Good morning!
This past weekend I attended a Service Learning and Civic Engagement conference in Denver. While there, I attended a session on Pathways of Public Service and Community Engagement. The idea is that there are multiple ways to make a difference in the community through service, in fact, there are six ways:
1. Community Engaged Learning and Research: Connecting coursework and academic research to community-identified concerns to enrich knowledge and inform action on social issues.
2. Community Organizing and Activism: Involving, educating, and mobilizing individual or collective action to influence or persuade others.
3. Direct Service: Working to address the immediate needs of individuals or a community, often involving contact with the people or places being served.
4. Philanthropy: Donating or using private funds or charitable contributions from individuals or institutions to contribute to the public good.
5. Policy and Governance: Participating in political processes, policy making, and public governance.
6. Social Entrepreneurship and Corporate Social Responsibility: Using ethical business or private sector approaches to create or expand market-oriented responses to social or environmental problems.
If you’d like to find out which approach best fits you, you can take a brief survey. The purpose of this survey is to provide you with an opportunity to explore social issues that are important to you and different ways of addressing these issues.
Enjoy!