Maurice R. Robinson Mini-Grant Program -- Service Learning, Community Service, Funding

Maurice R. Robinson Mini-Grants
Teaching About Communities, Problems, and Change

2003-2004 Recipients

Civic Engagement

Back to Basics: Bridging African-American and Asian American Communities
Pan-Asian American Community House, Philadelphia
Project goal: Promote cross-race friendships and to provide character education for elementary school students
In response to growing tension between ethnic/racial groups in Philadelphia public schools, high school and college students of Asian descent will incorporate Asian-American studies into the existing curriculum of an elementary school. There will be 12 different lessons that develop sense of community. The activities explore friendship through jump rope activities and the creation of a friendship bracelet.

Hispanic Outreach Initiative
Madison Area YMCA, Madison, New Jersey
Project goal: Connect teenagers with adult leaders in the community
Students will conduct four quarterly Hispanic Outreach Summits including outside resource people in an effort to instill community leadership traits.
Contact: Cynthia W. O'Donnell, Development Director, (973) 377-6200 ext. 231, www.madisonareaymca.org

Operation Good Citizen
WR Tolar K-8 School, Bristol, Florida
Project goal: Heighten the awareness of state government system and to instill the value of good citizenship
After learning about local and state government, fifth-grade students will take a field trip to the state capital, tour the government facilities, and attend a session of the legislature. Students will then prepare a documentary video presentation to share with K-4 students across the nation.
Contact: Michelle Gowan, (850) 643-2426, gowan_m@firn.edu, http://www.firn.edu/schools/liberty/wrtolar

Can Power Still Lie with the People?
HOPE Charter School, Philadelphia
Project goal: Empower minority youth
Youth often feel they have little impact on government. This is especially true in minority communities with a lack of resources. High-school students, together with members of the community, will identify, research, and design a public-policy action plan that will be presented to a panel made up of community leaders and elected officials. The students will track their progress with a photographic record of pictures taken before and after intervention.

Teens Against Tobacco Use
Stafford County Public Schools, Stafford, Virginia
Project goal: Deconstruct glamorization of tobacco
The DARE program was designed to combat drug use. TATU provides a necessary supplement to this curriculum by addressing the risks of tobacco use and combating the glamorization of tobacco in advertisements and the media. High school students design the program themselves and serve as peer-teachers, delivering information on health issues related to tobacco use to local elementary school students.

ConServe with Us
Lake-Noxen Elementary School, Harveys Lake, Pennsylvania
Project goal: Increase awareness of non-point, source-water pollution
Special needs students will encourage community action and awareness of Pennsylvania's non-point, source-water pollution problems by disseminating of high interest low readability materials that clearly indicate what action needs to be taken. Students will plant and care for a soil erosion restoration nursery. The students will do research on this issue and then widely distribute information.

Delowe Community Asset Mapping Project
Families First, Atlanta, Georgia
Project goal: Motivate resident's involvement in the community, create a larger sense of community and lay a foundation for a number of resident-led community involvement projects.
Youth from an apartment community will participate in an asset-mapping project in order to identify and mobilize community strengths. Students will participate in team building activities, leadership training, survey instrument development, fundraising, data collection and analysis. There will be a visual depiction of community resources.

Venice Teen Court
Venice Community Housing Corporation, Venice, California
Project goal: Develop leadership skills and practical understanding of legal system.
Middle school and high school students will work together to plan and implement a Youth Court. Students will participate in workshops regarding the legal system, leadership development and community organizing. Sentencing will involve community work.

Youth Speak
Urban Youth Action, Inc., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Project goal: Provide resources which will inform youth about positive ways to combat violence in their communities.
In response to 18 homicides that occurred in the month of August, students will create and disseminate a quarterly newsletter that provides culturally relevant solutions to this problem. They will conduct research and develop articles. Create surveys and interview questions. Organizations will help out with this process.

