EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES

Whether you are about to embark on your first service experience or you have been volunteering for years, the following advice will help make your service more meaningful for yourself and for the community.

Questions to Ask Yourself

Rights and Responsibilities of Community Involvement

Top Ten Gripes of Community Partners

Questions to Ask Yourself

Am I Ready for Community Involvement?

What is my motivation for working with the community? What do I hope might occur during my community involvement?

What assumptions do I have about West Philadelphia communities? Where did these assumptions come from? How might these assumptions influence the types of relationships I will develop with West Philadelphia residents?

What assumptions might members of West Philadelphia communities have of me as a Penn student? Where did these assumptions come from? How might these assumptions influence the types of relationships I will develop with West Philadelphia residents?

What types of behaviors, attitudes, or conversation topics might be inappropriate? In what ways could a volunteer cause harm to the community?

What fears or concerns do I have about engaging with West Philadelphia communities? How can I address these as an individual or with a group of volunteers?

What Do I Need to Consider Before Selecting A Community Involvement Project?

What type of time/relationship commitment am I willing to make? How much time do I realistically have?

What is my previous experience with community service/social justice?

Do I want to continue a past interest or pursue new experiences? What aspects of past experiences would you want to change/avoid or repeat/experience again?

What skills do I possess? What skills do I hope to develop?

Are there particular social issues I want to address?

Are there particular communities or age groups with whom I am more or less comfortable?

Am I interested in direct work with people, or would I rather do administrative, research, or policy work?

How can I connect my community experiences with my interests or academic/professional goals?

Am I willing to take the time necessary to work with specific projects and community members?

Rights and Responsibilities of Community Involvement

Rights of Community Involvement

To know about the community organization/partner, its policies, people and program
To have guidance and direction
To do meaningful and satisfying work
To have a voice in activities and planning
To be given proper orientation and training
To be aware of safety concerns and risky behaviors
To be supported in work done at the site
To have access to resources and training workshops to support and enhance community involvement work

Responsibilities of Community Involvement

To be open and honest with leaders, community partners, and community members
To make realistic commitments and fulfill ALL commitments
To prepare before working with the community by attending orientation and attending on-going training and reflection sessions
To commit to continued learning about the community partner and challenging oneself to be a better participant through dialogue, reading, and training workshops
To enter into service with humility, enthusiasm, commitment, openness and a willingness to learn
To ask questions, treat people respectfully, listen and learn
To appropriately seek guidance and direction
To be prompt and dependable
To respect confidentiality and privacy and the individual circumstances of community members
To be an appropriate role model, particularly when working with children
To be flexible
To ask for help when you need it
To realize that you are not the only one giving

Suggestions

Dress comfortably and appropriately
As in any metropolitan area, use common sense (e.g. don’t leave personal belongings unattended; recognize your comfort zones; and find support to challenge your boundaries)
Make a genuine effort to get to know people at the community site (e.g. community members, staff, building personnel, etc.)

Top 10 GRIPES Community Project Partners Have About Penn Students

1. “Students come once, have all the answers, tell us exactly what we are doing wrong, and never show up again.”

Friendly advice: Understand your role in the organization with which you are working. When presenting criticism, be mindful of the way that you are presenting it, the relationship you have with your community partner, your perceived commitment to the organization, and the knowledge you have about that particular issue. Try fully to understand the organization you are working with before trying to change it.

2. “Penn students believe that they are better than or superior to community members.”

Friendly advice: Pride has no place in community service and will prevent you from being effective.

3. “Students often don’t realize that nonprofits have many other responsibilities outside of a single volunteer project.”

Friendly advice: Community partners are accountable to many individuals, government officials, and funding agencies. While many depend on volunteers, your project may not be able to be their priority.

4. “Students often make quick judgments without having a good understanding of situations, organizations, and social problems.”

Friendly advice: Quick judgment only ends up sounding undeveloped and uneducated. Take the time to make sure you know what are talking about, before you declare your expertise.

5. “Students often use their community work as an excuse to pursue other agendas such as research, leadership development, and career exploration.”

Friendly advice: Even though the mission behind the organization you are working with may not be the reason you are there, you must respect it and make it a priority for your group in order to have a successful project.

6. “Students don’t understand the broader social problems underlying their projects; they don’t consider how the way they live their lives reinforce those problems.”

Friendly advice: Be aware of the issues you are working with and strive to become educated about the reason this community service project is necessary in our society in the first place. Working on the symptoms of social problems is critical. However, the root cause of the problem still exists.

7. “Students don’t recognize that they are receiving anything from their community work.”

Friendly advice: Realize that this project is not only your gift to the world. If utilized correctly, this can be a great opportunity to receive knowledge, experience, and anything else you may be searching for.

8. “Penn students don’t involve community leaders in decision-making.”

Friendly advice: It is important when making your decisions to consider all factors—your client should be one of your greatest priorities, as well as their expertise, responsibilities, and experience.

9. “Students want tangible products of progress in a short period of time while working with extremely complex social issues.”

Friendly advice: You may measure your own work by physical results, but the social issues many community organizations address are extremely complex. Sustainable change and real progress takes time, commitment, relationships, and collaboration. Immediate results are difficult to come by. Set realistic goals to evaluate your project and determine how your project fits in with the broader social issues with which you are working.

10. “Students often don’t have real commitments to community partners and once they get what they need, they are never seen again.”

Friendly advice: Community partners see a large number of volunteers come in and out of their doors. Unless you are willing to make a long-term commitment to their organization, the relationship many will build with you will be done with the understanding that you are temporary.