Community Engagement & Service Learning
Applying the Research to Build Human & Social Capital
First Year Seminar: Sowing the Seeds of Ecological Resilience: Engaging in Civic Ecological Practices
This course was designed to include participation in a civic ecology service-learning project. Students worked within various environmental stewardship activities on a weekly basis. Experiential activities included working on the Sustainable University of Redlands Farm (SURF garden) or other community-centered restoration practices as they emerged. The main project for the students in the course was to plant 100 native trees in a disadvantaged area of Redlands to fulfill the requirements of the Neighborhood Grows Grant; a CalFire Program. This $10,000 grant was implemented to mitigate climate change by planting trees in disadvantaged communities within the County of San Bernardino under the CA Cap and Trade program set forth in SB 535: Disadvantaged Communities legislation.
Civic ecology is the study of community-driven environmental stewardship practices, their outcomes for individuals, communities, and ecosystems, and their interactions with the governance institutions and social-ecological systems in which they take place. Civic ecology practices—such as community gardening, wetlands restoration, and tree planting—are just a few examples of ways for people to express resilience within communities (Krasny & Tidball, 2015).
Living Well Through Community
Club FRIEND-Ship Faculty Liaison
Club FRIEND-Ship is a club of young adults with unique or special needs who enjoy building and sustaining friendships. The club has employed two of my University of Redlands students in the recent past to direct weekly activities in addition to providing volunteer opportunities for more than 25 undergraduate students. Club FRIEND-Ship meets on the campus of the University of Redlands, providing university students an opportunity to work with a vulnerable group of young adults. Students gain community service learning credit while engaging in appropriate professional development work experience for those entering the fields of education, communicative disorders, and social work. Most importantly, everyone participates to have fun!
By creating a partnership between the Club FRIEND-Ship and the University of Redlands, I am able to advance my research in creating opportunities to build human capital, foster life skills for all of the participants, and minimize the impacts of social isolation through community-based programming.
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