Outreach Grantee: Hampshire
July 11, 2002
Hampshire Educational Collaborative
Location
Western Massachusetts (Hampshire, Hampden, and Franklin Counties)
Program Summary
The Hampshire Educational Collaborative project targets special education students in three counties. The collaborative increases sensitivity and awareness of barriers that hinder involvement of the disability community with service learning activities through teacher training, training social service agency personnel, providing vocational assessments, and providing University of Massachusetts Citizen Scholars to work with teachers to support community service projects.
Goals
- Involve
400 students with disabilities per year in service learning projects.
- Increase
the awareness of communities in Hampshire, Franklin, and Hampden
counties as to the availability and importance of service opportunities
for individuals with disabilities, and increase the number of
opportunities available for this service.
- Increase, through outreach to and education of professionals in school districts and non-profit organizations, sensitivity to issues and barriers to involvement of students with disabilities in service learning.
Activities
- Create
a short videotape highlighting individuals with disabilities performing
service. This video will be created as a service learning project.
Students from the HEC Alternative Learning Program will work with
camcorders and editing equipment to create an 8 to 10 minute project
overview.
- Create
Public Service Announcements for TV and radio to increase public
awareness of service opportunities for individuals with disabilities
and provide resources for matching individuals with service opportunities.
- Develop
and maintain a World Wide Web site to serve as a clearinghouse
for connecting individuals with disabilities and those working
with these individuals to service opportunities in the three-counties.
- Disseminate
project materials and information through the extensive Department
of Mental Retardation and Department of Mental Health support
services.
- Train
teachers on how to set up community service-learning projects
that include universal access, and train social service agency
personnel on setting up service-learning projects that include
universal access.
- Provide
vocational assessments to students to assist in outreach efforts.
- Provide college student interns to work with teachers as support for community service-learning projects through the school districts.
Partners
Partners include the University of Massachusetts Amherst, WGBY-57 Public Television, school districts in Hampshire, Hampden, and Franklin counties, Massachusetts Department of Mental Health, Department of Mental Retardation, and the Massachusetts Department of Education Community Service Learning Program.
Contact
Information
Robert Kumin
Hampshire Educational Collaborative
97 Hawley Street
Northhampton, MA 01060
(413) 586-4900 x136
[email protected]
