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 | Action research | |
| In its simplest form, action research is a way of generating research about a social system while simultaneously attempting to change that system. While conventional social science aims at producing knowledge about social systems (some of which may eventually prove useful to those wishing to effect change), action research seeks both to understand and to alter the problems generated by social systems. | ||
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| America Reads Challenge | |
| In 1994, 40 percent of our country's fourth graders failed to attain the basic level of reading. The America Reads initiative, launched in August 1996 by President Clinton, aims to ensure that every child in America can read independently by the end of third grade. | ||
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| American Association of Higher Education | |
| From the AAHE mission statement, AAHE promotes "the changes higher education must make to ensure its effectiveness in a complex, interconnected world." One Dupont Circle, Suite 360 Washington, DC 20036-1110; website ww.aahe.org | ||
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| AmeriCorps | |
| The national service program made possible by the National and Community Service Act of 1993. The legislation requires that programs fall into four broad areas -- human needs, education, environment, and public safety. Grants are made to non-profit organizations; local, state and federal agencies; Indian tribes; institutions of higher education; local school and police districts. | ||
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| AmeriCorps Promise Fellows Program | |
| AmeriCorps Promise Fellows spearhead state and local efforts dedicated to seeing that all children and youth receive the Five Promises set forth at the Presidents' Summit for America's Future in 1997. | ||
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| Assessment | |
| The process of gathering information in order to make an evaluation. An evaluation is a decision or judgment about whether an effort is successful and to what extent that effort has or has not met a goal. Evaluation of effects of service-learning on students who take classes that employ service-learning as a pedagogy, on the community partner or agency that delivers services students assists with, on faculty members who teach those courses, and on the institution under whose auspices service-learning courses are offered. Assessment may be descriptive or evaluative; involve conventional Likert-type items or narrative reports; and be directed toward above-named stakeholders. | ||
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| Campus Compact | |
| A national coalition of more than 650 college and university presidents committed to increasing the number of service programs on higher education campuses across the state. At the national level, work promotes public and community service, development of resource materials, workshops and institutions, and support for 22 state offices and the National Center for Community Colleges. | ||
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| Civic Responsibility | |
| The commitment of a citizen to his or her community to take responsibility for the well-being of the community. Service-learning and community engagement are often cited as developing students' civic responsibility. | ||
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| Co-curricular | |
| Signifies community service that is not explicitly connected to an academic course. | ||
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| Community | |
| Community can be used in a number of ways to apply to almost any group of individuals. It is often used to describe a geographic group whose members engage in some face-to-face interaction. The term community can also be used in a more meaningful sense to emphasize the common bonds and beliefs that hold people together. | ||
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| Community development | |
| Community members working together to achieve long-term benefits for the community and an overall stronger sense of community. Effective development has four important characteristics: | ||
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| Community Engagement | |
| A central value affirmed by the service-learning movement. Colleges, universities, and community colleges cooperate with nonprofit agencies, government agencies, faith-based organizations, and individuals to improve the community in which the institution resides. Service-learning, faculty participation, and student volunteers represent community engagement. This ethic of service affirms the responsibility of educational institutions to bring their resources to impact gaps in community services. | ||
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| Community Partner | |
| The agency that acts as a conduit for bringing resources into the community, e.g., government, nonprofit agency, or faith-based agency, bringing needed services to the community via existing distribution channels while taking responsibility for students work. Often a community partner identifies community needs and utilizes its existing infrastructure for project implementation. | ||
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| Community Service | |
| Community Service is volunteerism that occurs in the community--action taken to meet the needs of others and better the community as a whole. Programs of all types, like scouts, schools or YMCAs, often perform "community service." | ||
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| Daily Points Of Light Awards | |
| Co-sponsored by the Points of Light Foundation, the Corporation for National Service and the Knights of Columbus, these awards recognize and honor outstanding service efforts. The award is presented five days a week to help raise the profile and legitimacy for volunteer initiatives and activities, and to call public attention to the contributions that volunteers are making toward solving local and national social problems. | ||
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| Domestic Volunteer Service Act (DVSA) | |
| This statute created VISTA and the National Senior Service Corps in 1970. | ||
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| Engaged campus | |
| A college or university which emphasizes community engagement through its activities and its definition of scholarship. The engaged campus is involved in community relationships, community development, community empowerment, community discourse, and educational change. | ||
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| Experiential education | |
| Emotionally engaged learning in which the learner experiences a visceral connection to the subject matter. Good experiential learning combines direct experience that is meaningful to the student with guided reflection and analysis. It is a challenging, active, student-centered process that impels students toward opportunities for taking initiative, responsibility, and decision making. | ||
