Service-Learning Application Paper

Introduction

According to www.belovedcommunitycenter.org, the mission statement is as follows:

The Beloved Community Center is committed to fostering and modeling a spirit of community based on Dr. Martin Luther King's vision of a "Beloved Community." In this spirit, we envision and work toward social and economic relations that affirm and realize the equality, dignity, worth and potential of every person.

The Beloved Community Center reaches out to the community in many ways with a dream of a beloved community. Every morning they serve breakfast to the homeless to provide this need of food to the homeless population in Greensboro. Also, every Wednesday at 1:00 P.M., the Beloved Community Center holds a meeting open to the public. This is where people can come and discuss issues in the community that are going well or that need attention and bring new ideas to the center. For instance, when I went to a meeting, a professor from Guilford College was present and is planning on involving BCC in her research class. In the past they have worked on the truth and reconciliation project, the civil rights movement, and the 1969 revolt. I would like to become extremely involved with the center, going to all the meetings. The professor (from the meeting) is unsure at this time what they will be doing with the center next semester, but it is a research-based class and the second part of the semester will be directly involved with the center. The beloved community center holds informal partnerships with most universities in Greensboro. They also have a group called New Voice, involving high school students and their parents and also college students. They meet every Wednesday to give them a place to come and be mentored. The parents hold forums at local schools to discuss various issues within the educational system. These are just a few things that the community center is involved in.

During this semester, I have volunteered at the Beloved Community Center. I have volunteered my time at the center, observing meetings, answering phones, and learning about what they do for the community. The project that I primarily worked on was about the 1969 revolt in Greensboro. Before the discussion of the revolt in our class and at the center, I had never heard of the events that took place in May of 1969, so this has truly been a learning experience. My job was to go out into the community and interview individuals that were present during the 1969 revolt in Greensboro at Dudley High School and NC A&T. I interviewed Mr. Brandon along with Mrs. Kinsey. Each experience was different, for Mr. Brandon was at A&T while the revolt was occurring. Mrs. Kinsey lived adjacent to the school during the events. She was able to see the events occurring but was not present on campus to know all the details. She was very helpful though. Through my service-learning experience, I learned dialogic communication needs to be the primary form of communication with the community, and through this technique, involved community members will gain social capital, learn to appreciate differences rather than partake in a judgmental attitude, therefore developing critical ethnography.

Application and Assessment

Communication within the community is so important in Greensboro or in any other community. My service learning experience was a lot different than the typical student’s that went to a school or to a nursing home. My experience involves all of Greensboro, and anyone who wants to be a part of the beloved community center would be welcomed with open arms. They communicate with the community through their meetings every Wednesday that anyone is able to come and speak of issues within the community that concern them. I feel like the most important concept discussed in our class that was applicable to our service-learning situation was dialogue. It was so important to develop rapport at the beginning of the interview by finding some way to relate with one another. Dialogue is not every conversation that we engage in, for it is actually only when we are able to relate to other’s perspective. It is important to know that this relating does not require that one agrees with the other, but it does require the engagement and attention to know why they have the perspective that they have. Communication is a basic concept in keeping a relationship alive and thriving, but unfortunately many communities fail to communicate dialogically. The ability to relate while communicating contributes to this problem. Bakhtin (1981) states,

A unitary language is not something that is given, but is in its very essence something that must be posited—at every moment in the life of a language it opposes the realities of heteroglossia, but at the same time the ideal of a single, holistic language makes the actuality of its presence felt as a force resisting an absolute heteroglot state; it posits definite boundaries for limiting the potential chaos of variety, thus guaranteeing a more of less maximal mutual understanding. (p.xix)

So, the community’s goal should include the ability to communicate holistically and dialogically as a group but seeking uniqueness and individuality, as well. The community must have togetherness, but individuality is greatly valued in any dialogic situation. Coherence is also a term that is involved with dialogue according to Pearce & Pearce (2004) coherence “is used to designate human activity as meaning making, not as a judgment about the success of that process” (p.47).

I will now discuss how difference does matter within community building. I discussed that uniqueness and individuality are important within dialogue, but this uniqueness is not only important within dialogue, but it is important in the community in general, as well. In my service learning experience, I felt that race does matter. I have always been a dominant or majority group, so I do not have a clue as to what it is like to be a minority or treated differently because of my skin. The interview with Mrs. Kinsey was such a learning experience. She was more open with me about race, religion, politics, and her experience. I was not expecting this because I am a young white woman and she is a older black woman. I did not think she would tell me about personal racial ideas or tensions that had happened in her past, considering this was the first time I would meet her. However, she spoke about how she experienced white people not wanted to sit beside her because she was black. But she did talk to me about all these things, and I had never talked to a black individual who was so open and honest. I asked her when people treat you like that does it bother you, and she said no. She turns the other cheek she says and shows them the utmost amount of kindness. However she has been a part of a lot of work within the community, and Allen (2004) states:

Organizations are political sites where members use communication to enact, reinforce, or challenge various power relations endemic to society at large. Moreover, race has been a significant impetus for important developments related to organizations in the United States. (p.82)

Through my experience with Mrs. Kinsey I strongly appreciate people like her. Sure, she would like to not be treated unfairly, but she is genuinely one the sweetest people I have ever met in my life. When she was younger and a nurse working at Moses Cone, she was treated unfairly there, at times. Instead of complaining about it, she showed people through her actions that she would not let anyone get in her way or change her happy spirit.

