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| Volunteers removing brick at an offsite service project at Manistique Community Garden |
Practice what you preach… this is exactly what Youth Service Institute (YSI) participants did last week when they left the conference
, went out into Detroit and SERVED!
A new addition to the YSI this year was “Offsite Service Projects” where conference attendees got to practice what they had been learning at the Institute. Attendees selected projects from four different sites that ranged in areas covered during the Institute: City Year Detroit, YouthVille Detroit, Mayor’s Office & Belle Isle, and Greening of Detroit – Manistique Community Garden. Each site covered and incorporated the five stages of service-learning, the IPARD/C model (Investigation, Preparation/Planning, Action, Reflection, Demonstration/Celebration) to give participants the ‘hands-on’ experience. In the picture to the left, VP of Education, Susan Abravanel explained the service-learning model to volunteers.
After returning from the Manistique Community Garden with a group of about 25 adults that had worked hard for a few hours but had smiles on their faces, I could tell the offsite service projects were a success! While we were at the site we had many participants asking questions about the garden, the community and how the two went together. There were also the participants who didn’t say much but worked around the garden lending a hand when needed or finding a way to help. I even heard someone say, “This is a great way to break up a conference where you’re typically in-doors most of the time!”
The group, Greening of Detroit, which hosted our group and gave us instructions, was also impressed. They get a lot of groups that want to volunteer but not a group like ours that wanted to know the history of the project, the need in the community and how they maintain the garden (the Investigation and Preparation/Planning stages). In the picture to the right, volunteers removed mulch from areas in the garden.
Many ‘Thanks’ goes out to the groups that hosted the offsite service projects and many more ‘Thanks’ goes out to the YSI participants for embracing a new way of learning and being flexible while we ventured out across Detroit!
Photos courtesy of Linda Fredricks and Michael Man
