Today Beth, Tabassum, and I went out to Lorain County Community College for a Service Learning/Community-Based Learning workshop. Quotes were sprinkled throughout, and here are some of my favorites:
"Service is the rent we pay for living. It is the very purpose of life and not something to do in your spare time."
--Martin Luther King Jr.
"A different world cannot be built by indifferent people."
--Horace Mann
"We challenege you to assure that the next year's entering students will graduate as individuals of character more sensitive to the needs of the community, more competant to contribute to society, and more civil in habits of thought, speech, and action."
--Wingspread Group Report on Higher Education (1993)
"I was born a citizen of a free state...however slight my voice may affect public affairs, my right to vote on them is enough to impose upon me the duty of learning about them."
--Jean Jacques Rousseau
"We [higher education] educate a larger proportion of the citizens who bother to vote, not to mention most of the politicians, journalists, and news commentators. We also educate all the school administrators and teachers, who in turn educate everyone at the pre-college level. And we do much to shape the pre-college curriculum through what we require of our college applicants. In short, not only have we helped create the problems that plague American democracy, but we are also in a position to begin doing something about them. If higher education doesn't start giving citizenship and democracy much greater priority, who will?"
--(Astin 1995)
Friday, October 29, 2010
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Happy Fall Break
Happy Fall Break, everyone! Bite-sized food for thought while you unwind from the semester:
- I have found a nifty interactive, nation-wide map showing the rates of poverty in America: Map Link!
- The BCSL Annual Report for the 2009/2010 school year (And once you're done, let us know of additional civic engagement going on!):
Friday, October 22, 2010
Who can use a food pantry?
On my trawling of teh internets for news articles about poverty further my education, I came across this New York Times article with alliteration: Proving Poverty Could be Problematic at Area Food Pantries
Some background: Some pantries will give food to anyone who asks; at most you have to give a name and maybe some contact information so the pantry can keep track clients helped for reporting purposes Kathy down at Oberlin Community Services was distraught that during the LEADS poverty simulation the fake Oberlin Community Services was only giving food to people from certain zip-codes. She wanted to make it clear the real Oberlin Community Services gives food to anyone who asks, regardless of zip code and regardless of whether or not the food is perceived as being needed (though there are pantries with limited resources that do restrict who gets food based on zip code). The thinking is based on the assumption of common human decency: only people who really need food will ask for it. Plus, it's humbling and can be hard for many people to ask for free food. Those who overcome those emotional barriers must be in need.
The gist of the article: Some local United Way leaders in San Francisco are concerned about fraud at the food pantries; they are worried people (mostly commercial grocers) who do not need food are coming by, getting food from the pantry for free, and then re-selling it at their stores. These leaders want to institute a change to make people who come to the pantry prove they have low income to stop people with higher incomes (who theoretically would not need food because they can get their own) from getting food.
Hot button issue, anyone?
My Opinion: Though I understand the concern of food pantry fraud, I have several issues with the proposed change. For one, it is hard to tell based on income level who needs food and who doesn't. Just because someone is above the federal poverty line does not mean they are easily meeting all of their bill payments. For two, being in poverty and enrolled in the Federal bureaucratic benefits programs is hard enough; there shouldn't be more hoops to jump through. It's hard to keep track of all the paperwork to "prove" poverty, and any illegal immigrants would have an especially hard time.
Plus, there's just this idea floating around in my head that we have enough money and food that we should have enough to provide for everyone....but we're not. The federal budget for food stamps--which feeds a lot of people as it stands now--- is minuscule compared to the budget for national defense. Not only that, but America has a lot of food that is not used. Part of what Second Harvest Food Bank of North Central Ohio stocks their food pantries with is edible food bought from farmers that can't be sold at market for whatever reason and would get plowed back into the ground if Second Harvest hadn't come along. The Second Harvest tagline is MORE FOOD; LESS HUNGER. The more I meditate on that line, the more I like it.
