Corps Members: 9
Goal(s): Prevent summer learning loss; increase their community awareness; guide them through the high school transition process and enhance their college aspirations.

Estimated Number of Youth Served: 100

Partner(s): Phillips Brooks House Association, Inc., Harvard University and a variety of Boston non-profits
For more information on the Phillips Brooks House Association, Inc., click here.
For more information on Harvard University, click here.
Visit the Massachusetts Service Alliance online for more information about this program. More information about the Commonwealth Corps can be found here .
Last revised 8/30/11

Corps Members:


Goal(s): To give Boston teens a solid foundation in the arts, academic studies and arts-based community work.
Estimated Number of Youth Served:
 Partner(s): Massachusetts College of Art and Design
For more information on Massachusetts College of Art and Design, click here.
For more information on the Commonwealth Corps, click here.

Visit the Massachusetts Service Alliance online for more information about this program. More information about the Commonwealth Corps can be found here .

Last revised 8/26/11

Community Partner: Boys & Girls Club of New Bedford

Population Served: Middle & High School Youth

Service Term: Summer 2011

At University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, the Center for Civic Engagement hosted two College Positive Corps members.  The members served as a summer extension of the Chancellor’s College Access Corps.  They presented college knowledge and college positive workshops to 12 to 17 year olds throughout the Fall River and New Bedford region.  Community partners that host these workshops include the Community Development Recreation of Fall River, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Fall River, YMCA Southcoast, YWCA, and the Fall River Title 1/Century 21 Program.  The Corps members also are expanding college positive programming for the university for the 2011-2012 academic year by developing training and programming materials and a recruitment plan.

If you want to know more about the MACC Summer Associates College Positive Corps, please see their website here: http://ase.tufts.edu/macc/sacpc/College_Positive_Corps/Home.html

Community Partner: Boys & Girls Club of Holyoke, Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center of Springfield

Population Served: Middle school youth

Service Term: Summer 2011

At University of Massachusetts-Amherst, the Community Service Learning Office and Electrical and Computer Engineering Department hosted three College Positive Corps members.  The members served with Circuits and Beats, a summer STEM focused “camp.”  Through Circuits and Beats, middle school students in Holyoke and Springfield are taught basic electrical engineering concepts by building and programming an electronic music device.  The program shows that math and science are fun and that engineering is a potential career path.  In addition to STEM learning, students are taken on college tours and parent/visitor demonstration days are organized for the community.

For more information on the MACC Summer Associate College Positive Corps, see their website here: http://ase.tufts.edu/macc/sacpc/College_Positive_Corps/Home.html

Community Partner: Community Connections of Brockton

Population Served: Parents, Middle & High School youth

Service Term: Summer 2011

At Stonehill College, the Office of Community-Based Learning hosted four College Positive Corps members.  The members spent half their time serving at Community Connections of Brockton where they worked to create a youth leadership development program as part of the new Parents Resource and Community Center.  This involved meeting with key community organizations, parents, and students to assess their needs, dreams, and interests, and promote their involvement with the leadership program.  The members also worked to create a Community Service Club for Brockton Public School youth so youth may improve existing community resources while taking on leadership roles.  The final component of the Corps members’ service is developing a training program to better prepare Stonehill students to mentor Brockton youth through community-based learning courses and extracurricular service programs.

For more information on the MACC Summer Associate College Positive Corps, see their website here: http://ase.tufts.edu/macc/sacpc/College_Positive_Corps/Home.html

Community Partner: Holyoke High School

Population Served: High school students

Service Term: Summer 2011

At Mount Holyoke College, the Community-Based Learning Program hosted two College Positive Corps members.  The members served at Holyoke High School through the CONNECTIONS Out of School Program.  The CONNECTIONS summer program focuses on MCAS remediation and credit recovery.  The Corps members are designed and implemented a leadership development course for the students in the CONNECTIONS summer program.  The curriculum is designed to help students learn problem solving techniques, positive behaviors, and communication skills.  The underlying goal of the leadership course is to improve student success and retention by helping students think about their future college and career options.  In addition to the leadership course, the Corps members supported the students’ academic achievement through one-on-one and small group work.

For more information on the College Positive Corps, visit the website here:

http://ase.tufts.edu/macc/sacpc/College_Positive_Corps/Home.html

Community Partner: Lincoln-Eliot Elementary School

Population Served: K-6 Youth

Service Term: Summer 2011

At Lasell College, the Center for Community-Based Learning hosted one College Positive Corps member.  The Corps member served at the Lincoln-Eliot Elementary School in Newton, MA with 1st through 4th graders who participated in the Newton summer program for underperforming students–Summer Success.  The Corps member supported students’ work in math, reading, and writing by assisting the classroom teacher, facilitating small groups, creating class materials, and tutoring and mentoring students.  She also developed and implemented strategies to improve student success and persistence.  Many of the students served were first-generation students and/or English language learners.

For more on the Summer Associates College Positive Corps, visit the website here:

http://ase.tufts.edu/macc/sacpc/College_Positive_Corps/Home.html

Kerri Heffernan- Director of Faculty Engagement and Royce Fellowship, Swearer Center for Public Service, Brown University

Many scholars today see engaged scholarship as good disciplinary work. Dr. Kerrisa Heffernan conducted a three-hour institute on community-based practice on learning across the disciplines. Samples of interesting and in many cases, exemplary faculty work were presented to explore how engaged scholarship – the unique alignment of research, teaching and practice – promotes the civic mission of higher education.  This institute was beneficial to academics interested in embedding training in community-based approaches to research in undergraduate and graduate programs.

One participant said, “Loved the content, the frameworks for thinking about models made sense and helped organize thinking about my institution.”

Kerri Heffernan, also the author of  Fundamentals of Service-Learning Course Construction and other seminal works, has created a new service learning resource and shared it at her institute. The document provides insight and tools for every step of the service learning process. You can download the resource below:
CBL-Handout

Amanda Wittman- PhD, Post-doctoral Research Associate, ADVANCE Program, Northeastern University, MACC Consultant for Research- Evaluation and Assessment

“Effective and accessible approach and presentation for a sometimes…daunting topic.”

Evaluation and assessment are hot topics in the field of civic engagement and service-learning. Effective evaluation can improve programming, help you reach defined outcomes, and provide useful data to improve your practice. This institute helped participants define their own assessment and evaluation needs, make choices regarding evaluation design and implementation, and consider how to effectively use the results. Participants explored instruments used for data collection, data collection strategies, and ways to report your assessment efforts.

Resources:
Assessment Resources