In words, it is hard to express the gratitude I have for the experience that I have received through this service learning process. I grew up in a house that was on a golf course with everything I ever needed and most of what I wanted. I went to a private school my whole life, and I never really was exposed to the homeless or simply the less fortunate, for, “many service-learning sites place students in contact with a much more demographically diverse population than they encounter on campus” (Soukup, 1999, p.10). I knew that the homeless existed, but I did not know how prevalent it has become. From sitting in on a meeting at the Beloved Community Center, I listened as a man speaks of children without a father. Then these mothers could not support them, and teachers would notice that the kid would disappear or hardly ever come to school. I knew that these things occurred, but I guess I never thought about what I could do to help them from occurring. I have been inspired to volunteer within the community and give back as much as can. I think this would include finding the root of the problem and trying to fix it. I know that I alone cannot do this, but I have a voice. I also would like to give children like this somewhere to come to and study or watch television in a safe place. I want to give them an alternative and keep them out of trouble. Through all this, I really believe that I have accomplished Artz concept of critical ethnography.

In the future, I would suggest to other students to strengthen their critical students understand this concept, then they are ready to engage themselves in service with the community using critical ethnography. Dialogue promotes understanding, relating to differences, and will result in communication dialogically. Artz (2001) argues that dialogic communicating leads to, “special kinds of relationships change, growth, and new understandings are fostered” (p.244). These kinds of relationships are necessary in any all service learning experiences.

I just discussed how important it is to develop dialogue within the community and in developing critical ethnography. Now I want to discuss another important concept, social capital which “features of social organization such as networks, norms, and social trust that facilitate coordination and cooperation for mutual benefit” (Putnam, 1995, p. 67). Through my service learning experience I have definitely gained social capital through the Beloved Community Center. I feel that I am now able to further network myself through the center and through the individuals that I interviewed. Reciprocity or mutual benefit is also essential in developing social capital, and I feel like the interviewing that I did was very beneficial in learning how to develop rapport and a conversational quality when interviewing. Also, I feel like many will feel a since of appreciation for the spreading of the history of the 1969 revolt. Hopefully, the word will spread and the community will develop knowledge regarding the events, and people will come together in result developing social capital.

Conclusion

The service learning experience is something that I will continue doing, and the experience did me a lot of service. I learned that, I, as an individual can and will make a difference. I can touch one life within the community and make impact. The goal was to see that, “communication, infused with critical ethnography, gives service-learning a means to encourage students to think critically about structures of power and communication and work collectively and cooperatively for a better world” (Artz, 2001, p.248). I think this I take away from my experience as a interviewer, community member with a voice, and as a genuine citizen, I recognize the faults in our community and want to take part in developing tactics and resolutions to treat the problems that the community still practices. I learned about history, which I am able to appreciate now, and I learned about the inequalities still in our community. Our community, in my opinion, is still a stuck community and will remain in that position because of the people on the margins that refuse to bend or be mainstreamed.

The only recommendation I have for the Beloved Community Center is to be more organized and prompt. Some of the interviewees did not even know that I would be calling. I felt they should have been asked prior to the beginning of the semester. Also, I think it would help if the interviewee’s availability was known and stated to us. Overall, I think that Beloved Community Center has only good intentions, and the center is an asset to our community of Greensboro. I feel they have good ideas and good projects, but they need to be more structured and organized to have a chance to instill the ideas they wish to in as many community members, as possible.

I would recommend students to get involved and make a difference in their communities because we are future. Most people have something they feel like they are good at, whether it is sports, communication skills, or simply that one has a gift with children. I would tell the future students to find this niches they have and use them to benefit the community. Oh, I know, us college students are so busy. Well, I know we are busy, but we can still spare an hour or two a week to make a difference in the community that we live in, or make a difference in one child’s life. It’s worth it, I built social capital, and I feel good about it, and I hope I did a lot of good, too. But it makes us realize how lucky we are, and that we can make a difference. One voice is appreciated, and individuality is essential in community building through dialogue. We are communication specialists and must put our skills to use within the community and benefit those that we can reach and surprisingly be benefited, as well.