OACS Update
2015/16 Student Service Survey
The numbers are in! Vanderbilt students continued serving our community to an impressive degree this year and we are happy to report the impact made by OACS-affiliated service organizations:
- 20,530 hours served
- 814 events organized
- $155,913 in charitable donations
- 85% of service leaders ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ with the OACS advisory relationship
- 24 faculty partnerships
Thanks to all the assessment respondents who helped us gather these statistics, and to our partners around DOS for helping facilitate another year of dedicated student service.
Meaningful Service Toolkit
OACS Graduate Assistant Melissa Looby has created an online toolkit for students, faculty, and staff who wish to engage in service. The Meaningful Service Toolkit is an ever-changing compendium of resources collected in collaboration with peers, colleagues, students, community members, faculty, and staff. The resources in this toolkit, grouped thematically, are available to all campus partners, constituents, and community members. The purpose of the toolkit is to further the engagement of the Vanderbilt community in meaningful ways. The resources found in this toolkit serve as catalysts for further educating, inspiring, and strengthening the techniques of facilitating humble and meaningful service, locally and globally.
Oasis Center
Oasis Center has partnered with OACS to display and sell artwork created by the youth of Nashville. Founded in 1969 to provide community-based care for youth experiencing alcohol and drug problems, Oasis Center has evolved over the past four decades into one of the nation’s leading youth-serving organizations, offering safety and support to Nashville’s most vulnerable and disconnected youth, while seeking to also teach young people how to transform the conditions that create problems for them in the first place. Come to the OACS lounge and contact Abby Whisenant if interested in making a purchase.
Redefine
Preliminary assessment results are in for the Redefine program, and student satisfaction has increased this year! Co-led by Heather Jones and Dave Brown in partnership with the Nashville Food Project, Redefine explores issues of social justice, cross-cultural relationship building, and food insecurity.
Pathfinder Award Winners
The William Aaron Pathfinder Award recognizes juniors and seniors whose uncommon community service efforts and leadership skills demonstrate vision, creativity, and innovation. Named in recognition of William Aaron (Class of ’89), whose own path finding led to the creation of the Office of Volunteer Activities – now the Office of Active Citizenship and Service – this award celebrates Vanderbilt University’s extraordinary history of service to the community.
This year’s winners are Allison Quintanilla and Anna Zhao. Allison and Anna’s work in the community reminds us that dedicated service can extend in countless directions and touch hundreds of lives. Please join OACS in congratulating Allison and Anna as the 2016 William Aaron Pathfinder Award winners!
VIEW
The 2016 Vanderbilt Internship Experience in Washington, D.C. (VIEW) cohort is making final preparations for an exciting summer! 22 students will be working with a variety of organizations, government agencies, and non-profits, including Cassidy and Associates, the Center for American Progress, the Senate Finance Committee, Project on Middle East Diplomacy, Vanderbilt University Office of Federal Relations, state representatives, and more. During their two months in D.C., VIEW students will also meet regularly with their alumni mentor, participate in service opportunities, attend networking events, and enjoy the many cultural offerings of our nation’s capital. Many thanks to the Center for Student Professional Development, the Department of Political Science, and the Vanderbilt Alumni Association for ongoing support of the VIEW program!
Global Service Programs
This summer, 38 Vanderbilt students will serve in Ecuador, South Africa, London, and Morocco as members of the OACS Global Service Programs. These dedicated students will spend 4-6 weeks in their host country as they work to address community needs while serving alongside local partners. On April 24th, we gathered as a large group, along with Ed and Janice Nichols, for a final seminar before serving abroad.
- Morocco
The OACS Global Service Program in Morocco aims to provide a comprehensive service-learning experience whereby students are immersed in Moroccan culture and society, while serving alongside locally run organizations to build capacity and address social needs. Through living with families in the Rabat medina and delving into missions related to inequity and justice at their service sites, students gain a greater understanding of the interconnectedness of humankind and of the vital importance of global citizenship.
- Ecuador
Vanderbilt students are immersed in Ecuadorian culture by working alongside indigenous and marginalized communities to better understand social and environmental injustices from a community-based service perspective. Through a valued, 6-year partnership with Yanapuma Foundation in Quito, the Ecuador Global Service program seeks to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes for the Vanderbilt student cohort, local partners, and the communities served.
