Service Learning: Community Change
Community Change is a process for teachers/educators to engage K-12 youth in identifying, analyzing and addressing social issues in their neighborhood through the dynamic integration of critical questions, interesting activities and references. The goals of Community Change are to develop students into effective leaders of their community, and to engage youth in making their community a better place to live.
Community Change is a unique way of involving youth in their community. Through its focus on various aspects of a specific youth-selected issue, Community Change increases their depth of understanding around that issue. Students also recruit and involve community members in the planning and implementation of action projects that address the issue. This helps to build students’ relationships with individuals and organizations in their community. Community Change also incorporates spelling and career explorations related to the social issue selected by the students. This is all done through the use of dynamic activities.
In practice, Community Change is applied to a single issue identified and selected by the students. Past Community Change Projects have focused on such issues as littering, kidnapping, teenage pregnancy, suicide and violence. The process of analyzing and addressing the selected issue extends over a structured time period, which is divided into the following six phases:
- Self-Examination
- Statement of the Selected Issue
- Causes of the Issue
- Effects of the Issue
- Supports, Solutions & Suggestions for the Issue
- Action Projects to Address the Issue
Over the course of the year, students use the arts, games and other activities of interest to focus on their foremost community concern. Field trips, basketball, board games, dance, photography, poetry, drama and recreation are among the many types of activities that are used to engage students in Community Change.
Development Without Limits provides professional development and technical assistance for school and afterschool program staff to help get Community Change started. We also deliver a number of Community Change workshops for K-12 students.
Using The Community Change Model