Dear Engage Member, Supporter, and Friend,
For many years ENGAGErs have dreamed about creating an educational program here in the US based on the CIEE Thailand Education for Social Change model. We know there is so much great local organizing work to learn from and exchange and collaborate with, and we have wanted to bring the model to students and communities where we live.
This summer, nine students from colleges and universities around the country will get to test run this idea through ENGAGE University’s Mississippi River Social Justice Tour. They will travel from Barron, Wisconsin to New Orleans, learning from Engage members and the community organizations they work with in those places.
In Barron, the students will learn from ENGAGE Steering Committee members Arianne Peterson and Tracey Mofle and the organizations they are affiliated with about organic agriculture in the context of large agribusiness and the effects of immigration on this small town. The students will travel down the Mississippi River (approximately) to New Orleans, stopping along the way to tour, exchange with, and learn from local community activists and organizers.
They will get to New Orleans in time for the Convergence (see you there!) and will stay afterward working with ENGAGEr David Ferris to engage with issues of urban agriculture, disaster relief politics, and racial politics.
The students will simultaneously participate in and create the program as they go. They will be testing and evaluating curriculum and laying the foundation for future student groups. It is an exciting opportunity for them to get to develop their educational model as they implement it. They will be documenting their experience closely by both blog and video to share with all of you as they go!
There are two principal ways you can support the trip right now:
1. Donate to help cover the costs. The students are all working hard to raise money for the trip, and could really use your support. Make a donation through ENGAGE’s Network for Good site, and make sure you designate you are donating for ENGAGE University.
https://www.networkforgood.org/donation/ExpressDonation.aspx?ORGID2=13-4236388
You can also send checks to:
ENGAGE
Engage University
PO Box 23
Barron, WI 54812
2. If you live, work, or know of great organizations that would be willing to host the student group on their trip south (we’re talking about you, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana), please email engageuniversity@gmail.com to get in touch.
We would like you to get involved with this project any way you can. If you want to share ideas or information or want to know more about our plans for the summer trip, please contact us. This project is only possible as a result of the years of hard work and collaboration of ENGAGE members.
Sincerely,
ENGAGE University planning team
Check this out: http://www.connectingourworld.org/
Participants Announced for New Grassroots Leadership Program
NAFSA is pleased to announce the participants for the inaugural cohort of the Connecting Our World Grassroots Leadership Program, a grassroots organizing initiative designed to give international educators nationwide the tools to advocate for the importance of global learning and engagement in their own communities. The 11 participants will focus on such topics as better integrating international students into the campus and community, expanding study abroad opportunities for students in underrepresented fields of study, and increasing language-learning opportunities in K-12 and higher education. The group will also develop resources and toolkits from their experience that will be available on the Connecting Our World Web site.