MORE FOOD; LESS HUNGER
Some background: Some pantries will give food to anyone who asks; at most you have to give a name and maybe some contact information so the pantry can keep track clients helped for reporting purposes Kathy down at Oberlin Community Services was distraught that during the LEADS poverty simulation the fake Oberlin Community Services was only giving food to people from certain zip-codes. She wanted to make it clear the real Oberlin Community Services gives food to anyone who asks, regardless of zip code and regardless of whether or not the food is perceived as being needed (though there are pantries with limited resources that do restrict who gets food based on zip code). The thinking is based on the assumption of common human decency: only people who really need food will ask for it. Plus, it's humbling and can be hard for many people to ask for free food. Those who overcome those emotional barriers must be in need.
The gist of the article: Some local United Way leaders in San Francisco are concerned about fraud at the food pantries; they are worried people (mostly commercial grocers) who do not need food are coming by, getting food from the pantry for free, and then re-selling it at their stores. These leaders want to institute a change to make people who come to the pantry prove they have low income to stop people with higher incomes (who theoretically would not need food because they can get their own) from getting food.
Hot button issue, anyone?
My Opinion: Though I understand the concern of food pantry fraud, I have several issues with the proposed change. For one, it is hard to tell based on income level who needs food and who doesn't. Just because someone is above the federal poverty line does not mean they are easily meeting all of their bill payments. For two, being in poverty and enrolled in the Federal bureaucratic benefits programs is hard enough; there shouldn't be more hoops to jump through. It's hard to keep track of all the paperwork to "prove" poverty, and any illegal immigrants would have an especially hard time.
Plus, there's just this idea floating around in my head that we have enough money and food that we should have enough to provide for everyone....but we're not. The federal budget for food stamps--which feeds a lot of people as it stands now--- is minuscule compared to the budget for national defense. Not only that, but America has a lot of food that is not used. Part of what Second Harvest Food Bank of North Central Ohio stocks their food pantries with is edible food bought from farmers that can't be sold at market for whatever reason and would get plowed back into the ground if Second Harvest hadn't come along. The Second Harvest tagline is MORE FOOD; LESS HUNGER. The more I meditate on that line, the more I like it.
MORE FOOD; LESS HUNGER
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Nifty Blogs and WT opportunities: Local Food in Lorain County
At the BCSL I share an office with Food Policy Options Intern Avi Miner, a 2009 OC grad who does lots of awesome things with local foods. Cool things that Avi does:
- He manages the Oberlin City Fresh stop, the local farm share program where you can sign up for a weekly bag of whatever fresh has come off the local farms
- He oversees private readings and Winter Term students who work on local foods issues
- He maps out where the food at local restaurants and the College cafeterias come from
- He researches important policy questions like:
- Can you have chickens/bees/other small livestock in your house in Oberlin?
- Can you have a vegetable garden in your front yard and not have the city mow it down for being over the limit for lawful lawn height? (this actually happened in Elyria)
- Then he takes these questions and finds out how we can change policy to allow these things so that people can grow more of their own food legally--because nothing is more local than your front yard.
- He bowls. Talk to him about bowling!
Monday, October 18, 2010
Gleaning
To glean: (definition from Merriam-Webster)
1: to gather grain or other produce left by reapers
2: to gather information or material bit by bit
This weekend I attended the first George Jones Farm documentary viewing of The Gleaners and I, a French film investigating many aspects of gleaning.
- gleaning after the harvest to get all the tasty foods the mechanical equipment missed
- gleaning the edible food dumped by factories because it somehow doesn't meet size or visual standards
- gleaning free furnature and objects people leave on the side of the road
- gleaning from dumpsters (dumpster diving)
- gleaning in paintings
- gleaning for produce so you know where it comes from
- gleaning for food because you don't have enough money to buy it
- gleaning scraps for art projects
After watching the film, the 16 of us plus Marco Wilkinson, head farmer at George Jones, we went out to the bean and lettuce fields and gleaned what was ripe before the plants were lost to frost. The produce we collected amounted to:
7 pounds of beans (purple, green, and yellow)
7 pounds of butternut squash
15 pounds of lettuce
-----------------------------------
$100 of food !
All of the food was donated to Oberlin's food pantry, Oberlin Community Services. It is towards the end of the month when money for food becomes tight for those on limited budgets, so I know it will be appreciated.
