How often must we as community members sit down and hear of casualties within school systems? Violence in educational institutions has become a major issue in our country and many teachers around the United States are trying to put a stop to it. In the media there have been several broadcasts regarding stricter gun controls but perhaps the issue lies deeper than the bearing of arms. Katherine Gustafson’s article Teaching Emotions: A Different Approach to Ending School Violence featured in Yes! Magazine delves deep into the issue and suggests that social and emotional learning could potentially be the key to... Continue reading

While across our nation, in the great state of California, I attended the Ashoka University Social Entrepreneurship Conference. San Diego University was the college hosting the Exchange of over 600 social entrepreneurs with ideas to change the world. One of the most common topics of conversation was that of leadership. I always knew leadership was essential to changing the world and after attending the conference my schema about making the world a better place was only reinforced. On a more concentrated matter, I partook in a discussion that focused on inspiring young leaders. Not just inspiring leaders, but finding the... Continue reading

Ever since starting my internship at the Kathleen Clay Edwards Family Branch Library (website here), I started thinking more and more about accountability. Yes, we are expected to be accountable for our work, our internships and our academics. And most of us are. But are we accountable to our environment? Are we accountable to ourselves? My guess is that the answer for many people is no. Accountability seems to be a popular topic in many aspects of my life. Most of us do not even think about accountability beyond showing up for work and/or class. While being accountable to work... Continue reading

My role as an AmeriCorps member is to serve the community. Many people, who have perfectly great intentions, develop a righteous motivation for helping people less fortunate than them and think that they know the answer to poor people's problems as a higher class citizen. However, it is imperative that before they exercise this beautiful motivation that they pause and listen deeply to the people they wish to serve. Until they do this, they will not understand the people’s problems and they will be far away from any beneficial solution. More likely, these efforts will end up doing more damage... Continue reading

“All music is made from the same 12 notes. All culture is made from the save five components: behaviors, relationships, attitudes, values and environment. It’s the way those notes or components are put together that makes things sing.” - George Bradt As cliché as the quote above may be, I think it may be the phrase on community that hits the nail on the head. In all our class discussions on the makeup and integrity of community in the Principled Problem Solving Program, I do not believe anybody has taken an approach quite like this. This comparison of community to... Continue reading

Student athletes coming together through laughs and smiles. Continue reading

I have now completed my research project regarding Lumbee Indian culture along the Cape Fear River Basin, which is here in North Carolina, my permanent state of residence. I traveled on a three day excursion to Fayetteville, Laurinburg, Lumberton, Pembroke, and Wilmington, North Carolina, which are all largely populated by Lumbee Indians. I visited specific locations of interest such as The Lumbee Tribal Council and Housing Complex, The Cape Fear River Museum, and University of North Carolina at Pembroke formerly known as the Indian Normal School, as well as the Native American Resource Center located on that campus. I met... Continue reading

9-11-12 The Community Kitchens Project (CKP) started this past week. CKP is its third academic year and we have added a new project coordinator for the year in hopes of keeping CKP’s mission going. The Community Kitchens Project is an emerging leader in community service for students and resourceful anti-hunger programs for communities around the country. We know there are people in every community who need nourishing meals. And, we know that every college campus has unserved food in its dining halls and brilliant students in its classrooms. So Community Kitchens puts them all together. Community Kitchens Project empowers thousands... Continue reading

I had an idea to give interview outfits to homeless and impoverished women. I had no idea how I would accomplish this. I just started writing down abstract ideas on paper. I met with some residents at Greensboro Urban Ministry and told them my plan to start a program that would give interview clothing to those seeking employment. I didn’t have any one to help me. I didn’t have any interview clothing. I didn’t have anything, really, except a heart to help women in need. I began the summer semester with my plans to start a program tucked in the... Continue reading

A few weekends ago, I attended the Understanding Racism Workshop on campus. The workshop was facilitated representatives from the Multicultural Education Department as well as members on the Anti-Racist Team. The event lasted from Friday afternoon to Sunday evening. It began with a history of black people in America. Although I felt like I knew the broad strokes of the history, it was a much more in depth lesson than I had ever received in public school. The facilitators had drawn timelines with this history on four boards that remained up throughout the weekend. I really appreciated having them there... Continue reading

I first became involved with Maia Dery's Cape Fear River Basin program last year, in the Spring 2012 semester. I found the "planning class" online, and promptly e-mailed Maia, whom I did not know, asking for some details. After meeting with Maia and hearing her plans for the program, including hoping to take over the world with a "global empire of love", I was sold. This was an opportunity for me to bring my community and justice studies lens to a place-based experiential learning program. Because community and justice studies and environmental and water studies have so much to do... Continue reading

When we go to a grocery store and we have adequate money in hand, which food do we choose, local food, or food from a chain brand? I guess a lot of people would choose local food, at least people from Guilford. We presume local food is good and safe, both to individuals and communities, but most people don’t see the potential negatives of the local food. Advocates who speak for local food can always list plenty of reasons to persuade us to buy local food and most of time, we do listen, not just because there are a lot... Continue reading

My experience with Unity Hoops Basketball for my Principled Problem Solvers Scholars Program summer internship thus far has been an interesting one. I have yet to leave for the Crow Indian Reservation but have been very involved in the fundraising efforts. I have only met one of the other staff members face to face, but I have spent countless hours this summer on the phone, writing letters to the editor, meeting with organizations, and talking to community members about donating to the 2012 summer empowerment program. The timing of this blog is great because my journey to Montana is only... Continue reading

