OUR KIDS AND WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP
Wingspread Journal, Winter 1996

OPENING THE DOORS OF LIFELONG SERVICE

by Jane Angelis, Carol H. Tice, and Susan J. Poulsen

In communities across America, millions of citizens believe that life can be better, and that their participation in solving public problems can make a difference.

The passage of the National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993, and the subsequent work set in motion across America, have increased the interest and opportunities for citizens of all ages to engage in service with others to strengthen both families and communities. The learning that can take place through this service often reshapes the lives of those who take part. Through service and learning, Americans have an opportunity to recreate the bonds of connectedness with fellow citizens that seem to have frayed in recent times.

Service instills in children, even at an early age, the knowledge that citizenship brings responsibility, and that they have an important part to play in making their world a better place. Service gives families the opportunity to do things together at a time when schedules too often lead family members in divergent directions. Service can define an elder's role as vital to the life of the community, and can open doors to enriched opportunities for meaningful work. For many, service has religious or family roots, making a lifetime of service a natural choice.

Groups such as educational institutions, health- and human-service organizations, and religious congregations have an unparalleled opportunity to harness the energy and interest of citizens-of all ages and from many backgrounds-who are willing and eager to serve.

The many individuals and organizations involved in preparation of this document believe that things can be better in America's communities, and that one way to make that happen is to tap the resources of people of all ages and walks of life to become actively engaged in service to their communities at all stages of life.

For this to happen, however, people must feel that it is okay to serve in whatever capacity is most appropriate for them individually. People must be invited to demonstrate their talents, to participate, and to lead. Those already active in service must reach out to others and make them welcome.

A Work in Progress

What follows is a "work in progress"-a developing set of Principles of Good Practice for Building Community Through Lifelong Service and Learning. The purpose of these Principles is to create a framework for welcoming allpeople in all age groups into the life-changing world of service and learning.

These Principles build on another set of Principles developed in 1989 at a Wingspread conference through the efforts of many people and groups committed to service-learning. The Principles of Good Practice for CombiningService and Learning have had an important impact on the development of school-based service-learning programs at all educational levels across the country. They have also been helpful in shaping many of the new service programs developed under the AmeriCorps umbrella, and have helped expand the understanding, support, and quality practice of service-learning. While that Principles document is now out of print, its impact continues to befelt nationwide.

A related initiative emerged from a 1991 Wingspread conference. Strengthening Families, Communities, and Schools through Service and Learning: A Lifespan Imperative emphasized the role that people of all generations have to play in service and learning. Participants identified many new and innovative ways that local communities and neighborhoods could build on the skills and talents of citizens of all ages and on existing service and learning systems to help enrich lives and strengthen communities. They also explored ways that communities might develop partnerships to provide an infrastructure to support community involvement across the lifespan.

The Principles offered here represent a crossing of these two paths aswell as a "next step" in these two efforts. They too emerged from a Wingspread conference that set out to promote the practice of building community through high quality service and learning by people of all ages. The conference was based on the assumption that much of the work in service and learning was taking place within an academic model that, while very successful, did not address the role that very young children, adults, and the elderly could play in community building through service and learning. Another component of the conference was to describe the role of community groups as key systems for promoting and expanding service and learning to all ages.

These Principles represent ideas that emerged from the conference as well as input and examples of actual service supplied from experts, volunteers, and educators throughout the country.

Principles of Good Practice for Building Community Through Lifelong Service and Learning

The Principles of Good Practice that follow are a statement of what we believe are essential components of a system through which we can build communities by providing opportunities for all people to serve and learn together through all stages of their lives. These Principles speak not only to the service experience but also to the learning that can be a powerful part of the process.

High Quality Service and Learning...

1. Is for a Lifetime

The seeds of a life of service are planted early in life and are harvested throughout the life cycle. The family is the primary guardian of this dynamic process. Young children begin to develop the habit of service by helping around the house, learning both the skills and responsibilities that help contribute to the family. As we age, we move into different service and learning settings that can and should continue throughout life.

In Kenosha, Wis., for example, a mother introduced her young children to the concept of serving others by taking them with her on visits to a local nursing home. Not only did the elderly residents receive great joy from seeing the children, the youngsters gained a sense of ease and comfort with the older people and continued to make visits on their own when they were teenagers and young adults.

2. Is for Everyone

Every person has talents; everyone has something unique to contribute. Individuals may be hesitant to serve because they feel inadequate or think they have nothing to contribute, but others can help them overcome their reluctance. Schools, human service organizations, congregations, and individuals will all be enriched as they find ways to invite and support broad participation by all.

Individuals with disabilities, the very young, the frail, or the shy often are excluded from service. An urban high school service program challenged this paradigm by pairing students with blind elders for a trip to a botanical garden. The students learned how to respond in a caring way to someone with a disability. "I know that when you talk to blind people you don't yell," laughed one student. "They are blind, not deaf." The elders, in turn, were able to help the young people take responsibility and to grow in self-esteem.