Other News:
Interested in learning about poverty and the Benefit Bank and making a difference in people's lives? Talk to me about a 1-credit private reading for the second module of the semester that starts after fall break.
Interested in doing community service for Winter Term? I have a Benefit Bank project you can jump into, and Sarah Ho and the CSRC are compiling other service WT opportunities. Stop by and see us!
Echoing Green to Award $1 Million to Emerging Social EntrepreneursEchoing Green is looking for our newest class of fellows! For nearly 25 years, Echoing Green has focused its efforts on identifying and funding promising social entrepreneurs to help them launch innovative social change organizations worldwide. We’ve invested close to $30 million in seed funding to nearly 500 social entrepreneurs who work to solve deep-rooted problems in the world through their innovative ideas. Echoing Green has helped launch Teach For America, City Year, Genocide Intervention Network, The SEED School, Global Fund for Children and hundreds of others. Now we’re looking for the next generation talent to deliver bold solutions and social change. Fellows can receive up to $90,000 over a two-year fellowship. Interested? Apply by November 12, 2010: www.echoinggreen.org/fellowship
Friday, October 15, 2010
Find Your Federal Student Loans
Part of being a VISTA is that I'm no longer in school.....which means my student loans are due. Dun dun dunnnnn! Unfortunately, the Financial Aid office did not hand me a paper with loan amounts and where I send the money, so I spent yesterday educating myself on where the loans are and who to pay. I figure there are some more students out there in a similar situation like me, so I have made a handy reference page of what I learned and tacked it permanently to the top of the blog:
Happy Friday!
Happy Friday!
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Hooray!Booooo
If you haven't heard already, today is the last day in the BCSL for Donna Russell, Director of the Bonner Scholars Program. Starting tomorrow Donna will be working in Career Services on Winter Term.
When Donna announced her decision to move to Career Services at staff meeting, there was a brief silence, and then Andy went "Hooray!Booooo." It's a very concise summary; we are thrilled Donna will still be around campus and that she has found something she likes which will give her more time for family, but we will sorely miss her at the BCSL. The Oberlin Bonner Scholars program would not be as amazing or coherent as it is without the Bonner love of Mama Donna. In celebration of Donna and all that she has done (and all that she will do), the BCSL is hosting a reception.
COME TELL DONNA YOU LOVE HER
Bonner Center for Service and Learning (145 W. Lorain St.)
3:30 p.m. until 5 p.m.
When Donna announced her decision to move to Career Services at staff meeting, there was a brief silence, and then Andy went "Hooray!Booooo." It's a very concise summary; we are thrilled Donna will still be around campus and that she has found something she likes which will give her more time for family, but we will sorely miss her at the BCSL. The Oberlin Bonner Scholars program would not be as amazing or coherent as it is without the Bonner love of Mama Donna. In celebration of Donna and all that she has done (and all that she will do), the BCSL is hosting a reception.
COME TELL DONNA YOU LOVE HER
Bonner Center for Service and Learning (145 W. Lorain St.)
3:30 p.m. until 5 p.m.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Monday Round-up
VISTA news: Taxes
I spent the end of last week in Columbus with all my fellow Ohio Benefit Bank VISTAs learning the ins and outs of federal taxes and how using the Benefit Bank software is so much easier than doing taxes by hand. I have now incorporated acronyms like AGI and ETIC into my daily vocabulary. My current VISTA goals include getting ready for tax season, which involves writing module, winter term, and ExCo syllabi and trying to recruit people for all three. Interested in getting involved with one/two/all of them? Email me at okeith @ oberlin.edu
BCSL news: Education Discussion Lunch
Today, Monday, October 11, is an education discussion lunch!
Wilder Hall, room 112, 12:00-1:15
Free pizza and salad lunch provided
Networking and announcements followed by guest speaker and discussion
All are welcome. Please RSVP to Andy Frantz at andy.frantz @ oberlin.edu if possible to ensure enough food is ordered.
FYI news:
Here is an article about West Virginia University's food pantry in the student union for hungry students.
