CESP Blog

Biology without Borders is a student group at the University that is concerned with public health both locally and globally. During this RAP session, leaders from Biology without Borders talked about their work with diabetes education in Tanzania, and led a discussion around issues of public health and community work here and abroad.

To get credit for this RAP Session please make sure you leave us a summary with how it went, what you learned, etc in a comment on this entry or shoot Laura an email at damm0032@umn.edu.

If commenting, please put your full name and umn.edu email address so we know who to give credit to!

Hope you all enjoyed the RAP session and come to some more next semester! Be on the look out for an email about them in the Spring!

Posted by reut0076 at 4:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

What are the strengths of working for community change within the structure of a non-profit organization? What are the limitations? In this RAP session, we talked a bit about the history of social organizing in the United States in order to contextualize the organizational structures we are working within today. We then discussed the ways in which the structure of an organization directly impacts how community work is done and who it ultimately benefits. We ended the session by discussing alternatives for “non-traditional� organizational models.

Some questions for you to think about from the facilitators:
Do organizational structures shape social movements? How does the structure of your organization help/hinder its goals? What other organizational structures did you learn about in this RAP session and do you think they are useful/harmful for organizing and how?

Links to check out for more information:
http://seedsforchange.org.uk/free/consens
http://www.starhawk.org/activism/consensus.html

To get credit for this RAP Session please make sure you leave us a summary with how it went, what you learned, etc in a comment on this entry or shoot Laura an email at damm0032@umn.edu.

If commenting, please put your full name and umn.edu email address so we know who to give credit to!

Hope you all enjoyed the RAP session and come to some more, the next is Community Work Local to Global: Biology without Borders on Friday November 21st from 2-4pm in Kolthoff Hall 133. Sign up at www.servicelearning.umn.edu/trainings!

Posted by reut0076 at 4:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The election is over, so time for a slightly different focus in this month's reflection idea.

Watch this awesome video from Good Magazine and think a bit about the questions we pose below it! You can find other great videos from Good on their website, all chances to learn exciting new things about a variety of topics.

So, after watching that very well designed video, what are your thoughts?

Some things to think about:
All of the examples of volunteer work given in the video are organizations working on fairly concrete issues with set goals in mind. These are all tangible issues that we can blatantly see in front of us. At the same time, the video works to create a sense of a "volunteerism" community (or "do-nation" as they called it), how important is this sense of community when doing your volunteer work? Do you feel connected to a larger movement, idea, community?

But, what is missing from this video? What isn't being addressed? Are your issues being discussed? If so, to what extent?

To turn in a reflection about this reflection idea/topic, write it up and email it to Laura Dammer Hess at damm0032@umn.edu. If you think it's an awesome reflection and want it posted on the blog, let us know and we'll get it up here!

Posted by reut0076 at 12:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Citizenship is at the forefront of many conversations this fall as we prepare for local and national elections. Many types of people and organizations are a part of these conversations. The Weisman Art Museum currently has three exhibitions connected to themes of citizenship and democracy. In this RAP session we visited the exhibitions entitled, “What do YOU say AMERICA?,� “Hindsight is Always 20/20,� and “Who is a Citizen? What is Citizenship,� and discussed how they illustrate or conflict with our ideas of citizenship and democracy.

To get credit for this RAP Session please make sure you leave us a summary with how it went, what you learned, etc in a comment on this entry or shoot Laura an email at damm0032@umn.edu.

If commenting, please put your full name and umn.edu email address so we know who to give credit to!

Hope you all enjoyed the RAP session and come to some more, the next is The Revolution Will not be Funded: Reflections on Models of Organizing on Friday, November 14th from 2-4pm at TBA. Sign up at www.servicelearning.umn.edu/trainings!

Reflection Questions to think about:
In several of the pieces we saw in the exhibit we discussed the artist as an advocate, and the difficulties of representing or advocating for a people that is not your own. How does this connect to what you do in your community work or the work of your community organization?

Posted by reut0076 at 5:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)