Durango Teen Court
Durango High School, Durango, Colorado
Project goal: Increase teenager's understanding of legal system.
The Durango Teen Court is a community/school-based intervention program that provides a positive alternative to school expulsions and traditional court proceedings for juvenile offenders. Students serve as judges, attorneys, bailiffs, and jurors providing defendants who opt for the Teen Court with restorative sentences for the crimes they commit. The court provides valuable service-learning experiences for students enrolled in the Street Law, Business Law, and Personal Law classes offered at Durango High.

Eyes Wide Open
Fulton Academy, Fulton, Missouri
Project goal: Promote understanding of various ethnic groups.
Despite, or because, of the diversity of the small community of Fulton many students see their community as racist and close-minded. This perception is actually driving many youth to desire for their education to serve as a means out of Fulton and not as a means of improving and brining together the diverse populations in their community. To address this need, high school students will organize a week of events for the community that will encourage communication and understanding and break down widely held historic stereotypes. The service will be tied in with Life Skills and Service Learning class curriculums.
Contact: Jill Flakne, (573) 642-5559, jill_flakne@fulton.k12.mo.us, http://www.fulton.k12.mo.us/~Fulton_Academy

Unifying Cultures
Dalton High School, Dalton, Georgia
Project goal: Use murals as a catalyst for cross ethnic understanding.
Addressing the cultural misunderstandings that have been increasing in the Dalton community since a recent influx of Hispanics, high school students will plan and paint a mural in a largely African American part of town. The cultural exchange will incorporate American History, ESL, Spanish, and Art. This will also provide a valuable service by painting over graffiti.

Your Vote Counts!
Northside High School, Jacksonville, North Carolina
Project goal: Increase voter turnout at elections.
Students enrolled in Civics seek to increase voter participation by securing at least 1000 pledges from eligible voters to visit the polls next election. Students will accomplish this goal by distributing voter registration forms, creating and distributing flyers, and staffing information booths in community gathering places.

Mentoring Children and Youth

Time Together, Sharing Together
Marcy Open House, Minneapolis
Project goal: To bridge intergenerational gaps
Students will partner with residents at a senior housing facility near the school. Students will visit seniors on a weekly basis and engage them in various activities including shared lunches, icebreakers, games, and projects. Students will also conduct oral-history interviews in a "Life Stories" project. Outside resource people will teach students about the aging process and the challenges seniors face.

Literacy Link
St. Vincent de Paul Catholic School, Salt Lake City
Project goal: Increase literacy among abused children with the hope of instilling a passion for reading.
Students will work in teams to make recordings of popular children's books and present the recordings to a shelter for abused children. Each participant will read different characters. As preparation, students will survey younger readers to determine which books are the most popular.

I.C.A.N., Inc.
Interfaith Community Action Networks, Inc. (ICAN), Madison, Florida
Project goal: Provide a safe environment for students to complete homework
This project takes place at an after-school and feeding program for children with working parents. Student crews are responsible for essential tasks: set up, food service, supervising younger children, and enforcing rules. Program participants will receive a healthy meal, a safe place to interact with caring adults and with their peers, and enjoy access to a lending library and a small computer lab. Participants will develop good character traits and learn teamwork while gaining hands-on work ethics.

I Never Knew I Could Be a Hero
Pacoima Middle School, Pacoima, California
Project goal: Increase writing skills for middle school students and appreciation for reading for elementary children
Students enrolled in "Developing Readers and Writers," a mandatory, district-supported, reading-intervention program will participate in an eight-week after-school service learning club. Here, participants will focus on literacy skills by creating storybooks to share with elementary-school students and holiday cards for pediatric hospital patients. They will choose the type of storybook they will write and the grade level of students they will target. They will visit the elementary class to read their books and give each book to the class as a present.

GDS Reads!
Georgetown Day School, Washington, D.C.
Project goal: Foster a love of learning through the friendships tutors develop with their students
High School students involved in GDS Reads!, a student-run literacy program, provides individualized tutoring/mentoring in different subject areas to underserved students who attend Washington, D.C. Public Schools. High School students assess and meet the participant's educational needs to best determine how to serve as mentors and role models. Sessions include a well-balanced dinner followed by an hour of guided tutoring.

