Alternative Spring Break Aims to Connect Students to Healing Efforts in Ferguson
http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2015/02/alternative_spring_break_aims_to_connect_students_to_healing_efforts_in_ferguson.php
The following article from the Riverfront Times provides information regarding a volunteer opportunity in Ferguson for college students during their spring break. Many students, unless they have taken time off coursework have been unable to join protests and efforts in Ferguson. To provide students with that opportunity, while they have time off of school, activists have created the "alternative spring break" opportunity to provide students from all over the country with that opportunity. The "alternative spring break" plans to bring 50 to 100 students each week for three weeks to provide aid in rebuilding and healing in Ferguson.
Charles Wade, of Operation Help or Hush, has helped in arranging the program and spoke of some of the specific intentions behind it. He implies that the program is meant to promote effective volunteerism, extend a helping hand, provide tools for advocacy, provide voter education and registration, and ultimately to focus on aiding the Ferguson community. The program is not necessarily meant to teach students how to protest, but to help students understand the issues protestors have faced and how to effectively mediate them as legal observers.
I think the idea is a great initiative. The program offers opportunities to students who want more out of their spring break and are interested in community change. This seems like a productive way to not only aid rebuilding efforts in Ferguson, but also to provide an effective, community-based learning experience for students across the country.
At this point, it is questionable whether the people of Ferguson really want this outside help, but the idea behind the program is meaningful in regards to community change. The civic aspect of the program seems fantastic, I just hope that it is done the right way and both the college students and the Ferguson residents can find fulfillment from the experience.
What are your thoughts? Do you think this initiative can be fulfilling for both the college students AND the people of Ferguson? Or is this just going to further exhaust Ferguson residents with outside efforts?
Not only do I love the push for volunteerism during Spring Break vs other options, I think that the group "Operation - Help or Hush" has an awesome title. I believe you have good reason to be concerned regarding the effectiveness of this initiative. Time and time again, well intentioned organizations have entered communities well intentioned, but end up doing more harm than good due to a variety of reasons. In order to be an effective volunteer presence, it is absolutely essential to do extensive research and ask the community how they would like to see you serve rather than showing up with your own agenda and ill-prepared volunteers. The college spring break volunteer programs that I have viewed as successful had leaders who were well integrated into the community prior to bringing their group of students and ensured that all students had proper training, opportunity for discussion, etc. prior to serving. I played a minor role in organizing an alternative spring break in New Jersey shortly after Hurricane Sandy and unfortunately after the first two days, the student volunteers were more of a burden than benefit. Hopefully, everyone in this scenario can walk away from the experience with an expanded mind and heart.
ReplyDelete-Nici Graves
I think nici has said this very well, and I completely agree with everything that was said. I am intrested in how the community feels about so many outside individuals coming to the community. Some may question are they really coming to help or are they coming to hang out and take pictures? Are they there to make change or are they there to make hashtags? Many people believe that the individuals who come from other states have come to be destructive rather than productive. Those are the only concerns that I would have about the vounteers.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the input! I completely agree with both of your comments. I think the main point to take away from this discussion is how important it is for programs like this to collaborate with the community on an agenda, not just come in with their own. I understand that organizations like the United Way have programs like this too (although, I do not think Ferguson is listed as on of their opportunities at this time), and it is likely that most of these alternative spring break initiatives are positive, I just think, especially in the case of Ferguson, there MUST be collaboration with and consideration for what the community wants.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great idea. The collaboration was something that was discussed in Chapter 4 this week, so I thought this article was great timing.
ReplyDeleteThis is certainly a welcome alternative to the stereotyped image of the typical "spring breaker" type of college student. It has the potential to help the community at large as well as foster a spirit of altruism that may last a student a lifetime. My fraternity, Alpha Phi Omega was formed with a similar mission... that of service to the community. We come up with and develop several projects over a semester, as well as team up with various organizations in order to give back to the area. I agree with my fellow commenters that just bursting into a community or situation without proper background research can be detrimental to that community, its residents and even the student. But with a lot of forethought, the experience can benefit all involved.
ReplyDeleteI think that this is a great idea; however, like Holly mentioned on our community volunteering visit that we are imposing on a community and asking a lot of them to meet our needs for a short period of time. In this instance I think Hayley makes a very good point that the community of Ferguson may not want this outside help. Mr. Wade does say that businesses have been waiting for help. As other comments have stated, this alternative spring break needs to be a joint effort with the community and the proper research needs to be done before a group of college students just show up. I emailed the contact for the spring break opportunity asking for more details and plans about the schedule of events.