3. Builds on Community Assets and Strengths

Communities are strengthened when they recognize and engage all existing assets and resources, both material and human. Too often the focus is on the needs in a community without regard for the exceptional resources it has. A service approach helps a community to identify and utilize assets that might have been overlooked.

In Milwaukee, Wis., more than 250 volunteers from a disadvantaged neighborhood organized two service days to rehab homes, clean vacant lots, change storm windows and screens for the elderly, and plant community gardens. The neighborhood also formed a business association and a job placement program that has helped 60 residents into the work force.

4. Benefits Giver and Receiver

It is often difficult to identify the service giver and service receiver because ideally both take on each role throughout the service task. When service and learning represent a truly mutual exchange of thinking and action of both the service participant and the service recipient, then all involved contribute to solving community problems. The purpose, design, participation, and evaluation of the service experience are the product and responsibility of all participants working together. This is called the mutuality of service.

In Chicago, a project called "Sisters Serving Sisters" involved 4th through 6th grade girls who served as big sisters and tutors to kindergarten girls. The girls who provided the mentoring lived in separate buildings in a housing complex, a major challenge since residents of different buildings have a history of hostility toward each other. As the older girls taught their younger counterparts conflict management skills, they also learned ways to coexist peacefully and to respect each other.

5. Has Meaning

If the individual is to gain a sense of value and connectedness as a result of service and learning, then the task must tap the individual's talents and skills in worthwhile tasks. Youth, as well as adults, find meaning in real contributions, as illustrated in Indiana, where juvenile offenders at the Boys' School designed and built a playground at an Indianapolis shelter for abused children as their way of reaching out to younger children.

In Dade County, Fl., the "Adopt a Pioneer" project involves young people in gathering oral histories from older citizens and compiling them with newspaper and magazine stories from the past to create archives containing oral and written records of local history and culture.

6. Develops Collaboration Skills

Many service and learning situations offer people of all ages opportunities to develop and practice the skills of leadership as well as give opportunities to be effective followers and team members. In effective collaboration, the responsibility of leadership will shift among participants as different challenges and tasks are approached. Skilled collaborators work with the group to nurture effective participation and leadership in all members.

At the Robert Taylor Homes in Chicago a 24-member board includes 10 young people that help to administer more than $100,000 in grant money for area projects. Current projects involve people of all ages and abilities in diverse programs, including a mentor program designed by neighborhood male teens for elementary-school boys, and a teen-run summer camp for kids called "We Rebuild Minds."

7. Creates New Ways of Solving Problems

Working together to find new ways of solving problems can result not only in greater productivity, but also in greater commitment by those involved. Serving and learning together brings fresh perspectives and new voices to the process, often resulting in better insights and ways of meeting the needs of all citizens.

In New York City, providing immunizations for all children-especially the poor-has been difficult. Teams of young people from El Puente, a neighborhood youth-run, grass-roots organization, initiated a door-to-door measles prevention campaign that resulted in hundreds of immigrant families having their children vaccinated.

8. Is Enriched by Reflection

Reflecting on the service experience-formally or informally, alone or in groups-is the key to making service a worthwhile learning opportunity at every stage in life. Through quiet reflection, writing in a journal, or discussing the experience with others, those involved gain valuable insight into what they have learned, what the service has meant to them, and how it has benefited the community. It can also help to clarify next steps and define what needs to happen to meet the community's and the individual's ongoing needs and goals.

In the "Language Link" program, tribal elders of the Seneca Tribal Nation help younger participants, ages 19 to mid-30s, learn their native Seneca language. In exchange, the younger members assist their older partners with household chores, errands, and escort services. Each evening, the teams sit down together to go over their daily notes or tape recordings and reflect on what they have learned.

9. Is Cumulative and Ongoing

A particular service experience may last anywhere from a few hours or days to many months or years. Even if individuals choose to be involved in single events or activities rather than a long-term program, service should be part of a broader plan for a lifetime of involvement. Service can be cumulative, building on single tasks, resulting in a pattern that connects an individual in service.

Families can plant trees in a blighted neighborhood, for example. They, or others can care for them as part of short-term events. The long-term benefits, however, are greater than the sum of each individual event as the trees are enjoyed for generations.

10. Celebrates and Communicates the Experience

Service and learning experiences enrich the culture of many of our communities. In order for service to expand throughout our country, these experiences must be celebrated and publicized. Celebration becomes a significant part of the service experience by affirming our individual connectedness to a community.

After a two-year battle with local authorities to put a gate between a fence separating a nursing home and a school, students, teachers, elders, and nursing home staff celebrated their victory-and new-found friends-by building a papier maché Chinese dragon and parading from the nursing home through the fence and into the school. The local newspaper covered the event and put the picture on the front page.