Diversity Education

As a convener of institutions of higher education, Colorado Campus Compact recognizes the strength of collaborative efforts to promote service and volunteerism as an important element of education.

By creating initiatives to bring diverse populations around a shared vision, CCC provides a forum for young people to not only participate in regional events, but also to develop student-centered projects that promote open dialogue, acceptance, instill understanding, inspire critical thinking, and forge a desire to confront injustice and work for change.

Thirty one of these initiatives supported by CCC’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. mini-grants have focused on youth engagement, attracting nearly a thousand college student volunteers and more than a thousand youth volunteers from the community. In the course of hosting 41 total projects over the last two years, CCC has initiated a total of 8673 hours served by 2798 volunteers!

By supporting these projects through its own funds, CCC now offers mini-grants to members for Cesar Chavez Day and Season of Service projects, which promote a commitment to service throughout the course of a semester. Our continued support of diversity education will enable member institutions to promote understanding, respect, learning, and growth among their student populations in the spirit of Dr. King—and to inspire the next generation to celebrate and nurture diversity within their communities.

Colorado Election Fellows with Secretary of State Bernie Buescher during a training about the elections process. After talking with the Secretary of State and the Director of Elections, Judd Choate, the Fellows observed an important court hearing on elections law. The Election Fellows program gives students the opportunity to learn about the elections system through curriculum matched with hands on experience, working as poll workers.

"At the Toledo Community College (high school) in Belize, we were working on building a septic tank. Yet when we got there to begin work, this entire hole was filled with water. Bucket by bucket, we scooped all of the water out, filled it with sand, and leveled it so that by the end of the day they were ready to lay the foundation. This high school of 900 students had only one bathroom. We were happy to make a contribution to this second bathroom for the students. It was a hot day, but getting muddy was actually very fun! by Kayla Parry, University of Wyoming

"Students are participating in an activity that reinforces their knowledge of fractions and fraction equivalencies. Not only was the activity engaging but the students actually felt successful throughout the lesson... Making content engaging and relevant to the students daily lives is very powerful because it will stay with the student for a lifetime...My duty is to provide small group instruction to help students with their individual needs." by Alejandra Flores, UCAN Serve Volunteer

"This picture is the Honors Biology class of 9th and 10th graders performing a sheep heart dissection at Mead High School in Longmont, CO. In this picture, this group of students had separated the heart and pinned the structures we have learned in class. During the semester, students were able to do many hands on activities such as this in order to visualize some of the more difficult concepts in science." Genevieve Froid, UCAN Serve Volunteer

The picture was taken during Alternative Fall Break at the University of Utah. Our group of about 25 students traveled down to the Rio Mesa Center near Moab. We planted trees, tore down and rebuilt fences, irrigated the land, designed and implemented a stone patio and pathway, and fixed the computer systems. We created lifelong friendships and completed projects which will have a lasting impact on generations ahead of us, not just today. Helping the earth and my community while making lasting friendships was the best way I could have possibly spent my fall break." by Solveig Rundquist, University of Utah

2009 Election Fellows with Denver Clerk and Recorder Stephanie O'Malley.

"Working with the students at South High School" by Nathaniel Denjongpa, University of Denver

Colorado Campus Compact addresses pressing educational issues, including student retention and access to post-secondary education. Johnson and Wale University, Regis University, and the University of Denver communities joined forces with several urban secondary schools, including Manual High School and Highline Academy. In addition to participating in Denver's annual Marade, one of the largest events commemorating Martin Luther King, Jr. in the nation, college and high school students engaged in meaningful dialogue on race relations, multiculturalism, and a renewed American dream. Above picture is of AmeriCorps VISTA Whitney Millikin with DPS Student Advisory Committee members at MLK Parade.

In Lafayette, 40 high school students, who participate in programming sponsored by the I Have a Dream Foundation, developed both a documentary (with support from Denver Open Media) and a community mural to commemorate MLK Day 2009 and continue to foster a spirit of service within the East Boulder County community. Both the documentary and mural will be unveiled during a public event on Global Youth Service Day, as well as uploaded on YouTube.

