Community Engagement at Bates 2009-2010 Year-End Summary www.bates.edu/harward-center.xml 1 Table of Contents Letter from the Director ..................................................................................................... 4 Overview ............................................................................................................................ 7 Assessing the Impact of our Work: Beyond Beginnings ..................................... 10 Key Initiatives, Partnerships and Collaboratories ............................................... 10 Bonner Leader Program .................................................................................................... 11 Community-Based Research ............................................................................................. 12 Community Food Assessment: Local Food for Lewiston .................................................. 13 Downtown Education Collaborative (DEC) ....................................................................... 14 Lewiston Housing Authority .............................................................................................. 14 Museum L-A ...................................................................................................................... 15 Public Policy ....................................................................................................................... 16 Rwanda Genocide Project .................................................................................................. 18 Schools, Literacy, and Education ....................................................................................... 18 Shortridge Summer Residency .......................................................................................... 19 Student Leadership Development ..................................................................................... 19 Academic Initiatives and Community-Based Learning ...................................... 20 American Cultural Studies ................................................................................................ 20 Anthropology ..................................................................................................................... 21 Art and Visual Culture ...................................................................................................... 22 Biology .............................................................................................................................. 24 Chemistry ...........................................................................................................................25 Dance ................................................................................................................................ 26 Economics ......................................................................................................................... 26 Education .......................................................................................................................... 26 English .............................................................................................................................. 30 Environmental Studies ...................................................................................................... 31 First-Year Seminars .......................................................................................................... 33 French ............................................................................................................................... 34 Geology .............................................................................................................................. 35 History ............................................................................................................................... 37 Physical Education ............................................................................................................. 37 Politics ............................................................................................................................... 38 Psychology ........................................................................................................................ 40 Sociology ........................................................................................................................... 43 Spanish .............................................................................................................................. 44 Community Volunteerism and Student Leadership Development ................. 46 Americorps/VISTA ............................................................................................................ 47 Bonner Leader Program .................................................................................................... 47 Student Volunteer Fellows Program ................................................................................. 50 Mentoring .......................................................................................................................... 53 Other Volunteer Activities ................................................................................................. 53 Bates – Morse Mountain Conservation Area and Shortridge Coastal Center ...........................................................................................54 Bates’ Educational Activities at Morse Mountain and Shortridge .................................... 55 Other Educational Uses .....................................................................................................56 Community Engagement ................................................................................................... 57 Public Use of the Bates-Morse Mountain Conservation Areas......................................... 58 Shortridge Coastal Center ................................................................................................. 58 Events Management .....................................................................................................59 2 Convenings and Celebrations ............................................................................................59 Grants .............................................................................................................................. 62 Grants Awarded by the Harward Center .......................................................................... 62 Grants Administered by the Harward Center .................................................................... 73 Grants Received by the Harward Center ........................................................................... 73 Other Harward Center Programs and Activities ................................................... 74 Adopt-a-School Partnership .............................................................................................. 74 D4D Training ..................................................................................................................... 75 Lewiston High School Science Fair.................................................................................... 76 Federal Programs ............................................................................................................... 76 National, Regional and State Awards and Recognitions ..................................... 77 Affiliations ..................................................................................................................... 78 Presentations, Publications and Consultations .................................................... 79 Campus and Community-Wide Initiatives ............................................................. 81 Appendix: Community Agency and Institutional Partners ............................. 87 3 Fall 2010 Dear Friends, Civic Engagement at Bates: Year-End Summary 2009-2010 documents the work undertaken in the fifth year since the Harward Center’s launch. To borrow from a wedding custom practiced by some brides and grooms, there was something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue about this year. While the commitment to civic engagement held steady in our faculty and students, with some numbers down due to the H1N1 flu and the prohibitions it placed on student involvement with schools and organizations serving children, the passion of students and faculty soared. As you will see in later pages, our community partners recognized and appreciated this passion at the same time as they offered us constructive paths for future growth. The something old of the wedding custom symbolizes ties to the past. Our work at the Harward Center this past year energetically followed this impulse through our attention to key issues, such as literacy, public health, and environmental stewardship, and through our partnerships with key players, such as the Downtown Education Collaborative and the local schools and after- school programs. Within these longstanding commitments, however, new ideas and opportunities often animated the work. At DEC, for example, we participated in a modular origami project designed to offer both cognitive and emotional benefits to practitioners. At the Bates-Morse Mountain Conservation Area, residents of nearby Small Point funded a research position for a summer student. At the close of the winter term, our Community-based Research Fellows—all seniors—presented a forum at the Mt. David Summit during which they enlightened a full