Hooray news:
Hooray for all the students who came to the 10/10/10 Clean It Up Oberlin service event! Here is the website with stats and photos
I spent the end of last week in Columbus with all my fellow Ohio Benefit Bank VISTAs learning the ins and outs of federal taxes and how using the Benefit Bank software is so much easier than doing taxes by hand. I have now incorporated acronyms like AGI and ETIC into my daily vocabulary. My current VISTA goals include getting ready for tax season, which involves writing module, winter term, and ExCo syllabi and trying to recruit people for all three. Interested in getting involved with one/two/all of them? Email me at okeith @ oberlin.edu
BCSL news: Education Discussion Lunch
Today, Monday, October 11, is an education discussion lunch!
Wilder Hall, room 112, 12:00-1:15
Free pizza and salad lunch provided
Networking and announcements followed by guest speaker and discussion
All are welcome. Please RSVP to Andy Frantz at andy.frantz @ oberlin.edu if possible to ensure enough food is ordered.
FYI news:
Here is an article about West Virginia University's food pantry in the student union for hungry students.
Hooray news:
Hooray for all the students who came to the 10/10/10 Clean It Up Oberlin service event! Here is the website with stats and photos
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Reflection: A Complete Education
For my 4 years of undergraduate education in Oberlin, I did my Bonner service work at
When I started my service freshman year, it was honestly something to bring in money for tuition, fulfill Bonner requirements, and occupy me in my spare time. I had benefited socially from service work back home and sought the same benefits in Oberlin, so I came with the mindset I wanted to get involved in the community. So I did---I started at the Oberlin Heritage Center within the first month of school. I expected it to take a sort of back-seat to my classroom education. I was here to get some smarts and change the world, darn it, and the books and professors were going to show me how.
The longer I was in school, the more I grew frustrated with....school. Academics. Taking tests. Arguing about topics only PhDs cared about. Quibbling over the details that didn't and don't really matter in my day to day life. Will knowing how the dinosaurs died pay my cell phone bill? Does writing about Leah give meaning to my life? Will figuring out how to draw foreshortened limbs solve world hunger? I enjoyed my work in the classroom, but did it make a difference? On some level it did, but it was hard for me to see it.
But at my service sites, under my supervisors....I worked to compile, stuff, and stamp bulk mailings asking for donations for my non-profit, and saw the results when I opened the mail and a check fell out on to my desk. I made posters, and they were used to advertise events that people came to. I learned how to calculate sales tax using 3 different methods. I had people thank me for opening the gallery because they'd traveled a ways to come see the show. I helped cater gallery openings. I manned the phones. Almost as a by-product I picked up the practical skills that did not come from book learning or lectures halls---of how to be professional, socialize at fundraisers, and set out a spread for a large gathering. The more educated I became in the liberal arts, the more grateful I was to have Bonner to support me in my pursuit of practical skills I could bring to the workplace. I am a life-long learner, but I relish the practical.
Practical (www.thefreedictionary.com)
Of, relating to, governed by, or acquired through practice or action, rather than theory, speculation, or ideals
It is wonderful to make a practical difference in the Oberlin community in a way that papers and tests don't.
I am sad to see the passing of the concept of apprenticeship. There is a balance to book learning and real-life experience, and sometimes I feel our current culture puts too much emphasis on the book part. There seems to be a growing movement in college admissions to require internships and volunteer work, but I suspect it's still heavily weighted in favor of test scores. Bonner Scholars, Community-Based Learning, and Community Service Work-Study all work to integrate service work and associated skills into regular academic life. In my head, they fill the need that regular academics don't meet. Community service completed my education.
- Oberlin Heritage Center doing public relations tasks and leading tours of the grounds
- Firelands Association for the Visual Arts watching the gallery and store on weekends
- My senior year I did a stint in the Creative Arts Therapy center at Kendal at Oberlin helping the elderly residents entertain themselves through art and other creative tasks
- Biology, because it was a practical science with many applications and job opportunities
- Studio Art, because if I don't create things my brain overheats and explodes (yes, it's messy)
- Religion (mostly the text and afterlife of stories in the Hebrew Bible) to understand what I saw around me and because I like stories
When I started my service freshman year, it was honestly something to bring in money for tuition, fulfill Bonner requirements, and occupy me in my spare time. I had benefited socially from service work back home and sought the same benefits in Oberlin, so I came with the mindset I wanted to get involved in the community. So I did---I started at the Oberlin Heritage Center within the first month of school. I expected it to take a sort of back-seat to my classroom education. I was here to get some smarts and change the world, darn it, and the books and professors were going to show me how.