Ready to Read
AZ 4-H Development, Phoenix
Project goal: Increase literacy
This project is an after-school program designed for children in grades two through five who live in high-crime areas. The children will select and catalog books and develop a checkout system to create a library. They will be mentored in reading and taught to demonstrate their learning though creative book presentations in the form of drawings, skits, and songs. They will also reflect on each book's characters and themes.
Contact: Ruth Carter, (602) 470-8086 ext. 348, rcarter@ag.arizona.edu

Health and Hygiene
Big Brothers Big Sisters, Newark, New Jersey
Project goal: Provide health education to students
After having participated in a healthcare fair, middle-school students were inspired to hold their own healthcare fair at their school. They will organize and implement a variety of healthcare clinics available to peers. Students will conduct research and collaborate with outside organizations. Each clinic will have a different theme and be hands-on.

Heritage Profile
Phillips Middle School, Phillips, Maine
Project goal: Heighten civic awareness and increase interest in preserving community heritage
Through exploration of local and state history, seventh-graders will develop a heritage profile in which they will choose and explore a topic from local or state history and choose a presentation format. They will also visit natural and historical landmarks. Outside resource people including elderly family members and other senior citizens will contribute their personal histories.

Reading Fun with Clifford
Berlin Brothervalley Chapter of the National Junior Honor Society, Berlin, Pennsylvania
Project goal: Stimulate a passion for reading among young children and develop leadership skills for providers
Honor society members will work with pre-school age children to select a book from the Clifford reading series and implement a craft or activity that relates to the story. At the end of the session, pre-school children will take their books home and share it with their parents.

Hoggetowne In Town; Students Educating Students
Hoggetowne Middle School, Gainesville, Florida
Project goal: Increase understanding of hearing impaired community
Middle-school students enrolled in an American sign language class will spearhead the project. Students will visit elementary schools in order to promote understanding of people with hearing impairments and introduce American sign language to others using skits, songs and stories. They will then compile the information in a booklet to distribute to local schools.

Project Linus
St. Joseph Elementary School, Des Moines, Iowa
Project goal: Provide emotional support to hospitalized children
Named after one of the characters in the "Charlie Brown" comic-strip series, this project gives students the opportunity to fabricate and provide blankets to hospitalized children. Students will select the material and create blankets using a cut-and-tie method. Parents will offer guidance and transport the students to and from the hospital.

Lighted School Project
Ladysmith Elementary School, Ladysmith, Wisconsin
Project goal: One-to-one reading time builds positive relationships among students
Fourth-grade students will receive instruction on service learning methodology and act as tutors in the area of reading and as mentors for second- and third-grade students. Fourth-grade students will receive training from a reading specialist and be supervised by retired teachers. Each pair will complete a reading journal that documents reading strategies.
Contact: Marge Charipar, Mary Jane Schuchardt, (715) 532-5464, mcharipar@lhsd.k12.wi.us, http://lhsd.k12.wi.us

Books from the Heart
Rocky Mount Elementary, Marietta, Georgia
Project goal: Promote literacy awareness
First graders will create books by self-selecting topics, writing complete stories with the aid of fifth graders and publishing the final product. The books will be donated to a local children's hospital.

