Mike Porter
VCU Communications and Public Relations
(804) 828-7037
mrporter@vcu.edu
10/30/2009

Community service is a central focus of the VCU experience, and throughout any given school year, students, staff and faculty spend thousands of hours participating in food collections, clothing drives, after-school mentoring, cleanup campaigns and other activities.

Now it has become even easier to get involved in projects in the Richmond region.

Virginia Commonwealth University's Division of Community Engagement and the Council for Community Engagement have launched a new "Caring To Act Calendar," allowing individuals or groups to volunteer for or sponsor worthwhile community projects.

"We got the idea last year when we were putting together the 40 Acts of Caring, a collection of university-community projects that reflect our engagement with the community in honor of VCU's 40th anniversary celebration," said Catherine W. Howard, Ph.D., vice provost, Division of Community Engagement. "We were just humbled by the quality and variety of activities. People started asking - how can we get involved? And we started to think about how we could coordinate some of these efforts to have an even larger impact on the community."

Howard's division recognized the value in creating a single location where anyone interested in volunteering could learn about projects and easily sign up. The division joined forces with "HandsOn Greater Richmond," which has a similar mission and already has an online site for matching volunteers with community service organizations.

Once the infrastructure was in place, the division sought submissions from the university community for worthwhile projects for the calendar. Community Development Coordinator Ron Brown carefully put together a list.

"This is a great opportunity for students, employees and alumni to sign up for some university-endorsed community service projects," Brown said. "It's a fun way to participate in a meaningful activity as a team and a great option for student organizations."

VCU's community service leave policy provides 12-month employees with 16 hours of paid leave each calendar year to participate in volunteer community service organizations.

"One reason this is organized is that we heard so much from VCU staff about their desire to be involved in community-based service activities," Howard said. "The calendar will allow staff to use their community service hours for university-sanctioned events."

Upcoming opportunities for involvement include "Project Homeless Connect," on Nov. 19 at the Richmond Convention Center, where volunteers can assist homeless people obtain community resources, and a month-long kids' winter coat drive coordinated by the VCU Staff Senate and YMCA of Greater Richmond. A complete list may be found at the Caring To Act Calendar. Volunteers can register at HandsOn Greater Richmond.

For more information, contact Ron Brown at rbrown34@vcu.edu or 804-827-1904.

The VCU News Center link to this story is http://www.news.vcu.edu/vcu_view/pages.aspx?nid=3117

DEADLINE IS OCTOBER 15, 2009.

Don't miss this opportunity to nominate your favorite VCU community service project to be selected as one of this year's President's Honor Roll Exemplary Projects. To be considered, your VCU community service projects must have occurred between July 1, 2008 and June 30, 2009 and must have involved VCU students, faculty, and/or staff. Click here to access the application form

Just complete the 1-page application form and submit it to Dr. Lynn Pelco, VCU Service-Learning Program Director at lepelco@vcu.edu or 804-828-2756 (fax) no later than October 15, 2009. Six Exemplary Service Projects will be selected from the applications received and applications will be evaluated based on the project's scope, innovation and evidence of effectiveness.

The Honor Roll is a program of the Corporation for National and Community Service, supported by the U.S. Departments of Education and Housing and Urban Development, Campus Compact, and the American Council on Education. The Honor Roll is designed to honor universities for their commitment to community engagement and volunteer service.

Once again, the Office of Continuing Studies in the Division of Community Engagement will be offering conversational Spanish courses for faculty and staff. To register, click here then type "Spanish" in the Keyword box.

For questions, please contact Anna Jones at ajones47@vcu.edu or 828-8831

The Fall 2009 Off-Campus Graduate Art scheduled as been posted. Click here to view the Fall 2009 Off-Campus Graduate Art schedule.

On August 5, the Division moved into its new office located at 817 S. Cathedral Place. Cathedral Place is an extension of Floyd Ave near the Commons.

All phone numbers and box number have remained the same.

Contact: Mike Porter
VCU Communications and Public Relations
Phone: (804) 828-7037
E-mail: mrporter@vcu.edu
www.news.vcu.edu

RICHMOND, Va. (Aug. 4, 2009) - The Corporation for National and Community Service awarded a $400,000 Learn and Serve America grant to Virginia Commonwealth University's Division of Community Engagement to inspire middle school students from low-income families in Virginia, Washington D.C. and surrounding states to meet local community needs in energy conservation, alternative clean energy innovation, and green jobs exploration through GreenSTEM@VCU.

"The GreenSTEM@VCU project capitalizes on VCU's strengths in the areas of service-learning, life sciences, engineering and teacher education to provide middle school students with engaging and innovative science lessons that build the skills they need to succeed in a green economy," said Lynn E. Pelco, Ph.D., director, VCU Division of Community Engagement Service-Learning Program.

The two-year grant will support two consecutive summer academies in which middle school science, technology and mathematics teachers representing the highest-needs schools will receive hands-on training in high quality service-learning and an integrated STEM curriculum to support students' academic achievement.

"By integrating service-learning and STEM, VCU will be creating a middle school curriculum that takes teachers and students outside the classroom and into the community to research and solve the environmental problems that exist right where they live," Pelco said.

Lessons developed will be made available to all teachers via the web, modeled after the successfully "Secrets of the Sequence" series.

The Division of Community Engagement promotes academic programs to enhance the community's access to VCU, supports faculty and student involvement in community partnerships and creates opportunities for interdisciplinary, community-based collaborations that integrate research, teaching and service.

The Corporation for National and Community Service was formed to engage Americans of all ages and backgrounds in service to meet community needs. Each year, more than 1.5 million people of all ages and backgrounds help meet local needs through a wide array of service opportunities. These include projects in education, the environment, public safety, homeland security and other critical areas through the Corporation's three major programs: Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America.