of this report, remember that service-learning practitioners are actively working to reverse the drop-out trend in the U.S. Putting research featured in the Engaged for Success report into action is what will really make a difference. Read Heather's complete blog post.
Get Connected: Networks to Improve & Advance Your Work
The ACT NOW wiki, hosted by the Pew Partnership for Civic Change, offers extensive information on a variety of issues, including the high school dropout crisis. Use this resource to learn about and connect to people from around the country to collaborate on solutions to the issues you care most about.
With support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Five Freedoms Project website and online network now exist to support and connect educators, students and citizens who share a commitment to the First Amendment’s five freedoms (religion, speech, press, assembly, petition), the promise of democratic schools, and the idea that children should be seen and heard.
Visitors will find resources that stretch across the Project’s four central themes:
- Individual Rights (the Five Freedoms): Legal quizzes, lesson plans, resources, and discussion topics that will help people develop a fuller understanding of the First Amendment’s five freedoms and their role in a democratic society.
- Leadership (the Five Foundations): An actionable five-part framework for leadership that identifies the essential skills to cultivate, both in ourselves and in others, in order to create more equitable, democratic learning communities.
- Voice (the Five Features): A five-stage map of the learning cycle we must experience in order to discover the power and uniqueness of our own voice and how to utilize it effectively.
- Impact (the Five Factors): A collection of five key categories school leaders and school communities must understand and monitor to further safe and civil schools that intentionally work to promote students’ social, emotional, ethical and civic as well as intellectual advancement.
Visit the Project’s global online community to share your voice and to connect with others who share your interests.
Expand Your Network of Service-Learning Supporters
Mark Your Calendar. Join others from around the country in this week-long series of publicity events and community outreach activities designed to raise awareness and public support for service-learning. As people who care about the future of service-learning, let's show our support for service-learning and for Learn and Serve America, the only federal program dedicated to supporting service-learning in local schools, college/universities, and communities.
Start planning now! No idea is too big or too small. There are several ways you can get involved and make difference right in your own backyard.
- To learn more and to stay connected over the summer, email nslp@aed.org. Type "I Am a Solution" in the subject line.
- Visit the Learn & Serve Challenge online for suggested ways to get involved or design your own. Check out the website the week of July 16 to download free tools and resource materials to help you plan your own activity or event.
For more information, call (202) 884-8982 or email nslp@aed.org. Spread the word!
Additional Resources About Outreach and Collaboration
Submitted by Heather Martin, Librarian, National Service-Learning Clearinghouse from the Resource Center's Effective Practices Collection:
Collaboration means different things to different groups. Knowing how to effectively partner with others in service can potentially enhance resources and benefit not just the partners, but also the communities in which they serve. This effective practice was developed from a session presented by Melissa L. Kelley with the Governor's Commission on National and Community Service (Colorado), at the Southwest Cluster AmeriCorps Program Directors Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico held February 2002. The practice addresses ways that partners can collaborate more functionally, providing practical lessons learned from a panel of program directors experienced in collaborating. Check it out.
A few resources that Learn and Serve America's National Service-Learning Clearinghouse features on the topic of partnerships:
Partnerships
Models of Service-Learning Partnerships
Also try searching the library catalog using the keyword "partnerships" to access over 300 items on this topic!
Service-Learning in Higher Education
From the Resource Center:
A 2006 report by the Corporation for National and Community Service found that 3.3 million college students volunteered in 2005. One avenue of increasing your program’s capacity is to tap college students as volunteer leaders to plan projects and engage other students in meaningful service. In this session, learn to leverage the tremendous energy and skills of students through a volunteer leader program that recruits and supports students, builds teams, connects service with learning, and provides opportunities for meaningful service and skill development. This course was created cooperatively by the Corporation for National and Community Service, Hands On Network, and ETR Associates. Log in to the Online Learning Center to access this course.