ReplyDeleteI think it is really interesting that this organization, Operation Help or Hush was created because of Twitter activism. The idea behind this organization is to help ensure that the activist community on Twitter are actually activists in real communities they are hash tagging, to either help the movement or to hush. This organization is built on the idea to use social media in the name of social justice. I think that this was a genius idea, so many people have spoken about the events of #Ferguson all over various social media platforms. Everyone wanted to put their two cents in, but how many of us went out and put our money where our mouths are? How do we do this without hurting the community we intend to help? Instead of hash tagging a post that someone should do something. We should be that someone. We need to start researching and thinking of ways we can help.
This organization has 3 funding priorities:
1. Organizing Organizers
2. Sustaining Protesters
3. Resourcing the Community
Resourcing the community is the priority that links community partners in order to pool and leverage resources for maximum impact. I can only hope and imagine that this gentleman is making many contacts and connections so that his efforts are successful rather than harmful.
http://operationhelporhush.org/funding-priorities/
Thank you for sharing! I have heard from both sides of the "outsiders coming to help" subject and I appreciate both views. As an outsider to most St. Louis communities, it is a difficult call on how to get people involved without making those who live in the community feel put out. As mentioned by Karla, Holly explained this well when we went to work with the community this weekend. I was able to see first hand the amount of work and explanation that goes into welcoming newcomers. It has to be exhausting to dole out tasks and explain everything over and over again to people who are not committed to staying to help. This makes me very appreciative of those who are able to take the time to inform newcomers of how things work and where help is needed. However, the experience also helped me understand that this is a good reason why temporary helpers from outside the community might not be as welcomed, too.
ReplyDeleteI think Alternative Spring Break is a good idea. However, I agree with Katie when she mentioned that the "outsiders" coming to volunteer will be here temporarily. Are the outside volunteers looking to add something on their resume or are they really passionate about getting involved? We may never know, but I am concerned about the backlash the program may receive from the community since the "outsiders" are allowed to volunteer.
ReplyDeleteMy big hesitation with programs like this is the capitol that must be invested by Ferguson residents. I have friends who work at NPOs that host school groups over Winter, Spring, and Summer breaks - all of the organizations have had groups do one of two things.
ReplyDeleteA - cancel their scheduled trips months in advance because Ferguson is "dangerous"
B - ask if they could completely change the plans of their city live-in experience to include taking trips to Ferguson.
Pastors from Ferguson churches I've spoken with are tired of people calling and telling them that they have bus load of people coming to Ferguson and expecting local churches to provide them with things to do.
I think it's important to realize that Ferguson is not a zoo. I know that might sound silly, but I really think that is how a lot of people view it. It's somewhere they can come spend a few hours, feel good about themselves, and add a line or two to their resume.
I will say that I know Charles Wade personally and I do think highly of him, so maybe Help or Hush will be different.
Hayley, thank you for finding and posting about this program. Karla, thank you for giving us some information on the organization’s background and mission. It is a very clever (and necessary!) idea. We live in such a digital society that it is so easy to hit a “like” or “share” button and think “I did something.” While education and awareness of certain issues are important, there comes a point where action needs to happen; where we need to get out from behind our computers and meet people face-to-face. For that, I appreciate and see value in their vision. On the other hand, I think caution and intentionally is needed. I grew up in very active Christian church communities. Short-term mission trips are things that every youth group goes on during summer breaks, often wearing matching t-shirts and coming home with pictures of poor kids in African villages (I’m using hyperbole here for a point). I say that because about eight years ago academics, especially within Christian circles, began researching the effectiveness of short-term mission trips. They looked at whether or not these programs were helping or hurting the communities they were engaging. The majority of the research found it to be more effective to send resources, financial support, and specialized individuals to teach locals. It is often cost effective to hire local workers rather than flying a group of teenager half way around the world. The important to consider when thinking about short-term missions (or in this case the spring break trips) is who will it benefit and how to bring in culturally sensitive individuals. These sort of trips can be extremely beneficial for the individuals going; I learned a great deal about service, the global Church, and life in other places by going on these trips. In terms of these spring break trips through Operation Help or Hush, the college students coming to Ferguson will probably learn about community organizing and advocacy in great deal (in a specific context). And many of them will, hopefully, use the lessons they learn to go back to their own communities and help create change. I’d be interested in hearing more about this organization.
ReplyDeleteI never got an email back when I asked for more details and plans about the schedule of events for this alternative spring break. I did run into the spring break group at a Ferguson Town Hall meeting I went to last week and they were all there participating in the question and answer group sessions. From what I can tell, the people at the Town Hall meeting were happy to have them there and were very welcoming. The community thanked them for being here. A large majority of the students had notebooks and were taking notes of the ideas and resolutions the DOJ was asking the community for in regards to how the community wants to move forward. I agree with Trisha that these college students are learning a lot about community organizing and advocacy.
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