Swearer Center for Public Service
Through programming, advising and fellowships, the Swearer Center engages the university in collaborations with local partners to strengthen communities and better prepare students to lead lives of effective action.
News
BIF-5 Summit Videos Now On-Line
Released: November 3, 2009
Business Innovation Factory
Videos from this year's BIF-5 Collaborative Innovation Summit are now available in the BIF Innovation Story Studio! Check out all the content from this year's sold-out event. While you are there, check out all the videos from past BIF Summits as well.
The only thing better than hearing a story is sharing a story, so pass the good news on and refer your friends, co-workers and co-conspirators to the Innovation Story Studio.
Rhode Island’s Urban Education Task Force
Released: November 9, 2009
Rhode Island Urban Education Task Force
Rhode Island’s Urban Education Task Force, convened by Governor Carcieri in 2008 and chaired by Warren Simmons (Executive Director of Brown’s Annenberg Institute), recently released its final report. The report contains a detailed and comprehensive blueprint for improving urban education and was strongly endorsed by both Education Commissioner Deborah Gist and Chairman of the Board of Regents Justice Robert Flanders. The full report, as well as the executive summary, is available at: www.annenberginstitute.org/UETF/recommendations.html.
Work at Eye Level
Published: October 25, 2009
New York Times
Tim Shriver, the CEO of Special Olympics, believes that the pathway to change is through relationships based on equality.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/25/jobs/25boss.html?scp=6&sq=shriver&st=cse.
Winter Break Projects 2010
Announced: October 15, 2009
Brown University
Applications are now being accepted for the 2010 Winter Break Projects sponsored by the Swearer Center for Public Service. Dates for this six-day immersion experience are January 17-23, 2010. Thirty students live communally in downtown Providence and work in small teams to explore and engage in critical local issues. This year the projects will focus on politics of homelessness, health and poverty, youth non-violence, local sustainable food initiatives, environmental activism, and educational equity. Break Projects are designed to immerse students in the rich world of activism, service, policy, advocacy and organizing that exists in Providence.
Break Projects also offer a unique opportunity for students to learn from each other and from members of the greater Providence community. For students who have not yet ventured far beyond College Hill, Break Projects can be a valuable introduction to the many ways that students can become involved in the community during their time at Brown. For students who have already done work in Providence, Breaks Projects can be a chance to share that experience with others and to think about the many ways that different kinds of community work intersect.
On-line application can be found at https://apps.college.brown.edu/apply/winterbreak10
Deadline for applications is 5 PM Friday, October 30
Information sessions will be held Thursday, October 15th and Wednesday, October 21st in JWW 313 from 8-9pm.
You must be a currently enrolled Brown undergraduate to apply. For more information contact winterbreaksprojects@gmail.com.
Peggy Chang & Curricular Resource Center
Released: September 2, 2009
Brown University
Peggy Chang '91 has agreed to assume the responsibility of directing the Curricular Resource Center in the coming year. She has considerable experience, having served in this capacity earlier in her Brown career. She will be bringing the vision of her Engaged Life Partnership -- especially her very successful programs around Careers for the Common Good, and the Urban Education Semester -- more directly into the CRC's peer advising programs, in order to expand the capacity of the CRC, and to help Brown undergraduates engage ever more fully with the opportunities posed by our curriculum.
View Peggy’s bio
http://www.brown.edu/Administration/Dean_of_the_College/people/Peggy_Chang.phpChampioning Our Students: Seeking Legal Mentors
Released: September 28, 2009
Greater Providence YMCA
Are you a lawyer with 90 minutes each month to volunteer? Become a mentor in the Championing Our Students program.
As a mentor, you will have the opportunity to meet and interact with dynamic young people, undoubtedly leaving a lasting positive impact on their lives. The time commitment of a mentor is only 1.5 hrs one Saturday per month. The rest of the communication with your mentee is done at your leisure through a web-based program called iMentor.
To get involved, contact Melissa Walsh at 952.5824 or mwalsh@gpymca.org
Faculty Leaders for Access & Success
Announced: October 6, 2009
Campus Compact
Rhode Island and Massachusetts Campus Compacts have received a no cost extension grant from Learn and Serve America to continue to increase and enhance service-learning and civic engagement activities through faculty leadership that have a direct impact on disadvantaged youth in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Rhode Island (RICC) and Massachusetts (MACC) Campus Compacts plan to identify and assemble Faculty Leaders committed to advancing the understanding of access and success and retention in higher education. As a measure of success, youth need access to high quality K-12 education, comprehensive after-school and other educational activities to succeed in school, and the pathways to postsecondary education. Colleges and universities are uniquely positioned to form partnerships with community organizations and schools to address these needs. Service-learning provides an excellent platform for these partnerships.
Research: Pupils Don't Aim High Enough For College
Published: September 9, 2009
Associated Press
Four years ago, two of the most influential researchers in higher education dove into a huge pool of data hoping to answer a bedeviling question: Why do so many students who start college fail to graduate?
Read the full story
http://www.advisingcorps.org/page/research-pupils-dont-aim-high-enough-for-college.Learn about volunteer opportunities with Brown’s College Advising Corps
http://swearercenter.brown.edu/opportunities/.Obama Missing But Speech Gets Through To D'Abate Students
Published: September 9, 2009
Providence Journal
Principal Brent Kermen was stoked for the big Obama speech. A school partner had donated two 60-inch televisions. Lunch schedules were shuffled. Shortly before noon, 400 youngsters filed quietly into the gym, where they sat on the floor.
Read the full story
http://www.projo.com/news/content/Obama_Providence_09-09-09_U0FLEU8_v22.3c1ba6f.htmlLearn about volunteer opportunities at D’Abate’s 21st Century Community Learning Center
http://swearercenter.brown.edu/opportunities/Project Health Founder Wins 2009 MacArthur "Genius" Award
Released: September 22, 2009
MacArthur Foundation
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation today named 24 new MacArthur Fellows for 2009. The new Fellows work across a broad spectrum of endeavors [and] were selected for their creativity, originality, and potential to make important contributions in the future.
This past week, the recipients learned by a phone call out of the blue from the Foundation that they will each receive $500,000 in “no strings attached” support over the next five years. MacArthur Fellowships come without stipulations and reporting requirements and offer Fellows unprecedented freedom and opportunity to reflect, create, and explore.
Among the recipients this year [is] a health services innovator building a low-cost, replicable program to address the link between poverty and poor health (Rebecca Onie)…
Video interview of Rebecca Onie
http://www.macfound.org/site/c.lkLXJ8MQKrH/b.5470961/k.B884/Video_Rebecca_Onie.htmRead about the Project Health volunteers’ Starr Fellowship
http://siihub.wordpress.com/tag/project-health/Truman Scholarship
Announced: September 10, 2009
Brown University
Each Truman scholar receives up to $30,000 ($3,000 for the senior year and $27,000 for graduate study) in scholarship support for graduate school; receives leadership training, career and graduate school counseling as well as assistance with summer employment.
Read more about the scholarship
http://swearercenter.brown.edu/news/2009-truman.html