At Johnson & Wales University, community service is much more than a graduation requirement. For students, it’s a chance to develop their career skills. For faculty and staff, it’s a chance to serve as models to students and help them become leaders. For nonprofits, it’s a chance to benefit from dedicated, skilled volunteers.
Through innovative collaboration with community agencies, strategic partnerships and resource sharing, the university has grown as a “civic-minded institution,” said Irving Schneider, president of Johnson & Wales’ Providence Campus.
The university invests more than $600,000 annually in staffing and programs to benefit its students and the community. Its Community Service-Learning program has grown from two faculty members in 1995 to more than 90. Almost 2,000 undergraduate and graduate students per year volunteer at more than 100 nonprofit agencies in the Providence metro area, providing 41,903 hours of service, the school says.
For all this, Johnson & Wales is the 2007 Business Excellence Award winner in the category of Community Involvement.
The beneficiaries of the school’s community involvement run the gamut: from the Providence Performing Arts Center, to the Fox Point Boys & Girls Club; from Amos House, to the Genesis Center, to Rebuilding Together Providence.
“Our community partners value our students, staff and faculty contributions to their agencies in supporting their missions,” Schneider said. “These partnerships have been mutually beneficial and long-lasting.”
At the heart of this work is Johnson & Wales’ Feinstein Community Service Center. Founded in 1995 through an endowment from philanthropist Alan Shawn Feinstein and the Feinstein Foundation, the center aims to connect academic knowledge with real-world problem-solving skills, all applied to the community.
“This generation of global citizens wants to be challenged, have a sense of purpose and make a difference in our world,” said Schneider. “By engaging in advocacy efforts, social responsibility and community leadership, the JWU community works toward sustainable solutions for global needs.”
With 11 full-time staff members coordinating student community service and academic service-learning courses, the center focuses primarily on hunger, homelessness and education.
Center programs include the Community Service-Learning graduation requirement; a Community Leadership initiative; support for self-initiated service efforts and volunteerism; civic initiatives in the areas of hunger and homelessness; volunteer and in-kind assistance to community groups; and community training and project development for university staff.
Johnson & Wales’ hands-on approach has enabled students to participate in an array of meaningful projects.
“A Place at the Global Table,” supported by a Rhode Island and Massachusetts Campus Compact $500 Raise Your Voice grant, allowed Prof. Dorothy Abram’s culture and food sociology classes last academic year to work with 25 refugee families and 84 individuals from Somalia, Ethiopia and Burundi.
In partnership with the International Institute of Rhode Island, students helped displaced refugee families transition into American life by greeting them at the airport, preparing an apartment and offering clothing assistance.
Students introduced refugees to new foods through dinners and healthy cooking classes; offered individual tutoring at the Institute; and gave tours of Rhode Island.
In a panel discussion, the students and refugees spoke to 140 students, faculty and community members about their experiences. The event was followed by “A Place at the Global Table,” during which audience members were invited to make Ethiopian bread and soup with the refugees while sharing histories, stories and cultures.
Other Johnson & Wales projects have included a documentary on violence in Rhode Island; a volunteer tax help program for low- to moderate-income citizens; a compilation of urban middle school student biographies and video documentaries to help foster a sense of belonging and pride in their community; and an after-school series combining nutrition and healthy eating information with Web searching for reliable, youth-oriented health and wellness Web sites.
Overall, Schneider said, the student response has been positive.
“In many instances, students often return to volunteer or are hired by the community-based agency that they initially worked with,” he said. “As part of the service-learning experience, students reflect upon their experiences and often create new and unique programs that are then implemented at a school or agency.”
To keep faculty and staff involved, the Feinstein Center maintains a Web site with updated volunteer opportunities and sends a bimonthly volunteer opportunity mailing. The site also recognizes staff community involvement and highlights community activities.
Special volunteer opportunities are also incorporated into a professional development series for staff, as well as into departmental and management training.
Once a term, Johnson & Wales’ “Casual for Community” program provides faculty and staff the chance to purchase a $3 badge that allows them to dress down on a specified day, with proceeds benefiting a local nonprofit.
Further, Schneider said, this year’s Staff Recognition Day included a donation drive for Crossroads Rhode Island.
And if that’s not motivation enough, Schneider leads by example: He currently serves on the advisory boards of the Salvation Army, the United Way of Rhode Island, the Providence After School Alliance, Rhode Island for Community & Justice and the College Crusade of Rhode Island. He is also a director for the Beacon Charter School, Celebrate RI, Junior Achievement, the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council, WaterFire and Whitmarsh House. •