Naropa Student Joseph Pezzuolo took the bronze in our Service in Action Photo contest for this picture of a heirloom seed saving project at Abbondanza farm in Longmont.

"This picture was taken at Abbondanza Farm in Longmont, CO. I volunteered to learn more about organic farming and heirloom seed saving. The best part of my experience was when the head farmer gave a passionate speech about his story of seed saving and farming, further influencing my passion for farming."

DPS Students for MLK Dream and Service

"All three of us belong to an Outdoor Club at NJC. Every spring and fall the club does a highway trash pickup for community service. By doing this we are helping the environment... By doing this highway pickup we are helping all of these problems at least a little bit. And we have fun doing it." Miriam Moller, Northeastern Jr. College

Photo by Alikiah Barclay, a Duke NC-ACTS! UCAN Serve Volunteer. "This was a clean up at Shaw University after a tornado ripped through their campus, forcing the school to close indefinitely. At the cleanup the college community support was evident, as 4 local universities came to help including the Duke students pictured."

"I am nursing student at Utah Valley University and have the opportunity to go Samoa and participate in a project called, “mo le Fanau,” which means “for the children”. We will visit elementary schools where we will teach the children and adults about the signs and symptoms of strep throat, which can lead to rheumatic fever and eventually rheumatic heart disease. This fundraiser was a benefit concert where children donated their talents to perform and help us raise money... I am in the picture with my niece, Madison, who played her guitar and sang."
Annika Slater, Utah Valley University

"I work in a 7th grade Language Arts classroom Bruce Randolph School in Denver in the INVST Leadership Program. We are so grateful to have had access to experiential education that we wanted to introduce aspects of experiential education to our students. Like the 7th grade “Fun Day”, when students played games outside to build community. We got to know our students outside the classroom and build relationships." by Olivia Jones, University of Colorado at Boulder

Lafayette's 5th annual Martin Luther King Jr. March for Peace was a success! Numerous community members (an estimated 400) participated in the peace march and the celebration afterwards. In the celebration following the Martin Luther King Jr. March for Peace, presentations were given informing the community about projects presently being implemented by Public Achievement classes at Centaurus High School, the Lafayette Youth Advisory Committee, and inviting Lafayette students and community members to participate in a Semester of Service. The celebration also included inspirational vocal and dance performances by local students and invitating all community members to participate in a variety of service and interactive projects.

Students gather to celebrate Diversity Day in conjunction with Reach Out: Colorado State University’s synergistic effort to advance learning opportunities of CSU students and Colorado’s historically underserved secondary students.

AmeriCorps VISTAs Maggie Obermann and Laura Adams-Davidson have brought together students from CSU and youth from CORE to form a Civil Rights and Social Justice Team that meet for monthly dialogue, reflection and community service.

A two time UCAN Serve Volunteer, Wren Hoffmann won second place in CCC's Service in Action Photo Contest with this image of Maxine Begay and her family.

"22 students from the University of Colorado at Denver architecture program spent our fall semester working with Design Build Bluff, a non-profit organization, building a home for a navajo family on a reservation in southern Utah. We students led the project by first picking a family on the reservation in need, designing the home, and building the house over the semester. This is a picture of of Maxine (our client), and her family the day we gave over the house. They are looking through a picture book that the students made of the pictures that were taken over the semester."

"Katie Betz volunteers with the NC Cooperative Extension for Operation Medicine Cabinet. The event served as a drug take-back day, preventing potent medications from being flushed down the toilet or landing in the wrong hands, as pharmaceuticals in the New River and teen drug abuse are significant Watauga County problems. Interactions were significant; sharing knowledge kept community members accountable for human and stream health." by Jaimie McGirt, Appalachian State University.

