This curriculum packet of teacher-developed lesson plans, intended for use with students in middle and/or high schools, focuses on student involvement in community projects. The first lesson plan, "Physics Park" (Scott McQuerry), aims for students to construct a playground and the examine the physics behind the playground's equipment. Students use…

This document contains a series of 2001 research briefs, Catalyst: Inquiry for Change (Volume 1), that is part of a research project supported by the Institute for Community College Development at Cornell University, New York. The Institute's research projects are stakeholder driven for the purpose of researching areas of the most interest to…

To help communities meet the need for after-school programs, the U.S. Department of Education has instituted the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program, which supports after-school, summer, and weekend activities in neighborhood schools. This report provides an introduction to the role of the arts in those programs. Part 1 of the report…

This sourcebook profiles approximately 80 programs that support the redefinition, assessment, and/or enhancement of quality in community services for individuals with developmental disabilities. Direct service programs, however, are not included. The programs and activities described are subsumed under the following broad categories: (1) statewide…

To make more valuable to the people those things from which the people are accustomed to derive value has been appropriately been said to be the prime business of legislators. That the schoolhouse, whose value to the people is already great, may become still more valuable to them, is the purpose of the community-organization movement which the…

Describes three programs provided by Family Focus, Inc., a private, nonprofit agency established in Chicago in 1976 by citizens to demonstrate the effectiveness of providing community-based support services to expectant parents and families with young children. (Author/RH)

Discusses how existing college career centers can be expanded to be more responsive to the needs of adults. Describes how adjustments in staffing patterns and training in the environment, resources, and public relations efforts at the University of Missouri created an effective evening career counseling service for community adults. (JAC)

Describes the Science Fair Mentoring Program, one of the Science Connection programs of the Massachusetts General Hospital/James P. Timilty Middle School Partnership. This program is designed to enhance middle school science education, inform urban early adolescents about professions in the health field, and encourage them to pursue postsecondary…

Profiles three programs that incorporate service learning into efforts to reduce violence. Extrapolates a set of criteria for developing similar programs. These include meaningful activities, skill-based instruction, recognition of student effort and clear expectations for non-violent behavior. Includes a brief list of teaching resources. (MJP)

Discusses the importance of team-oriented home visits by Head Start workers as a way of establishing trust; opening lines of communication; and providing support, assistance, and resources to client families. Argues that home visits provide insight into issues of parenting, physical and mental health, social service needs, and cultural awareness.…

Recognizing the needs of women as entrepreneurs, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga created an outreach program, the Institute for Women as Entrepreneurs. Using talents of business students, faculty, and volunteer consultants, the institute has assisted 150 women. Strategic considerations of the outreach approach and possible applications…

Maintains that self-esteem is more than simply "feeling good" about oneself. It derives from having experienced meaningful success. A service learning program can accomplish this and avoid the self-preoccupation and narcissism that occasionally accompany self-esteem efforts. Service learning can replace this with empathy and commitment. (MJP)

For the past four years, the American Indian Ambassadors Program has selected American Indians to participate in a year-long leadership training program. The program focuses on mentorship, personal inquiry into one's medicine or power, dialog with leading Native decision makers, community-based projects, and communication-skills training. Profiles…

Describes the Charlottesville (Virginia) Volunteer Tutorial, a one-on-one tutorial program that promotes the literacy development of young children and involves a wide range of community volunteers. Suggests that the program offers one model of an affordable, alternative form of early intervention. (SR)

Programs related to individuals with deafness are listed: federal programs, state vocational rehabilitation offices, regional and local programs, national professional organizations, the National Association of the Deaf, the Conference of Educational Administrators of Schools and Programs for the Deaf, and the Convention of American Instructors of…