The longer I was in school, the more I grew frustrated with....school. Academics. Taking tests. Arguing about topics only PhDs cared about. Quibbling over the details that didn't and don't really matter in my day to day life. Will knowing how the dinosaurs died pay my cell phone bill? Does writing about Leah give meaning to my life? Will figuring out how to draw foreshortened limbs solve world hunger? I enjoyed my work in the classroom, but did it make a difference? On some level it did, but it was hard for me to see it.
But at my service sites, under my supervisors....I worked to compile, stuff, and stamp bulk mailings asking for donations for my non-profit, and saw the results when I opened the mail and a check fell out on to my desk. I made posters, and they were used to advertise events that people came to. I learned how to calculate sales tax using 3 different methods. I had people thank me for opening the gallery because they'd traveled a ways to come see the show. I helped cater gallery openings. I manned the phones. Almost as a by-product I picked up the practical skills that did not come from book learning or lectures halls---of how to be professional, socialize at fundraisers, and set out a spread for a large gathering. The more educated I became in the liberal arts, the more grateful I was to have Bonner to support me in my pursuit of practical skills I could bring to the workplace. I am a life-long learner, but I relish the practical.
Practical (www.thefreedictionary.com)
Of, relating to, governed by, or acquired through practice or action, rather than theory, speculation, or ideals
It is wonderful to make a practical difference in the Oberlin community in a way that papers and tests don't.
I am sad to see the passing of the concept of apprenticeship. There is a balance to book learning and real-life experience, and sometimes I feel our current culture puts too much emphasis on the book part. There seems to be a growing movement in college admissions to require internships and volunteer work, but I suspect it's still heavily weighted in favor of test scores. Bonner Scholars, Community-Based Learning, and Community Service Work-Study all work to integrate service work and associated skills into regular academic life. In my head, they fill the need that regular academics don't meet. Community service completed my education.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Article Round-Up
Last night I had the pleasure of attending Generous Helpings, the big fundraiser event for Second Harvest Foodbank of North Central Ohio. On a cold and windy night (tent for the event...not so much), chefs from the area gathered in the North Central Foodbank food warehouse to show off their skills, and supporters of the foodbank gathered to eat the chef's tasty things, bid in a silent auction, and say hello to each other. I had a lot of fun eating incredibly tasty and unusual food like chocolate turtles, bacon toffee chocolate, homemade tortilla chips, and radish leaf salad with the lovely people of OBB, VISTA, and Second Harvest. There is nothing like good company and good food gathered in one place for a good cause! Here is an article with pictures.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For your education, I would also like to direct your attention to these articles on poverty in our area:
Cleveland.com article on Cleveland
Mansfield News Journal on Ohio's recession
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For your education, I would also like to direct your attention to these articles on poverty in our area:
Cleveland.com article on Cleveland
Mansfield News Journal on Ohio's recession
 |
| Logo above property of NBC. Learning things is good! |
Friday, October 1, 2010
Winter Term: Ohio Benefit Bank
Interested in working with the Ohio Benefit Bank to eliminate poverty? I've got a Winter Term position for you!
Community Outreach Intern/Ohio Benefit Bank Counselor
For more information on the Ohio Benefit Bank Counselor, click here.
Community Outreach Intern/Ohio Benefit Bank Counselor
The Community outreach intern/s will assist in the effort to stimulate the economy and fight poverty in Lorain County by helping residents access available tax credits and other resources. You will collaborate with two AmeriCorps* VISTA volunteers to coordinate free tax clinics and to devise and implement strategies for encouraging residents to use the free Ohio Benefit Bank tax service. You will learn about the programs run by OASHF and the basics about taxes, available tax credits, and other public benefit programs. The position will be based in Oberlin, but will regularly involve travel around Lorain County, including direct service opportunities at the Second Harvest Foodbank in Lorain, OH. Full and Half Credit options available.
For more information on the Ohio Benefit Bank Counselor, click here.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)