Jul 10th, 2009
The Civic Leadership Institute (CLI) is a collaborative program between the Nehemiah Project and Cardinal Stritch University. Participants live in a resident hall on the campus Cardinal Stritch University. Students will be required to complete 20-25 servicelearning hours (4-5 hours a day) at a local non-profit agency working on community initiatives. Safe & Sound was fortunate to receive four CLI students who benefited the work we do while having a valuable experience.
In addition, participants completed 20 classroom hours under the instruction of a Cardinal Stritch professor. The classroom discussion was devoted to exploring social justice issues, examining strategies for understanding social justice issues, and how to address them through community organizing.
The programs objectives learning techniques and developing an understanding of addressing social justice issues both in their community and schools. The group also learned about community organizing method that encourages the utilization of individual talents in order to accomplish a greater goal. This learning experience would not be complete without real world experiences with organizations like Safe & Sound.
All of the students interning with Safe & Sound commented on the realizations brought about by a few hours of door-to-door outreach in the Woodlands neighborhood. Being this close to poverty and the effects of crime on residents who live it day-to-day has a sobering effect. Talking with single mothers holding children and young men spending their day on the stoop can’t help but instill a sense of urgency. There are many resources for families in Milwaukee but it takes the repeated face-to-face communication and real human interaction to truly inspire individuals to take advantage of them.
One of the students, Katherine Mohr, was so inspired that she would like to continue to volunteer with Safe & Sound. She states, “My week at Safe & Sound was one of the best weeks of my summer. I learned invaluable experiences and was able to apply them to the classroom component of our Civic Leadership Institute. I also hope to continue volunteering with Safe & Sound throughout my last year of high school and potentially beyond, since the work that it accomplishes is so important and needed in Milwaukee neighborhoods. It was a truly wonderful week, and is a truly wonderful program.” Staff appreciated the opportunity to work closely with the interns and to take a step back and appreciate their own efforts from a fresh perspective.