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| FamilyCares | |
| www.FamilyCares.org An on-line resource of the Points of Light Foundation that provides resources for parents, teachers and community leaders who want to support children in volunteer activities. | ||
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| Family Volunteering | |
| Family volunteering strengthens families, addresses critical social needs, improves employee morale within participating businesses and creates a renewed community spirit. A number of family-oriented volunteer programs and websites are focused on engaging families in year-round community-oriented volunteer projects. | ||
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| Foster Grandparents | |
| As Foster Grandparents, low income persons age 60 and over provide companionship and guidance to children with mental, physical, or emotional disabilities or are abused, neglected, in the juvenile justice system, or who have other special or exceptional needs. A program of Senior Service Corps funded by the Corporation for National and Community Service. | ||
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| Join Hands Day | |
| Join Hands Day is a day of service that specifically targets youth and adults volunteering together. Sponsored by America's Fraternal Benefit Societies in partnership with the Points of Light Foundation and the National Network of Volunteer Centers. The goal of Join Hands Day is to begin making connections and friendships across generations that will continue long after the day is over. Developing these relationships is essential to creating healthy organizations, neighborhoods and communities. | ||
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| Kids Care Clubs | |
| www.KidsCare.org An initiative of the Points of Light Foundation, is a program designed to develop compassion and the spirit of service and philanthropy in elementary and middle school aged youth. Local organizations such as schools, YMCAs, Volunteer Centers, scout troops and religious communities, can be registered as clubs. Kids Care Clubs provide ideas, resources and a network to clubs. | ||
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| Make A Difference Day | |
| A national effort designed to mobilize citizens in communities across the country in volunteer service. | ||
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| Martin Luther King, Jr. Day | |
| Always the third Monday in January, the day focuses the nation on the ideals expressed by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who believed that people's worth should not be measured by color, culture, or class but rather by a commitment to making a better life for all. | ||
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| Mentor | |
| In the context of community service, the term mentor is often used to refer to a specific type of relationship between an adult and a youth. Mentors act as role models who offer youth the friendship and guidance of a caring adult. Mentors provide youth with examples of life experiences that can show younger people what to aspire to. Mentors support and enable a young person to become whomever and whatever they choose. | ||
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| Multiculturalism | |
| Multiculturalism is used in its broad sense as respect and understanding for various differences between people, including those based on race, gender, ethnicity, culture, socioeconomic status, age, sexual orientation, and physical and mental abilities. | ||
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| National and Community Service Act of 1990 | |
| Originally passed into law in 1990 to establish the Commission on National Service, the Act was amended significantly by the National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993 to establish the Corporation for National and Community Service. | ||
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| The National and Community Service Trust Act (NCSTA) | |
| With bipartisan support, NCSTA was signed by President Clinton on September 21, 1993. The legislation reauthorizes K-12 and higher education service learning programs from the National and Community Service Act of 1990 and creates AmeriCorps, national service progrma that allows members to earn educational benefits in exchange for community service. | ||
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| National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) | |
| NCCC is the Corporation's federally-managed residential program which is located in four sites across the country (San Diego, California; Denver, Colorado; and Charleston, South Carolina) and headquartered in Washington, DC. The NCCC utilizes excess military capacity and personnel in the creation of a full-time or part-time service corps. | ||
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| National Family Volunteer Day | |
| This day of service is designed to showcase the benefits of families working together, to provide a great way to introduce community service, and to encourage those who haven't yet made the commitment to volunteer as a family to begin doing so. | ||
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| National Service-Learning Clearinghouse (NSLC) | |
| A clearinghouse project of ETR Associates funded by Learn and Serve America, Corporation for National and Community Service that supports the service-learning community in higher education, kindergarten through grade 12, community-based initiatives, and tribal programs, as well as all others interested in strengthening schools and communities using service-learning techniques and methodologies. Contact toll-free at 1-866-245-SERV (7378); www.servicelearning.org | ||
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| National Senior Service Corps | |
| The National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993 has renamed the Older American Volunteer Programs (OAVP) to become the National Senior Service Corps. Program divisions include Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP), the Foster Grandparent Program (FGP), and the Senior Companion Program (SCP). | ||
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| National Volunteer Week | |
| Begun in 1974 when President Richard Nixon signed an executive order establishing the week as an annual celebration of volunteering. Every President since has signed a proclamation promoting National Volunteer Week. Governors, mayors and other elected officials also make public statements and sign proclamations in support of National Volunteer Week (typically held at the end of April). Sponsored by the Points of Light Foundation and the Volunteer Center National Network, National Volunteer Week has become the official time to recognize and celebrate the efforts of volunteers at the local, state and national levels. | ||
