Civic and Community Engagement 

Over the past several years, James McHenry has gone through the process to become a community school. As a community school, we were able to forge partnerships that might have been missed in the past. One of our partners is the University of Maryland (UM) and their many departments. As a former garden club sponsor for James McHenry, I had access to a prior UM grant that allowed us to plant fruit trees and other vegetables in a donated plot. This past year, I was looking to start a recycling and green team club and was needed resources to support the effort. After a conversation with our community school coordinator, she had a partner reach out to UM for more information. They had a program planned out for civic and community engagement and wanted to know if I could tie that into my green team.  The program would have me working with elementary students and engaging them in their school and community. This would be great opportunity to help teach them about advocacy and change. Although the program was lined out, I could make whatever changes I deemed necessary to any of the activities and plans to make sure it was appropriate for my group of students. 

Receiving this funding enabled the school to have a green team and thus to teach the students about advocacy through a community project.  What a great way to teach them in a hands on and engaging way! The project would last all school year, but with a ten week program lined out, I can make changes and focus on areas where students either need more support or where they are engaged and enjoying the lesson and activity. Teaching them via a project-based approach, especially a project that is relevant to their community, is great way to help them discover what matters to them the most about their community and how they can take steps to make a change. This is an opportunity to grow a program that had not existed at James McHenry in the past.  
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Below on the left you can see the overview and objectives that they had outlined for the program. On the right hand side you can see the interactions when I had the initial meeting and then the email about receiving the grant money to fund the resources for our project. 
We center the weekly mini-lesson around the project initiative every Wednesday. Each lesson includes an ice-breaker, a discussion, an activity and our ending debrief. We begin by talking about what the point of our gathering is, what the goal for the day is and then the ice breaker. In the introduction, we make sure to talk about advocacy, taking a stand and using our voices as the first step to making a change. In our group, we have defined advocacy as standing behind something we believe in and that we want to work to make a change for. 

As we continue through the session, it is important for the discussion to be centered around the project upon which the students decide. We started our program by having the students draw a map of our school and then a map of our community. This exercise allowed me to see what they know and care about in their community. If it was included on their map, it plays a role in their lives to some extent. I knew that we could focus on things that they see as "problems" as issues that they might want to address. Although the goal is to focus on the larger community, I decided to extend the first three days to focus on a project that was simply inside of the school building so that they could feel a sense of accomplishment.  Through the discussions that are led by the mini-lessons, students are learning to work together to navigate and challenge inequity of opportunities and access. They have become invested in making a change within the school and would like the community surrounding the school and where they live to have the same opportunities for a clean neighborhood as those that live in wealthier areas of Baltimore. 
Above you can see the lessons for the 10 sessions that I make changes to when I extend the lessons and make them more applicable to my group of students. 
Below, you can see the maps that the students took time to draw and highlight the areas of the school and neighborhood. This shows their awareness of what is important to them and what others might view as well. In the middle, there are examples of what they wrote as pros and cons of their community. Part of being able to use the collective or individual assets to best make changes that they care about starts with recognizing what they have access to around them. When recognizing what is around them in the community and what they like, or don't like, they then can use the assets of organizations to leverage supports. Which, on the far right, is what they did as a next step. Each student took the time to draft a letter to an organization that is near or in the community. Groups then used their knowledge and drafts to type a letter to the organization of their choice. Below you can see one groups individual draft letters and their finalized typed letter. 
Above you can see confirmation of acceptance to be a recycling school, the script they wrote out, the recycling sign, a recycle bin in use and the team collecting the recycling on Wednesday to go out for pickup. 
As a team, we collected​ printer boxes and painted them green, created a recycling sign and completed the city application to become a recycling school. Once the boxes were painted and the signs were printed, we walked the school as a team to deliver the materials and the students advocated for the benefits of recycling instead of simply throwing things away. They created a script with facts for the teachers to use and to explain what we were doing as a team. 

The students took their time to create a plan, decide on an easy actionable step and stand behind what they believe in. Teaching them about advocacy and to see them engaged and ready to take action immediately was a win for myself, for them and for our school. They are continuing with this project and are working together to come up with a plan for the trash outside of the school and on the playground. 

Conclusion

At the beginning of this program, I was not sure what to expect from my students. They could not be engaged or not interested in changing anything, but they really took a lot of ideas and advice once they understood what advocacy meant. They were able to be honest and reflective about issues that they notice and would like to change. I have been extremely grateful and excited to see how invested they are and what they choose as their bigger community project.  This is an ongoing project that I plan to carry on next year with a new group.

Working with the students, teaching them about advocacy and giving them the opportunity to apply their newly learned skill will have life-long benefits. Teaching this skill with a project-based learning approach and using mini lessons allows for more in depth planning and research for both the students and me. It is imperative that I am intentional with the discussion and support their projects as this is a skill everyone needs as they continue to age and define their life goals. 
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