Grants and Awards Opportunities
Live Monarch Educator Program
Deadline: rolling
The Live Monarch Foundation Educator Outreach Program provides funding for teachers throughout the United States to enroll in the National Campaign to bring monarch butterflies into the classroom. This program provides education and materials to strengthen the monarch’s 3,000-mile migratory route within North America by creating self-sustaining butterfly gardens and refuges. Materials will be provided for each participant to raise a virtual butterfly and start a real butterfly garden with professional instruction on each level of its maintenance and care. Maximum Award: n/a. Eligibility: teachers and classrooms in areas on the monarch migratory route.
PK-3 Research Small Grants Program
Deadline: July 15, 2008
The Foundation for Child Development has announced a small grants program with three major goals: to stimulate research that spans early education and early elementary education to inform PK-3 efforts across the United States; to foster multidisciplinary perspectives and build a field of research that examines how children's education and home contexts influence developmental outcomes from PK through at least third grade; and to increase the use of datasets that can inform FCD's PK-3 initiative. The program will provide a maximum of four awards of up to $50,000 each to be used over a period from one to two years.
Mini-Grants for Public Schools and Public Libraries
Deadline: September 15, 2008
Ezra Jack Keats Mini-grant Program for Public Schools and Public Libraries supports educators, parents and children in their efforts to spread literacy and love of learning. Maximum Award: $500. Eligibility: public schools and libraries anywhere in the United States and its protectorates.
CVS Community Grants
Deadline: Applications accepted through October
CVS Pharmacy Community Grants are currently accepting proposals for programs targeting children under age 18 with disabilities that address: health and rehabilitation services; a greater level of inclusion in student activities and extracurricular programs; opportunities or facilities that give greater access to physical movement; and play. Maximum Award: varies. Eligibility: Public schools with programs for children under age 18 with disabilities. |
 |
|
We Need Your Input! Tell us what you want to hear and what you need!
Take the SLYPN Survey
|
Upcoming Sage Sessions:
SLYPN offers its members opportunities to informally interact and exchange with experts and accomplished leaders from education and youth development communities.
6/19/08: Engaged for Success: A Service-Learning Response to the Dropout Crisis. Time: 12:00 PM EDT, 11:00 AM CDT, 10:00 AM MDT. 9:00 AM PDT
Join Stu Wilson of Civic Enterprises to discuss new research findings about service-learning and dropout prevention.
Coming Soon:
Peer Mentor Directory. SLPYN members will soon have access to veteran leaders in the field. Whether you have a question, need help on a specific topic, or want to connect with someone in your region, SLYPN members will be able to quickly search for mentors. Watch for the launch on the SLYPN website!
Events:
6/18/08: Graduate Degree Fair for the Public Good 5-8 PM GWU Marvin Center, Grand Ballroom on the 3rd Floor (800 21st Street, NW)
6/19/08: SLYPN Sage Sesson: Stu Wulsin and Engaged for Success 12:00 PM EDT at http://www.slyoungprofessionals.org/
6/22-26/08: 2nd Annual National Educator’s Institute for Jewish Service-Learning University of Maryland, College Park, MD
6/23-25/08: 2008 Summer Institute on “Service-Learning: A Strategy For Keeping Youth In School” National Dropout Prevention Center at Clemson University Clemson, SC
6/23-26/08: National Youth Gang Symposium
OJJDP, Atlanta, GA
6/25-27/08: The Fifth Annual Urban Service-Learning Institute Metropolitan State University, St. Paul, MN
7/9-11/08: National Youth Conference U.S. Public Service Academy, Washington, DC
7/21-25/08: Summer Institute on Service-Learning Shelburne Farms, Shelburne, VT
8/10-14/08: 2nd Annual National Educator’s Institute for Jewish Service-Learning University of Vermont, Burlington, VT
8/25-26/08: Connecting Literacy to Service-Learning Adding Relevance, Transforming Lives with Cathryn Berger Kaye Brighton, MI
10/2-3/08: 2008 International Service-Learning Conference ‘Engaging Your Campus and the World through International Service-Learning Utah Valley University
10/6-7/08: Missouri Service-Learning Fall Conference Registration information.
11/19-22/08: IANYS 8th Global Conference on National Youth Service Fondation des Etats-Unis, Paris, France.
| |