Teens Teaching for Tomorrow
Community Assessment Referral and Education, Fraser, Michigan
Project goal: Students will provide a research based early childhood substance abuse prevention program to young children
The program will focus on goal-setting, social competencies, and improved healthy decision-making for student teachers and preschool/kindergarten students.
Contact: Shelly Bania, Prevention Services, Early Childhood, (586) 541-0033 x222, lzott@careofmacomb.com, www.careofmacomb.com

Just Like You and Me
Clay County Schools, Clay, West Virginia
Project goal: Provide role models for teenagers
This rural Appalachian community suffers from extreme economic challenges and carries largest illiterate population in West Virginia; students are desperately in need of local role models. To address this challenge, high-school students in literature class will research and read the works of local writers. They will present these works to local elementary students and work together to write their own children's stories. One of the highlights of this project will be the guest appearance of a local author.
Contact: Cindy Willis, (304) 587-4266, cdwillis@access.k12.wv.us

Literary Lunches
Garrard County 4-H Council, Lancaster, Kentucky
Project goal: Foster a love for reading, creating, and helping others
Youth will have the opportunity to mentor younger students and promote literacy by establishing book clubs. Fifth-grade students will assume roles as mentors to first graders to read and discuss a book of the week. Together they will produce a work of art to be shared with rest of student body.

Tutoring on Tuesdays
Strongville Youth Commission, Strongville, Ohio
Project goal: Provide mentoring for middle school students.
High School students will volunteer as tutors to youths in grades six through nine. They will advertise, organize, and plan all activities related to project.

Honduran Pen Pals Program
Upper Bucks YMCA, Quakertown, Pennsylvania
Project goal: Children will become more informed and aware of other cultures to bridge the gap between Third-World countries and U.S. children.
Students from an after-school, child-care program will develop a pen pal project with children in Honduras. American children will collect items from the community to send to Honduras. The students will also learn about Honduran culture.
Contact: Allyson S. Miner, Membership Development Director, (215) 536-8841, aminer@nni.com, www.ubymca.org

Around the World in 80 Bites
Ohio Valley Big Brother's/Big Sisters, Evansville, Indiana
Project goal: Provide working-class latchkey children with nutritious meals and enrichment activities
Students will be divided into groups to conduct research on a particular country. They will find out what traditional foods are served in that country and study the games people play. Latchkey students will visit each station and receive a folder to keep information they gather.

Show Me the Money!
Cloverport Schools, Cloverport, Kentucky
Project goal: Develop a basic money skills curriculum
Many students graduate from high school without learning the basics of money management. To address this need, freshman high school students, aided by civic leaders and business owners, will work together to develop a basic money-skills curriculum. The students will then use this curriculum to teach money skills to primary students.

Hunger

TJHS Courtyard Garden Project
Tillamook Junior High School, Tillamook, Oregon
Project goal: Teach students to prepare nutritious snacks and meals
Middle-school students will build vegetable beds to produce fresh produce. The produce harvested will be used to supplement the school lunch program.

Treats and Feet - Helping the Homeless
Kimberly Center West Grade School, Davenport, Iowa
Project goal: Deepen student's awareness of the challenges of homelessness
Special-education students will make treats and buy socks to distribute to homeless citizens. The students will also assist in serving a meal at a shelter.

Environment

Bats and Insects: Helpful or Harmful?
Peabody School, Washington, DC
Project goal: Deconstruct negative image of bats and insects by informing the public about the importance of insects in our ecosystem
Students will engage in a study of insect populations at local parks. They will also learn about bats and their role in keeping insect populations low. This information will be made available at visitor's center.

Creative Young Conservationists Learning through Education and Service (CYCLES)
Louise S. McGehee School, New Orleans
Project goal: Increase importance of conserving natural resources and recycling of "waste" products
The students will work in-groups to create art projects using recycled materials. They will generate project ideas, gather needed materials, and execute the project with groups of children visiting the Children's Museum. They will also implement a school-wide recycling program.
Contact: Kindy Verderber, (504) 561-1224 ext. 463, kindyv@mcgehee.k12.la.us

Ouzel Falls Interpretative Trail, Big Sky, Montana
Ophir School, Gallatin Gateway, Montana
Project goal: Environmental awareness through community education leading to better care of the land
Sixth- and seventh-grade students will develop an interpretive feature as part of an existing hiking trail. Students will research ecosystem topics, design brochures, and plan the placement of signs along the trail. They will decide on location of the signs and the topics to explore. Finally, they will present projects to school board and student body.