"These are a collection of picture of my students and myself at Explore Elementary where I am currently doing my service hours. It’s a picutre of me reflecting on this past year with my students. They have impacted my life greatly and I hope that I have impacted their lives as well." by Erika Lopez, University of Denver.

Denver Public Schools: Season of Service Rally. 72 people attended the rally, including high school students, VISTA volunteers, college students, 14 adults over age 30, DPS Superintendent Tom Boasberg, DPS Chief Community Engagement Officer Happy Haynes and Denver Urban League President and CEO Landri Taylor, and 26 volunteers pledged a total of 589 hours of service during the Season of Service.

"This picture was taken during the construction of the Windcatcher House for Maxine and Maurice Begay on the Navajo Reservation in southeast Utah. This project was the collaboration between the University of Colorado College of Architecture and Planning and DesignBuildBLUFF, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing free housing to people in need and an opportunity for architecture students to design and build an entire building. Maxine and Maurice are extremely grateful for their new home and the students are equally happy to have had the opportunity to befriend such a great family with such a rich cultural heritage."
by Peter Lutz, University of Colorado Denver

"This is a 4th grade inclusive classroom, in a high need, high poverty school in Arizona. Services included those who were receiving special education services with specific learning disabilities and supporting them in a general education classroom...Students were allowed to sit on large exercise balls to increase attention to instruction. Grant writing for next school year will be done to get balls for all students so increase learning engagement." by Amelia Hubbell, UCAN serve

Story of Service c/o Becky Foster at Mesa District 51 in Grand Junction: "Don’t live life by other people’s standards, by other people’s rules. Prove them wrong,” is the adage that Arminel Estevez lives her life by.

Armi took advantage of an invitation to join AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) and joined in its, and her first, year at Central. She quickly found value in the organizational skills the teachers taught her and also in the family that this class created among its members. That girl who works to prove people wrong will be able to take great pride in herself and her accomplishments when she cross the stage in 2011, graduating in the first class of AVID students at CHS. Another motto she lives by: “If you’re on time, you’re late. If you’re early, you’re on time.”

"This is me treat-feeding Bobby Fargo Bobcat at the Conservators’ Center, Inc. Bobby and I have developed such an incredible bond that he comes to me every time I call him, gives me his tail (that is a bobcat’s way of saying hello)...Thanks to my love for service and exposure to the UCAN Serve volunteerism, I have made a lifelong commitment to community service. My life’s ambition is to immerse myself in the nonprofit sector: volunteering with my service site and working for the American Cancer Society upon graduation."
Jodie Joseph, North Carolina State University

Upcoming Events

2.16.2012

Compact Service Corps Annual Coordinator Meeting >
2.16.2012

Northern Colorado/Wyoming Engaged Faculty Institute >
2.17.2012

Northern Colorado/Wyoming Engaged Faculty Institute >
3.9.2012

Developing Service Learning in Community Colleges >
3.30.2012

Developing Service Learning in Community Colleges >

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CCC News

10.19.2011
Colorado Campus Compact Awards First Round of Scholarship of Engagement Grants >
9.1.2011
Fondest Farewell >
6.16.2011
UCAN Serve Continues with the Compact Service Corps! >
4.18.2011
Winners announced for Service in Action Photo Contest ! >
3.8.2011
Community College Initiative >

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Inspiring Quotes

"Let us rise up…with a greater readiness. Let us stand with a greater determination. And let us move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge to make America what it ought to be." —Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Reports

MLK Season of Service Logo

mlk2005_noline.jpg
MLK Day of Service Fact Sheet

factsheet_mlkday.pdf
Advisory Committee Application

10-11 AdCom application.doc
Advisory Committee Roles and Responsibilities

AdvisoryCommitteeRoles&Responsibilities.pdf
Presentation on Social Media Strategy

Developing a Social Media Strategy.pdf
Developing a Social Media Strategy

Activity Packet.pdf
2011-2014 Compact Service Corps Press Release

11-14CSCpressrelease.pdf