Reflection, Action, Partnership (RAP) Sessions - Fall 2009
RAP sessions are a space where students in the Scholars Program can get together and discuss challenges, inspirations, and goals in your community work.
Attending a RAP session and writing a short summary on the Scholars blog will count as one of your six required reflections for the Scholars Program.
Fall 2009 Schedule and Descriptions after the jump.
Preserving the Mississippi River Bluff: Learning about the Cedar Riverside Neighborhood and our Parks
Friday, September 25th 1-4 PM, meet in the Atrium of Humphrey
The purpose of this session is to learn about and contribute to the preservation of the area known as Bluff Street Park as an open space resource for the UMN and the Cedar Riverside community. The park, situated along the edge of the bluff and descending the bluff to the West River Parkway, is a critical component of the Mississippi River Valley, and contains one of the few remnant Bedrock Bluff Prairie ecosystems in Minnesota. In 2000, residents of the Cedar Riverside Neighborhood saw the need to preserve the Site as open space and they continue to voice this need today.
We will lead a walking tour from the UMN West Bank Campus through the Cedar Riverside neighborhood and to the Bluff Street Park Site. At the site, participants will help prepare the site for planting and hear from CHANCE student researchers and neighborhood residents about current efforts to preserve this space as a park.
Please wear comfortable clothes that can get dirty. Gloves and tools will be provided as necessary.
Public Health Care and Community Service
Friday, October 16th 3-5 PM Location TBD
This session will focus on how individuals can make a lasting impact on the lives of an entire community through public health work. Participants will work on translating their knowledge of health care problems into a hands-on experiences that serves the specific needs of the community.
Students that have been involved in this type of work are strongly encouraged to attend and share their experiences with the group. For those who are interested in getting more involved, there will be a list provided of nonprofit agencies involved in public health along with other resources.
Reflective Writing Workshop
Monday, October 19th 5-7 PM
Reflection is consistently seen as an essential element of engaged work, and writing is one of the most common ways in which people take on reflection. This workshop will explore different approaches to reflective writing for different contexts and purposes. Participants will gain insight into their own attitudes towards reflection and will have opportunity to consider how they might use writing to facilitate their own reflection.
Mapping Our Comfort Zones
Monday, October 26th 2:30-4:30 PM Location TBD
Why is it that we feel comfortable in some places and not others? In this RAP session we will expand personal spatial awareness from a physical geography (based on map making) to a more general discussion of "space". We will define space together and question how spaces are connected/disconnected. Some questions we will ask may include: How can space be imagined, constructed and perceived? How do we locate ourselves and others? What is the potential for universal space (a space for everyone)? We will explore these questions through looking at maps and creating our own maps.
The Revolution is Personal!
Tues Nov 3 4-6pm Location TBD
Does your voice matter? Why should you tell your story? Do you even have a story? We'll explore the power our personal stories have on changing the world. We will delve into the issues that face our communities and creatively challenge them using poetry and performance. Come share, come spit; come take a stand.
Act Your Age!: Working with Young People Across the Spectrum
Thursday, November 12th 3-5 PM Location TBD
How do we work with young people from a place of authenticity and justice? How do we create safe spaces for a diversity of young people, especially when we, as youthworkers, are outsiders? In this rap session, we will explore questions of privilege, outsider status, and working with, not for, young people. Some questions we might look at include: how do white people work in spaces that are predominantly youth of color? can white people work in these spaces? why are young people viewed as a population to work for or to work over, instead of to work in collaboration with? These questions will be explored through visuals, discussion, and activities. Even if you do not currently work with young people, anyone interested in discussions of working in communities not your own or anyone thinking about working with young people are also encouraged to attend.
Change Through Business
Friday, November 20th 3-5 PM Mapps Coffee Shop
How do you integrate a business education and community work? How can we use our business knowledge to improve the world? We will share experiences of skills based volunteer work, comparing behind-the-scenes indirect volunteer work to directly serving others. We will exploring different ways to help your community while enhancing your business education. All students with a passion for both business and community work are encouraged to participate.
"Development:" Ethical Implications and Justifications
Time, date and location TBD
What is "development?" How do we do ethical "development" work locally and internationally? This will be a discussion-based session inviting Scholars to share and discuss their personal impressions of community development projects as individual entities. We will also reflect on the implications of these projects on the larger community. Broader goals of development will be discussed and scholars asked to reflect on how their projects ultimately support (or not!) these ends.
Integrative Community Engagement Project (ICEP) Workshop
This workshop will happen 4 times this semester:
Thursday October 15th 4-6 PM
Friday, October 30th 1-3 PM
Tuesday, November 17th 2-4 PM
Friday, December 4th 10 AM -12 PM
The Integrative Community Engagement Project (ICEP) is the capstone experience for the Community Engagement Scholars Program, and a great chance to use your past community work and academic experiences to meet a need or build capacity within a community organization. In this workshop, we will hear from alumni of the Scholars Program about how they developed and implemented their ICEPs. We will also participate in activities meant to begin the brainstorming/planning process for your ICEP.
This workshop is open to all CESP students, but is especially recommended for those planning to do their ICEP in the Spring of 2010.
Registration coming soon!
Questions? Call 612-626-2044 or email cesp@umn.edu