Lamoille River Stewardship Project
Peoples Academy Middle Level, Morrisville, Vermont
Project goal: Preserve a river for future generations
Seventh-grade students will conduct a Lamoille River water-quality survey. They will visit the local sewage-treatment plant where they will investigate the historical uses of the river and will participate in a panel discussion with local water experts. The students will plant tress in an effort to reduce erosion, preserve wildlife habitat and improve the river's overall water quality. Students will share their results with the community through distributing an informational brochure detailing the history and uses of the river and water-quality data.

Memorial Manor Butterfly Garden
Whispering Pines School, Miramar, Florida
Project goal: Create communal space for relaxation.
Emotionally disturbed vocational students will design and construct an expanded butterfly garden for a non-profit nursing home. The project will focus on environmental improvement, quality of life improvement for the residents, and improved self-confidence for the students.

Native Habitat Garden Restoration Project
Kellogg Polytechnic Elementary School, Pomona, California
Project goal: Develop environmental appreciation; create a quiet place to meditate and think.
Students will restore a native habitat garden and create a student vegetable garden. Food harvested from the garden will be made available to needy community members.

The Health and Heritage of Johnston's Waterways
Johnston High School, Johnston, Rhode Island
Project goal: Provide health education for community
Utilizing the town's ponds and streams as living classrooms, at-risk high school students will test the local waterways to determine the affects on their health. Test results will be broadcast on the local public access cable station and coloring books and lessons on the waterways will be created for use in second grade classrooms.

Got Cats?
Wellington High School, Wellington, Florida
Project goal: Provide loving homes and services for cats.
The feral cat population living under the portable classrooms has exploded. The Adopt-A-Cat club plans to create and maintain bulletin boards featuring students and their kitties; advertise, promote, and execute a "canned cat food drive;" make and sell catnip balls, kitty treats, and feather dusters to raise money for spaying, neutering and adoption fees for adaptable cats and kittens.
Contact: Mary Inglis, (561) 795-4921, inglism@palmbeach.k12.fl.us, www.palmbeach.k12.fl.us/wellingtonhs

Poverty

Sew Warm
The Youth and Community Accountability and Prevention Program, Stillwater, Minnesota
Project goal: Bridge intergenerational gap and provide winter clothing for community.
Students from an alternative suspension program will spend quality time with senior citizens by making fleece hats, mittens, and blankets for needy community members.The clothing will be donated to two agencies that serve the underprivileged.
Contact: Dee White, (651) 351-8064, whited@stillwater.k12.mn.us, http://www.ysb.net/YCAPP.htm

Diaper Service Project
Lutheran Social Services of Indiana, Fort Wayne, Indiana
Project goal: Increase awareness of poverty and social responsibility.
Elementary students will collect and repackage disposable diapers to be donated to community service organizations that provide diapers to working class families. They will also create a curriculum for students in grade levels K-8th. Community agencies will distribute diapers. Students will publicize project to entire student body by performing three short skits.

Aging

Ambler History Project
Ambler Elementary School, Pickens, South Carolina
Project goal: Through historical research students will connect their experiences to those of the past.
Fourth and fifth grade students will identify relatives, teachers and others who can contribute their memories to oral histories. The students will be responsible for conducting the interviews, publishing and archiving the information. A local librarian will also provide support for the project.

Friends to Veterans
Tiffany Creek Elementary School, Boyceville, Wisconsin
Project goal: Receive a firsthand account of history to pass on to future generations.
Elementary students will pay tribute to war veterans by organizing a patriotic program. To prepare for this event, students will read books about children's experiences with war and watch a video about America's veterans. The students will interact with veterans to learn about history.

Breaking the Barriers
Rosebank Elementary School, Chula Vista, California
Project goal: Enrich the lives of seniors in the early stages of Alzheimer's by involving them in meaningful activities that will improve their self-esteem.
Fourth-grade students will visit patients at an Alzheimer Family Center to provide companionship and create projects with patients. Together they will make cards for hospital patients, participate in Create-A-Smile Pet Therapy, sing-along, read-aloud and celebrate holidays.