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| National Youth Service Day | |
| Brings together more than 13 million people in thousands of communities nationwide during the last decade. Celebrated as part of National Volunteer Week; National Youth Service Day has three primary goals: | ||
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| Pedagogy | |
| The study of the teaching and learning process; service-learning provides a method that that informs and enhances the teaching/learning process. | ||
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| Peer Helping | |
| Peer Helping programs began in the early 1970's in response to the great increase in guidance needs for youth. Popular uses of peer helpers within the schools are peer tutoring, cross-age education, mentoring, welcoming new students, parent education, teen theater, and conflict mediation. Such programs almost always involve people helping people, and utilize strong training and reflection components to produce significant gains in both knowledge and skills among the participants. Because of this, peer helping is considered a type of service-learning program. | ||
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| President's Service Award | |
| Established in 1982 and co-sponsored by the Points of Light Foundation and Corporation for National and Community Service, and presented yearly to individuals, families, organizations, corporations and labor unions for outstanding community service in solving serious social problems. The President of the United States traditionally presents the awards at a White House event during National Volunteer Week. | ||
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| President's Student Service Awards | |
| Sponsored by the Corporation for National and Community Service and administered by the American Institute for Public Service, the Points of Light Foundation, and Youth Service America, is modeled after the Presidential Physical Fitness Awards. The President's Student Service Awards provide an opportunity for schools, colleges and community organizations to recognize youth for their outstanding community service and to encourage more young people to serve. | ||
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| Reciprocity | |
| A central component in service-learning and community engagement that suggests that every individual, organization, and entity involved in service-learning functions as both a teacher and a learner. | ||
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| Reflection | |
| The critical component of successful service-learning programs is "reflection". Reflection describes the process of deriving meaning and knowledge from experience and occurs before, during and after a service-learning project. Effective reflection engages both teachers and students in a thoughtful and thought-provoking process that consciously connects learning with experience. It is the use of critical thinking skills to prepare for and learn from service experiences. | ||
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| Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) | |
| This program of Senior Service Corps offers opportunities for citizens age 55 and up to use their talents and experience in a wide range of community projects. RSVP operates through grants from the Corporation for National and Community Service to private and public non-profits in local communities. | ||
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| Senior Companion Program | |
| A program of Senior Service Corps, participants are low-income persons age 60 or older who provide care and companionship to other adults, especially the frail elderly, in an effort to help them achieve and maintain their highest level of independent living. | ||
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| Social Capital | |
| A term that refers to features of social organization, such as networks, norms, and trust, that facilitate coordination and cooperation for mutual benefit; enhances the benefits of investment in physical and human capital. | ||
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| State Commission | |
| The 15-to-25 member, independent, bipartisan commissions appointed by governors to implement service programs in the states. Funding for national service programs is provided by the Corporation for National and Community Service. | ||
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| Student Ownership | |
| At the very heart of the youth service movement is the notion that students can make important contributions to their schools and communities. Such philosophy requires a strong student-centered approach, where young people identify problems, brainstorm, implement solutions and evaluate their projects, while the teacher takes the role of the facilitator. | ||
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| Student Volunteer Service | |
| A clearinghouse that serves as a link between community organizations and university/college students for volunteer opportunities; often located in the Dean of Student's office or student union. | ||
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| VISTA (Volunteer In Service To America) | |
| Program goals strive to alleviate poverty in the United States. Members are age 18 or older and serve on a full-time, full-year basis at the request of private or public non-profit organizations. | ||
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| Volunteer Centers | |
| A community-based organization that mobilizes people and resources to deliver creative solutions to community problems. While services vary from one Volunteer Center to another, centers in communities around the nation connect people with opportunities to serve, build capacity for effective local volunteering, promote volunteering, and seek collaborative opportunities to involve volunteers in addressing community issues. 1-800-VOLUNTEER is a national volunteering hotline that connects callers to local Volunteer Centers. | ||
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| Volunteerism | |
| The performance of formal service to benefit others or one's community without receiving any external rewards; such programs may or may not involve structured training and reflection. | ||
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| Workplace Volunteerism | |
| The process whereby companies make a significant commitment to company-sponsored volunteer programs with the following values: | ||
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| Youth Service | |
| An umbrella term to identify a vast number of program models, titles, and organizations which share one core attribute: the utilization of youth to provide service to their schools and/or communities. The term should not be confused with "youth services," which typically refer to programs that serve youth. | ||
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