Issues and Action

With input from community partners and Denison faculty and students, the Center has identified five community issues where service by Denison classes and student organizations may be helpful. The Center will focus new efforts on one of these each year, in a five-year repeating cycle, while sustaining engagements developed in prior years. The five focal areas are Housing; Literacy, Education and College Access; Health and Wellness: Civil Liberties; Community Development.

 

 

2008-2009: Housing

 

 

The Issues

 

 

 

As a consequence of the rapid residential development of rural areas adjoining Columbus to the west, and declining economic conditions in much of the county, Licking County has seen high rates of home foreclosures, straining an already tight and aging housing market. As we began the 2008-09 academic year, it appeared that foreclosures in 2008 would be up about 20% over 2007, passing the 1200-homes mark. (This prediction proved to be accurate.) To give a sense of comparison, this was about quadruple the number of foreclosures in 2000. Representatives of social service agencies, government officials and others with whom we partner pointed to needs associated with educational attainment and support for financial literacy, and action to help homeowners and renters stay in their homes.

 

Action: The following are examples of service activities specifically undertaken in response to housing-related issues.

 

• A student intern developed a sequence of financial literacy lessons for children at the Salvation Army shelter and for youth at the YES Clubhouse. Interactive lessons challenged participants to develop an understanding of money, the relationship between job choices and income, and the role of savings in achieving long-term goals.

  
  

• Students in Denison’s Economics Honorary, Omicron Delta Epsilon, were trained to assist low-income wage earners in filing their annual taxes.

  
  

• Students in an upper-division Sociology course undertook a collaborative community-based research project with a local transitional housing agency to investigate whether its financial literacy education program affected clients' financial stability and self-sufficiency.

  
  

• Students in a First-Year Seminar assisted the local Habitat for Humanity chapter in rehabbing two houses. The campus Habitat for Humanity committee assisted with both rehab projects and also did fundraising and supported a nearby Habitat ReStore.

  
  

• The Denison Venture Philanthropy Club donated $2500 to the Save Our Homes Task Force to organize a public event to bring homeowners in financial distress together with lenders, financial counselors, social service agencies and legal advocates. Students in the club leveraged their financial contribution with their labor, assisting in the planning and execution of the event.

   

  
  

   

2009-2010: Literacy, Education and College Access

 

The Issues

 

Licking County has a number of critical educational resources: a strong library system, committed public school teachers, an outstanding technology education center serving high school-aged and adult learners throughout the county, and three excellent institutions of higher education. Nonetheless, there are clear indications of difficulty: many of the county’s school districts are under-resourced as a result of repeated failed levies; high school graduation rates and college attendance in several districts lag national and state averages; and adult literacy rates are a cause of concern throughout the county. Educators and others engaged in economic and community development view improvements in literacy rates, support for the education system, and college access as essential to the survival, let alone the prosperity, of the county.

 

Action: The following are examples of service activities planned for the coming year, in response to needs expressed within the community. This is a preliminary list.

 

• The Alford Center will host a community-inclusive book discussion of Paul Tough’s “Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada’s Quest to Change Harlem and America.” Community partners, Denison faculty and students will meet in late September to discuss the lessons that the Harlem Children’s Zone might hold for Licking County.
  

• Denison University, the Ohio State University at Newark, and the Central Ohio Technical College have formed a three-institution collaboration to support college access activities with the Newark City Schools and A CALL TO COLLEGE. The three institutions will each devote resources, coordinated by campus VISTAs, to carry out early awareness activities in elementary schools, and career planning exercises in middle schools.

• Students in a Communication class will tutor 8^th and 9^th graders to improve their reading skills.

  
  

• America Reads tutors will continue a program of campus visits instituted in 2008-09. Elementary schools students who participate in an after-school program come to campus twice during the academic year to see the campus, talk with their America Reads tutors about college life, and participate in fun educational experiences, like planetarium shows, laboratory experiments, concerts by musical ensembles, etc.

  
  

• Students in an upper-division education course will design, coordinate, and implement a literacy campaign encouraging parents to talk to and read to their children beginning in infancy.

  
  

• Students in a Psychology course will implement a reading program to help struggling first- and second-grade readers to improve their skills.

  
  

2010-2011: Health and Wellness

2011-2012: Civil Liberties

2012-2013: Community Development