Gonzaga Prep and Hillyard Heritage Museum Oral History Project
Gonzaga Preparatory School, Spokane, Washington
Project goal: Record living history for future generations
As the oldest neighborhood in Spokane, Hillyard plays a unique role in the history of the region. Residents of the community are as yet an untapped resource of local history. U.S. History students will conduct, transcribe, and archive oral histories with elderly community members and members of the Hillyard Heritage Museum. The completed product will be donated to the Museum of Arts and Culture.

A Walk Down Main Street
Pickens High School, Pickens, South Carolina
Project goal: Highlight strengths of a community
As a fast growing community, Pickens County's community identity is endangered. High school geography students will interview town elders, research land deeds and documents, and analyze photographs in order to construct an exhibit demonstrating the cultural and historic changes of buildings along the town's main street. The students will compile this information and present it to the general public with the use of artistic representations of the building and chronological displays of pictures and documents reflecting the shifts brought about by each era.
Contact: Danny Travis, (864) 878-8730, travisjd@pickens.k12.sc.us

Disabilities

Just Friends: A Celebration of Diverse Abilities
John J. McLaughlin Cumberland Hill School, Cumberland, Rhode Island
Project goal: Develop an understanding and appreciation for the accomplishments and abilities of the new friends.
Students will conduct research about different disabilities. Then they will interview a community representative who has a specific disability. Students will then start writing, compiling information to be gathered in a book. As the culminating event, students will share their knowledge with others by delivering a presentation at a school community meeting.

Crime and Safety Issues

Lewis and Clark Community Oriented Policing Substation (C.O.P.S. Shop)
Lewis and Clark High School, Spokane, Washington
Project goal: Provide safe environment at school.
In this inner-city school, student serve as the eyes and ears for the school security officer by completing hourly patrols through and around the school and parking lots where they watch for vandalism, graffiti, or unauthorized individuals. They also paint over graffiti and write up their own crime reports.

They Say We're Dreamers
CODE Program/Baptiste Educational Center, Kansas City, Missouri
Project goal: Develop peace solutions to social issues.
Students will review a case study of a selected Nobel Peace Laureate's life. They will then spend two days shadowing the Laureate and exploring world situations and the strategies and character needed to bring peace in the midst of global conflict. The Laureate acts as a mentor, and students become apprentices learning and practicing the skills to become peacemakers. Students will apply this experience by identifying a community need and designing and implementing an original "peace project."

Tolerance, Kindness Toward All
Rockbridge County High School, Lexington, Virginia
Project goal: Promote harmony among various ethnic groups.
Interact Club members will initiate Tolerance Awareness Month to promote an environment that is physically and emotionally safe for all students. The club will explore the tolerance issue mainly through an examination of contemporary international issues and events. Guest speaker with international experience along with local professors and college students will be invited to after-school sessions provided for the larger student body.
Contact: Chip Coalter, Alice Waddell, (540) 463-7386, alice_waddell@rcs.rang.k12.va.us

Health

HIV/AIDS Awareness
The Hudson School, Hoboken, New Jersey
Project goal: Educate community about AIDS
In collaboration with local artists and Doctors Without Borders, high school students enrolled in health classes will conduct research on HIV/AIDS topics in order to develop a brochure with facts about AIDS to be distributed to their peers on AIDS Awareness Day. The project will culminate with a final performance filled with poetry, music, and theater designed to communicate factual information about the illness.
Contact: Lisa Wittner, Dean of Student Life, (201) 659-8335, lwittner@thehudsonschool.org, www.thehudsonschool.org

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For more additional information please contact, Katie Moore, Robinson Mini-Grant Program, Constitutional Rights Foundation, 601 South Kingsley Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90005, (213) 316-2104, Fax (213) 386-0459.