Fusion
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With the general belief that young people are the future leaders of South Carolina and must be taught diversity issues, members of Fusion geared their interest towards the seniors of Clarendon County’s public and private high schools. Their goal was to build leadership skills, relationships, and community among these high school seniors by planning a community service project. Members of Fusion partnered with CityYear Columbia and the Clarendon community to achieve their goal.
Members of Fusion produced a three step plan to implement the community service project. First, they worked with CityYear Columbia to discuss a model for the project, the allocation of resources, and the execution of the project. Second, Fusion is planning Session One in which CityYear Corps members worked with a core group of high school seniors from Scott’s Branch High School and Clarendon Hall School to provide team and relationship building and to identify a project of their choice. Third, members of Fusion are planning the implementation of the project chosen by the high school students. Fusion members will be present for one session, find resources to fund the community service project, and help choose students to participate in the project.
Currently members of Fusion plan to identify the group of students who will participate and implement the community service project by Fall 2009.
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Merge
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Members of Merge! emphasized addressing the current needs of non-profit organizations in Columbia that utilize the diverse talents of local professionals. Their focus was to give beyond monetary donations by also giving of their own time and talents. Members of Merge! achieved this goal by creating a pool of volunteers consisting of themselves and colleagues to volunteer at various non-profit organizations that would most benefit from advisory work. A database of volunteers was created and provided to the United Way Compassionate Grant facilitator as well as the South Carolina Association of Nonprofit Organizations (SCANPO) to be distributed to non-profit organizations. The ongoing goal of Merge! is to “drive” the effort to keep recruited volunteers actively participating in aiding non-profit organizations.
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Monnie and the Magical 8
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Members of Monnie and the Magical 8 sought to teach young people to “Take a Second Look.” Understanding that discrimination begins in middle school, members of Monnie and the Magical 8 set their goal to urge middle school students to look beyond their classmates’ clothes, hair color, weight, or height.
With this goal in mind, members of Monnie and the Magical 8 created a Diversity Awareness Community Action Plan. The plan consists of Public Service Announcements (PSAs) that will educate middle school students across South Carolina to minimize judgments based on physical appearance. The PSA announcements will enhance a current “You Don’t Look Like Me” program and will be shown on morning news programs in Richland One middle schools.
Members of Monnie and the Magical 8 currently plan to partner with students of Dreher High School in Fall 2009 to create three different PSA programs. Once they are completed, the PSA announcements will be shown in all Richland One middle schools.
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Prism
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Members of Prism focused on a desire to ensure that all young people have the opportunity to embrace, learn, and grow from their individual diversity. They sought to unify the community by raising awareness about the experiences of children in South Carolina. Members of Prism conducted a case study in which fourteen young people were asked to photograph their neighborhoods with the general guidance of “show me what makes you feel good, special and unique in your neighborhood, including how you spend your time.” Since a diverse group of young people were recruited, members of Prism were able to gain insight by studying the similarities of the photographs, including families, friends, parks, churches, food and pets. They also noted differences, such as apparent degrees of affluence and the presence or absence of adults in the young people’s lives.
Conclusions were that children in South Carolina have an innate trust in the decisions made by the state on their behalf. For this reason, members of Prism suggest a need to focus on children in the state in order to improve their future lives. The goal thus became to raise awareness in the state about the circumstances of children, to foster children’s respect for themselves and others, insist that children live in a healthy and nurturing environment, and to address economic, ethnic, and social disparities. Members of Prism plan to partner with The Children’s Trust of South Carolina, publicize through the media, and use the photographs as a fund-raiser or beginning point for services that contribute to the health and wellness of young people.
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Tween
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Recognizing, valuing, and respecting the differences between themselves and others, members of Tween came together to share their own diversity with the students of Midlands Middle College. Members of Tween visited the Midlands Middle College to learn more about the school and its students. As a result of the visit, they set their goal to use the diversity of their strengths, life experiences, and vocational journeys in order to provide assistance to the students.
Members of Tween achieved this goal by partnering with the Midlands Middle College for the 2009-2010 school year. Members of Tween plan to offer opportunities to students such as job shadowing, mentoring, and group presentations. The continuing project of Tween is for members to share their time and talents in order to strengthen the opportunities available to Middle College students.
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DLI Participant Roster
