Community service impacts both community and students
By Sarah Haefner
Staff Writer
The walls resolute in their industrial fortitude, the ceilings high and proud, and the floors creaking with invitation and curiosity, the building had decided character that could only be explained by its long, tumultuous history.
Once a factory for carburetors and close to destitution in the early 1990s, the vision of a redevelopment committee kept the building from ruin by renting the space out to get local artists.
Another institution, however, had enough foresight to get involved with the historic structure. The University of Indianapolis leased the extra space of the Wheeler Arts Academy in Fountain Square for classrooms, offices, and what would be an integral part of the Community Programs Center (CPC) and UIndy’s mission for education for service.
Only one of numerous programs offered by the CPC, the Wheeler Arts Community is a prime example of the core mission of the center.
“The center connects students and faculty by creating partnerships with community groups, community agencies, and other institutions so that when our students are out in the community, we’re going to have a good idea of what kind of learning they’re going to be engaging in and the quality of those experiences,” said Professor of Social Sciences and CPC Director Tim Maher.
Maher had a broader concept of analyzing the effects of civic service on volunteers, as well as the community.
“I was particularly interested in seeing if we could concentrate our civic engagement programs in a particular area, so that we could have some gauge on whether we are really, positively impacting the community, or whether it was just a one-sided thing where our students benefit but the community may not,” Maher said.
The CPC chose to concentrate its programs on the southeast side of the neighborhood, which has benefited from the volunteers who sign up for projects and the community.
“If you’re a student and you’re out doing some kind of service, you feel kind of lost. Here, there are so many UIndy students that you’re not likely to be alone,” Maher said. “Also, when students are out here doing community service, they find the community to be really intriguing. They come back and spend money, which stimulates the economy and helps the community grow.”
The CPC has contacts with numerous programs that appeal to a variety of skills and interests. The Wheeler Arts Academy provides opportunities in art and theatre for disadvantaged youth while the Southeast Neighborhood Development works primarily with rehabilitating houses and landscaping.
Another program students can get involved in is the Laurelwood Housing Community, which has made strides to connect local youth with university students.
Second-year physical therapy graduate student Kristy Habiby became involved in Laurelwood four years ago at the request of a friend. Currently, she is the graduate assistant volunteer coordinator.
“Laurelwood works with families typically 100 percent below the poverty line. Volunteers meet every Tuesday for two hours off-campus and prepare a craft, activity and snack for kids ages five to 16,” Habiby said.
UIndy students have a unique advantage concerning volunteer work with children.
“Most of these kids don’t have a positive role model, especially someone in college. A college student may be able to encourage these kids to consider college in the future,” Habiby said.
Students who view “community” on a larger scale may also consider national or international service opportunities. Ecumenical and Interfaith Programs is offering a pilgrimage to Koidu, Sierra Leone, in May of 2008. Working with Operation Classroom, Reverend L. Lang Brownlee, champlain of Ecumenical Interfaith Programs will take eight students, a staff member and a graduate alumnus to rehabilitate the interior of a library in a country largely decimated by civil war in the 1990s.
“We demonstrate our values by how we live and what we do. There is so much need, and the need is so great, that what we do feels like so little. Sitting back and doing nothing is not an option,” Brownlee said.
The Ecumenical and Interfaith Programs hopes to offer an international service opportunity every other year for as long as students are interested.
“It’s best to be educated about the realities of your world. We become better world citizens without preconceptions and prejudices. I hope students feel empowered as they help and realize they have gifts to offer others,” Brownlee said.
Near or far, the impact community service has on individuals is immeasurable.
“When you make friends with a kid who’s 12 years old and probably doesn’t have a place in the world, lives in a community that doesn’t have a lot to offer…well maybe the kid doesn’t get in trouble and leads a normal life,” Maher said. “Is that a success? Yes, I think so.”
The CPC office is located in Good Hall, Room 222. For information on the Laurelwood Housing Community contact Kristy Habiby at habibyk@uindy.edu.
