- The Careership Program (Local Initiatives Support Corporation and Metropolitan State University)
- The Cedar Riverside Community School/Augsburg College Partnership
- Family Investment Center and Hibbing Community College
- Grant Community School Collaborative and College of St. Scholastica
- The Health Careers Institute (The Phillips Partnership and Minneapolis Community and Technical College)
UMC Service Learning Program Earns Finalist Status for Carter Partnership Award
A longstanding, successful partnership between the University of Minnesota, Crookston (UMC) and three local agencies has been named a finalist for the inaugural Minnesota Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter Partnership Award for Campus-Community Collaboration.
The former President of the United States and First Lady will be on hand to personally present the award when the winning partnership is announced at the Carter Partnership Award/Minnesota Campus Compact Ten-Year Anniversary Event on February 21, 2004, in the Twin Cities.
Pam Holsinger-Fuchs, director of service learning and student activities at UMC, learned last week that the application she submitted – detailing collaborative efforts between UMC’s Service Learning program, Crookston Area Habitat for Humanity, Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) and the Crookston VolunTEAM – had been named one of six finalists for the award. In all, 30 applications were submitted by the October 30 deadline.
“I had to read the e-mail several times because I didn’t believe it at first,” Holsinger-Fuchs said. “I think this is a very big honor for a very small campus, and something that a lot of people can take a tremendous amount of pride in.”
The Carters, lifelong volunteers and social activists, initiated the Carter Partnership Award initiative in their home state of Georgia, with the idea of eventually expanding it nationwide. In 2004, Minnesota will become the first state besides Georgia to recognize a Carter Partnership Award winner, with Massachusetts, Michigan and Montana to follow later in the year.
The Carters are offering their Minnesota award through Minnesota Campus Compact (MCC), a non-profit coalition of 48 colleges and universities, including UMC, committed to advancing civic engagement in higher education. The awarding of the Minnesota Carter Partnership Award will coincide with MCC’s tenth anniversary celebration.
The winning partnership will receive $10,000 to be divided equally among the partners. If the local partnership actually wins, the bulk of the money will go toward internships involving UMC students at local non-profit agencies.
The Partners
UMC’s service learning program, which strives to enhance student learning through hands-on, real-world projects with a variety of community partners, hosts in its office the headquarters of the Crookston Area Habitat for Humanity, which builds decent, affordable housing for partner families who can’t afford a typical mortgage. UMC’s Service Learning program also developed, launched and now coordinates the community-wide volunteer clearinghouse known as the Crookston VolunTEAM (www.volunteam.org). Just a few steps down the hall is the seven-county RSVP program, which supervises more than 700 volunteers who put in almost 90,000 volunteer hours annually.
The partnership goes beyond UMC providing office space, desks and chairs free of charge, however. UMC students have been active Habitat for Humanity home builders for years, and last year 50 of the 90 volunteers who built Habitat’s latest house were UMC students. Many student clubs are eagerly awaiting construction to begin on Habitat’s next house in the spring of 2004. The Service Learning program oversees the regional RSVP program, with students and older volunteers collaborating on various inter-generational initiatives. “Grandma” Edna Bendickson, an RSVP volunteer, puts in numerous dedicated hours at UMC’s Student Information Desk located in Dowell Hall. As for the Crookston VolunTEAM, UMC students got so involved early on that, shortly after the initiative’s launch in the fall of 2002, they formed their own UMC VolunTEAM Club to complement community-wide volunteer efforts.
“This is a true partnership, in that we help each other, we support each other and we strive to see each other succeed,” Holsinger-Fuchs said. “Most important, at the heart of it all, we all strive to help those in need in our community.”
Representatives of MCC and the Carter Partnership Award will soon be visiting Crookston to capture images relating to the partnership that will eventually be made into a video that will be shown at the February 21 event. Videos will also be shown depicting the other partnership finalists, which include:
More than 500 business, non-profit, education and government leaders are expected to attend the February 21 event and see the video. That level of exposure and recognition of the local partnership is icing on the cake all by itself, Holsinger-Fuchs said. But, does she even dare to dream of shaking hands with President Carter as the inaugural winner of the Minnesota Carter Partnership Award?
“As far as I’m concerned, we’ve already won,” she said. “Whether we actually receive the award or not, we’re still going to work together to help meet the needs of our community.”
Written by Mike Christopherson
Posted 11/25/2003
Contact: Andrew Svec,
218-281-8435