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“We change the way foundations, youth organizations, and community groups do business. We don’t come in with preset ideas or programs. We nurture small organizations and bring innovative practices to funders and academics. It creates a powerful ripple effect.” — Wendy Wheeler, President, Innovation Center |
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The Innovation Center helps communities engage youth and adults, organizations, and communities to contribute to community development initiatives. We support and guide communities as they examine their history and resources, create a community vision and plan, and implement and sustain projects. Our approach is rooted in social justice; we recognize that service-learning can play an important role in effecting deep community change. With our partners, we create practical resources and offer training to share new models of service-learning. ResourcesLink to resources below to explore service-learning. Tools for Implementation
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© 2007 Innovation Center for Community and Youth Development |
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Respect Team is a partnership of high school students and community adults working to promote character education. It started at Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School, but has expanded throughout the state. “The Innovation Center offered training and incredible opportunities for our team to travel to national events to teach, present, and take part in other people’s workshops,” says Susan Jennings, Extension Educator at University of Maine, Oxford County Extension, and adult member of the Respect Team. “They’re great at having young people be seen as equal partners at the national level.”
Respect Team members have painted murals in schools and communities, written newspaper articles and supplements, and hosted a community summit of 150 youth and adults to foster a culture of respect, responsibility, and ethics. Youth and community leaders have shared authority in round table discussions and on community boards. With training, support, and connections from the Innovation Center, the Respect Team has become a presence across the state. They recently completed a video and guide to youth-adult partnership which they will distribute to schools throughout Maine to fuel creation of more Respect Teams.
“We’ve got community groups and town managers calling to ask for young people willing to serve on this community board or that selecting committee,” says Jennings. “Up until a year ago, we were still hearing that only top notch responsible kids are involved in this degree of leadership and activism. But we’ve seen people acknowledge that all kids can do this when given the right training.”
Jennings has also observed changes in the young people leading these efforts. “They explain their work as their passion,” she says. “They see themselves as valuable in this community and know they have the power to make a change happen.” Jennings notes the direct relationship between community involvement and students’ academic performance. “A bunch of them are going off to college to study service-learning and community development. These are kids who were struggling with what school was all about. Their experiences with the community showed them the value of their future.”
Lessons generated in partnership with the Respect Team and others have informed the Innovation Center publication, Service-Learning for Community Change: Tools for Youth and Adults to Mobilize Community Change through Service-Learning.
Service-Learning for Community Change combines service-learning with community youth development. A goal of the project is to create and share models of service-learning focused on sustainable, deep community change. The project is based on several key principles:
Service-Learning for Community Change includes two Cooperative Extension System (CES) offices in Oxford County, Maine, and Baltimore, Maryland. In each community, service-learning activities are designed around local interests and opportunities in accordance with long-term community vision and plans. As activities are developed and implemented, a process of reflection, assessment, and evaluation is put in place to examine the opportunities and challenges that arise. Evaluation also emphasizes outcomes for organizations and individuals. Results include practical tools to make this information available to other service-learning practitioners.
