Federal Work-Study Program

Abstract: The present study grew out of a new initiative undertaken at Tulane University in 2006, after Hurricane Katrina severely damaged New Orleans Following the storm, the university instituted a two-tiered public service graduation requirement for all undergraduate students as one aspect of its increased involvement with the New Orleans community Students are required to take at least one service-learning course during their first two years of study and to complete a second community-based learning experience (service-learning course, public service internship, research project, etc) before graduation Opportunities for volunteer community service were also enhanced as part of the new initiative for university involvement with the community after Hurricane Katrina To assure that each student would receive a high quality service-learning experience, special efforts were begun in 2006 by the newly created Center for Public Service The two-tiered graduation requirement and the timing of completion allowed for the Center to strategically target specific areas for growth Internally, faculty development was at the core of the strategy Faculty seminars on service-learning pedagogy and practice were offered at least once a semester Between 2006 and 2011, 119 faculty members completed the 10-week service-learning development seminars Additionally, national experts were invited to provide single-session workshops open to a larger faculty audience Support for faculty teaching service-learning courses was provided through direct assistance from the staff of the Center for Public Service as well as through the efforts of student leaders in the Public Service Fellows (PSF) Program, implemented in AY2008, and the Service Learning Assistants (SLA) Program, implemented in AY2009 The programs are very similar in nature--giving assistance to faculty members while at the same time providing leadership opportunities for students In the PSF program, students are required to participate in a "service-learning platform course" that delves into topics of community engagement and leadership, while students in the SLA program are provided stipends through the Federal Work Study program In both programs, these student leaders are trained to assist faculty members, community partners, and students as they engage in their collaborative service-learning work Faculty efforts notwithstanding, community partner training and support were the linchpin to the success of the public service graduation requirement initiative Community organizations were responding to the vast needs of a rebuilding community but lacked the training to work efficiently with the newly instituted program at Tulane Training and workshop sessions were offered to community agencies to help them understand different forms of engaged student work (eg, service-learning courses, public service internships, community-based research, etc), provide them with logistical assistance, and inform them of mandated rules governing student supervision and safety Further assistance was offered to community agencies through a partnership between the University and the Corporation for National and Community Service's AmeriCorps VISTA program Traditional AmeriCorps VISTA placements at higher education institutions have assigned VISTA members work on the university campus; in the Tulane model, the University became a third-party provider of VISTA support to the local community, as described by Moely, Pizzolato, and Ilustre (2012) In this model, VISTA participants had two purposes: to build capacity at their nonprofit placements, and at the same time, to connect their organizations to university resources through the Center for Public Service Often this involved the supervision of service-learning students; in some cases, VISTA participants created programs at their agencies through which service-learners and community volunteers contributed to the agency work These efforts to encourage high-quality public service opportunities for students have continued and been elaborated upon in subsequent years …