The Clinton School hosted a reception Tuesday for its partners in the 2010 Practicum program, 12 group public service projects completed by students this year in the Master of Public Service (MPS) degree program.
The students served as consultants for Arkansas nonprofit, government and nongovernment organizations, such as the Arkansas Service Commission, Goodwill Industries, Arkansas Literacy Councils, Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families and the Arkansas Department of Human Services, among others.
The projects began in the fall and continued into the spring semester with students traveling across the state to conduct research, meet with community leaders and complete the final deliverables for their projects.
Marie Lindquist, director of field service education at the Clinton School, thanked the partner organizations for their work to help the students learn more about practicing public service. Dean Skip Rutherford and associate Dean Mike Hemphill also spoke at the reception.
Here’s more info on the projects:
Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families
Jack Lofton, Debbie Sellnow, and Heather Malveaux
– This team worked with Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families to help strengthen their network of child advocates. The team contacted organizations across the country to research legislative outreach models and helped develop a ground campaign for the Arkansas Advocates legislative outreach team. In addition, the team interviewed potential advocates and created profiles for over 40 legislators and key informants.
Arkansas Baptist College
LaTrenia Byrd, Nathanial Owen, and Dewi Ratnasari
– This team worked with Arkansas Baptist College to create a community renewal guidebook titled “Putting the Neighbor Back in the Hood” about the college’s community rejuvenation efforts. In order to complete the project, the team interviewed area stakeholders, collected school improvement data, compiled crime statistics, and researched comparable community development programs.
Arkansas Coalition for Excellence
Valerie Hendrix, Hallie Shoffner, and Latif Salem
– This team worked with the Arkansas Coalition for Excellence to develop an advocacy handbook for Arkansas nonprofits. The team researched national advocacy and lobbying information, collected data on Arkansas nonprofits and examined similar handbooks in other states. The handbook will be used by Arkansas nonprofits to increase their knowledge about advocacy, national and state lobbying laws, and registration regulations.
Arkansas Community Foundation
Ivan Noisette, David Watterson, and Judy Watts
– This team worked with the Arkansas Community Foundation piloting transformational leadership programs at the Clark, Cleburne and White County foundation affiliates. They also created a “Convening-in-a-Box Toolkit” for local affiliates to use as a resource in hosting meetings, engaging leaders, and facilitating action steps in their communities.
Arkansas Literacy Councils
Mark Lienhart, Julie Meyer, and Jeerawat Na Thalang
– This team worked with Arkansas Literacy Councils to develop a resource guide for adult literacy organizations to improve their tutor training programs and incorporate online tools. The team researched existing methodologies to develop the guide and obtained best practices by interviewing six Arkansas literacy councils and surveying additional councils. The manual was introduced to council members in a three-day workshop in February.
Arkansas Service Commission
Adam Moreland, Cory Biggs, and Erin O’Leary
– This team, working with the Arkansas Service Commission, made recommendations for expanding AmeriCorps in Arkansas, recruiting AmeriCorps programs and members, and tackling issues of sustainability. The team collected data for the recommendations by collecting information from stakeholders, including current and former AmeriCorps programs, AmeriCorps members and alumni, and other state service commissions. The report will be used to support the expansion of the state program under the Serve America Act.
Boys, Girls, Adults Community Development Center
Elrina Frost, Mircha King, and Rebecca Morrison
– This team worked with the Boys, Girls, Adults Community Development Center in Marvell, Arkansas to support existing programs. This included working with the Best Food N Town Restaurant to create an operational budget, develop job descriptions, and submit a grant. They also developed components of an after-school program and found funding to implement the program. Finally, they conducted a donor survey, registered the organization with Guide Star and developed programs and advertising for the organization’s computer lab.
Division of Youth Services
Kate Raum, Mahmoud Mahmoud, and Becca Swearingen
– This team worked with the Division of Youth Services at the Arkansas Department of Human Services to create resource guides for three judicial districts to provide juvenile justice professionals with the knowledge of locally available resources to help troubled youth. The team hosted focus groups and interviewed service providers in each district in order to compile the information. The team also detailed how they created the resources guides so other districts could produce their own guides.
Goodwill Industries of Arkansas
Kimberly Caldwell, Ben Kaufman, and Ryan Olson
– This team partnered with Goodwill Industries of Arkansas and the Central Arkansas Reentry Coalition. They researched the diverse services available in central Arkansas to ex-offenders upon reentry and built the coalition’s capacity. Their work included a database of services, a final report on the diverse perspectives about reentry, and a 5-year strategic plan and governance structure for the coalition.
Newport – Blue Bridge Center for the Delta Arts
Sarah Leer, Patrick Banks, and William Jeter
– This team worked with a coalition to continue the development of a Delta Arts Center in Newport, Arkansas – now named the Blue Bridge Center for the Delta Arts. The team organized a naming contest to rename and brand the center, completed a design program that will be implemented to build the center, and hosted a community wide, open facilitation to engage members of the community on their preferences for the center.
The STAND Foundation
Gralon Johnson, Lindsey Johnson, and Sophia Said
– This team worked with The STAND Foundation to create an evaluation tool to measure the overall effectiveness of the Edward Coleman Leadership Institute. The team developed specific and measureable organizational goals in alignment with the foundation’s mission and values, interviewed stakeholders, and created an implementation guide for staff.
TOPPS, Inc.
David Monteith, Anna Strong, and Latonya Wilson
– This team worked with the organization Targeting Our People’s Priorities with Service (TOPPS) in Pine Bluff, Arkansas to enhance organizational sustainability. They developed a succession plan for the organization’s director, an organizational asset map and marketing materials. To accomplish this project, the team interviewed stakeholders and researched best practices.