She walked to the table hoping to complete the homework for her English language class. I was afraid that I would not be able to assist her because we were finished with adult tutoring for the day. One of the other staff members told her that we could not help her; at this moment I could see the sadness on her face. I wondered what would happen if she did not complete this work. Would this slow down her progress? Would her instructors see this as a lack of understanding? Would she be discouraged now, as I watched her smile... Continue reading

Hello from my desk in the House of Delegates Office in Annapolis, Maryland. This summer I have been doing my Principled Problem Solvers Scholars Program internship here with Delegate Mark Fisher. This blog is here to help share the relationships I have made, the experiences I have had, and most importantly the lessons I have learned thus far. Here in the House of Delegates, along with the State Senate, legislation is passed for the state of Maryland in many different areas. Just in the past few weeks I have seen bills on the state budget, teacher pensions, Chesapeake Bay Restoration... Continue reading

A brief update on my experience as an American working at the Wi'am Palestinian Conflict Resolution/Transformation Center in Bethlehem, Palestine. The most important approach to peacebuilding across cultures is to never assume you understand another completely. Continue reading

Effective organizations are built by great leaders. Leaders of effective organizations must be passionate about their ideas and have the ability to motivate those who are part of the organization. When you have a leader or an authoritative person that is able to construct and organize well considered goals, and push their followers to believe in those goals they are able to get more out of their people. This is because great leaders set the standard and are able to hold all of their followers to that standard. Throughout my life I have played and observed sports, and I have... Continue reading

Ten Thousand Villages, or TTV, is a non-profit fair trade organization that supports artisans in developing countries by buying crafts at a fair price in America. When visiting Ten Thousand Villages for the first time, I was overwhelmed with the environment and culture that the volunteers and management introduced to my group: Tim, Jodie, and me. Being welcomed by a dog and several individuals that had smiles on their faces, sparked my interest to venture into the store and see why these signs of passion, seen from all aspects of the store, were created and existed. My initial response to... Continue reading

Over the past semester, I have put in many hours at the Interactive Resource Center (IRC). Through this time I have learned a lot about aspects of a business that work and do not. Although there are many positives and negatives wihtin any organization, one major thing seemed crucial for success. That aspect was organization/clarity within the actual facility and within one's mind and plans. This should be a major part of every developing business, but it is often not achieved due to inability. Through my work at the IRC, i learned the amount of paperwork an organization has coming... Continue reading

Hello. I am Kaoru Kofukada, a junior psychology major at Guilford College. I am also a visiting student from International Christian University in Japan. I have been working as a volunteer at the Glen Haven Community Center since last September. The Glen Haven Community Center is a refugee support facility located in Greensboro, which cooperates with Guilford College. The facility provides volunteer opportunities of afterschool tutoring for children and ELS class assistance for adults. Through interacting with refugees as a volunteer, I realized that most of the refugee adults in the community were unemployed. This fact was shocking to me,... Continue reading

“The IRC has more doors than walls.” The community site where I chose to volunteer this semester through PPS is located in downtown Greensboro and is known as the Interactive Resource Center (IRC). I chose this center because it is a grassroots organization and has come a long way since its beginning. It's a multi-purpose center for individuals who are dealing with homelessness or at risk at becoming homeless. I chose to volunteer at this center because I volunteered here before by helping individuals build resumes, but I wanted to gain experience in the housing area as well. The Interactive... Continue reading

While reading Switch (2010) by the Heath brothers, my mind could not help but compare my own experiences to those presented in the book. Switch illustrates what change requires from an organization or an individual, in a simple way. So, how does change take place? I think we may all assume we hold the answer to this question, but we are more keen on describing the obstacles of that journey as opposed to how educational the process may have been. I have found that many of the organizations I have been in contact with have really engaged in a format... Continue reading

In my fieldwork project this semester, I have spent time helping plan a more sustainable Earth Day Event with my fellow classmates Ryan and Daniel at the Kathleen Clay Family Branch Library (KCEF). This branch of the Greensboro Public Library has a primary focus of environmental education, with numerous events, classes, and educational opportunities for the public to broaden their knowledge of so many kinds of environmental subjects. We have not experienced many of these events but we have taken a few steps in making this Earth Day Event more sustainable for both the participants and exhibitors. Among reducing paper... Continue reading

When I first began my internship at American Friends Service Committee in Greensboro, or AFSC, I was taken aback by how much AFSC valued creativity, emotions, individuality, and other things I could only describe as “right-brained.” How can an organization be successful, sustainable, and most importantly, efficient, if it was always bogged with feelings and things of that nature? Chip and Dan Heath discuss in their book, Switch: How to change things when change is hard, the two parts of an individual's personality. The emotional, people-driven side of one's personality is represented by an elephant, while the logically-driven side is... Continue reading

The Mission of Ten Thousand Villages: Connecting Them: With Them: For my fieldwork project this semester, I have been working with my classmates Jodie and Taylor to help the Ten Thousand Villages store in Greensboro evaluate their volunteer program. Ten Thousand Villages is a national non-profit retail chain, a title which at first seems to be ironic, as the point of retail business is to make profit. However, Ten Thousand Villages exemplifies a model for providing effective aid in a globalized world. Their mission is to support artisans in developing countries buy buying crafts at a fair price, and marketing... Continue reading