- London
Working with east London non-profit and governmental partners, Vanderbilt students serve in a variety of capacities. The focus of this immersive experience sees students serving alongside those who work to alleviate the systemic public health challenges facing marginalized populations. Our ultimate goal is for students to experience transformative, positive change in their lives as they humbly and diligently serve the communities of east London.
- South Africa
Despite democratization and the dismantling of apartheid in 1994, the legacy of its brutal political oppression continues to afflict South Africans, and millions still suffer the ramifications. These include, but are not limited to, desperate poverty, little or no access to basic services such as water and sewage systems, lack of access to basic health services, and inadequate educational opportunities. The intent of the South Africa Project is to provide a dynamic opportunity for Vanderbilt students to engage in meaningful service in some of the most marginalized areas of Port Elizabeth, Johannesburg and Cape Town.
Volunteer Action Network
Senior and all-star ASB site leader Brandan Gillespie served on a panel to discuss “Out of the Box Volunteer Opportunities” at the Volunteer Action Network monthly meeting. Brandan was able to teach volunteer coordinators from around Nashville about the Alternative Spring Break experience and the benefits for both the student and the community partner. Thank you Brandan and Alternative Spring Break for sharing your insight and passion for ASB with the Nashville community!
Inequality and the Digital Divide
OACS and the Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center invite the Vanderbilt community to join a project addressing the lack of access to digital technology and the internet in low income communities around Nashville. This project, Inequality and the Digital Divide: You Can Make a Difference, was born out of a community partnership with the ConnectHome Initiative led by the Metro Government of Nashville and Davidson County and the Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency. The ConnectHome Initiative will supply computer training and one year of free internet access to the residents of Cayce Place in east Nashville. Vanderbilt donated desktop computers to the Community Foundation of Middle TN. The Vanderbilt community is invited to volunteer as facilitators in the computer training courses. To learn more about Inequality and the Digital Divide: You Can Make a Difference and how to get involved, please visit the website.
President’s Honor Roll
Each year, the Chancellor’s Office solicits the help of OACS to submit an application to the President’s Community Service Honor Roll on behalf of Vanderbilt University. This application could not be compiled without the help and insight of our many colleagues across the Vanderbilt campus. The President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll is a nationally renowned program that recognizes a select number of post-secondary institutions that embody the values of exemplary community service and achieve meaningful outcomes in their communities. For the past five years, Vanderbilt has been honored to be a part of this prestigious list of post-secondary institutions. This year, however, our goal is to be presented the President’s Award – which is granted to the top five universities on the Honor Roll. The distinction between the Honor Roll and the President’s Award is based primarily on the quality of detailed data collected from faculty and staff.
OACS will guide this effort and is currently seeking to compile data from the 2014-2015 academic year for each campus department and student organization, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. In doing so, we hope that the information you share will enable us to highlight more fully the University’s strong commitment to community service in all areas of its work. Additional information about the Honor Roll and the President’s Award can be found here. You may choose to fill out the Microsoft Word document attached to the Honor Roll email or the following Anchorlink form.
Community Mapping
Service to the Nashville community and society at large is a core component of Vanderbilt University’s mission. Vanderbilt continues to serve its neighbors in the greater Nashville community – and around the world – through numerous projects and initiatives, including but not limited to service-learning, student-led service organizations, and campus-wide service efforts. In an effort to promote equity, empathy, and excellence in all endeavors, Vanderbilt prioritizes service as a mechanism through which these core values manifest in students, faculty and staff.
By conducting a survey of service across the university, the Office of Active Citizenship and Service has sought to develop a university-wide understanding and picture of community service among key offices and departments in the Vanderbilt community. To achieve this ardent task, several meetings with numerous offices and departments across the institution were scheduled in an effort to gain a qualitative perspective of service in the context of each office and department. More specifically, OACS is pursuing to understand how service and community engagement is defined and executed in academic classrooms, administrative offices, and beyond. As a result, this project will provide a holistic overview of service at Vanderbilt University as well as define opportunities for trans-institutional collaboration across the university in the future.