Involving a campus community in service with a faith-based Learn and Serve America program

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Abstract

Niagara University in Lewiston, New York, was established by the Venetian Fathers and Brothers, using the model of the order's founder, French priest St. Vincent de Paul, who devoted his life to serving the poor and the homeless. The school continues this mission through Learn and Serve Niagara, a service-learning program supported by a grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service. Learn and Serve Niagara works to involve all members of the campus community in service to their neighbors in the Niagara Falls and Buffalo area of New York. The program was highlighted in the National Service News, Issue No. 175, January 6, 2003, published by the Corporation for National and Community Service.

Issue

Addressing education and human needs with a service-learning program.

Action

Learn and Serve Niagara is a service-learning program that works to involve all members of the campus community in service to their neighbors in the Niagara Falls and Buffalo area of New York, particularly in regards to education and human needs. According to the National Service News, effective practices in implementing the program include:

Each of the five schools at Niagara University offers service-learning courses, covering subjects ranging from microbiology and accounting to education and religion.
Learn and Serve Niagara offers tutoring and mentoring to high-risk elementary and secondary students in 37 sites throughout ten Niagara and Erie County School Districts, and in an additional 14 private and after-school sites. Each tutor contributes between 18 - 20 hours per semesters.
All tutors and mentors are required to participate in training provided by Niagara University's Learning Center or College of Education.
- Education majors begin field experiences in their very first semester, doing five field placements in the first five semesters. Students are placed in a variety of settings throughout local school districts serving as teaching assistants. Under established New York State regulations, students graduating after December 2003 have completed between 100 to 150 hours assisting in the classroom before they begin student teaching.
- Each semester, students serve 1 1/2 to 2 hours each week at their assigned field placement. Depending on the various certifications, students are placed in one of five diverse (urban and rural) settings that compliment the grade levels of their program area. The field placements are an integral part of all education courses.
- Transportation is provided for those students who do not have their own vehicles.
Social and cultural activities for youth are provided at after-school sites.
Other Learn and Serve Niagara participants work with the District Attorney's office in the domestic violence program; furnish historical research for non-profit agencies; provide assistance to community members in tax preparation; or serve at soup kitchens, hospitals and nursing homes.
Ongoing volunteer sites include Habitat for Humanity and United in Christ Soup Kitchen.
In 2002, students and faculty in the College of Business, in collaboration with the Center for Joy and Center City Neighborhood Corporation, taught a group of community women skills to start their own businesses.
Students and community advisory boards plan and assess service programs.
Students receive leadership training and "Senior Leader" students mentor underclass students as they begin their service-learning experience.

Context

The creation of the Niagara University Community Action Program (NUCAP) in 1965 formalized the involvement of Niagara's students in community service projects. In 1994, a grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service enabled the University to expand community service efforts by establishing the Learn and Serve Niagara program. The program is designed to enhance academic skills and life-long learning by advocating social change, and by attempting to instill in students the value of service to others. It also helps insure the continued provision of necessary assistance to the residents of the Niagara community.

Outcome

The Learn and Serve Niagara program promotes service-learning by encouraging faculty to either revise existing courses or develop new courses, which have service learning components.
Because of its ties to nearly all the schools in the Niagara region, there is a diversity of rich service-learning experiences available to students.
In 2003, the program director mentored a new Learn and Serve America program at Rochester Institute of Technology and provided technical assistance to other schools.
Niagara alumni chapters now organize their own service program and projects.

Evidence

Over 700 Niagara University education undergraduates and graduate students annually help an average of 10,000 school age students.
In 2002 there were approximately 150 faculty and staff involved in service-learning.
During the 1998-99 academic year, more than 30 classes with a service-learning component were taught. The courses were offered in each of the five colleges of Niagara University and involved 1,900 students in excess of 40,000 service hours to the community.
While privacy issues prevent access to individual student records, there is evidence that increased numbers of students are passing mandated state reading and math tests where Niagara mentors and tutors are present.
On October 9, 2002, Learn and Serve Niagara was honored as a Daily Point of Light by the Points of Light Foundation.