Wittenberg Community Service Office Initiates
Partners Development Series
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Community Initiatives Panel |
Designed to provide professional development to organizations that serve the Springfield/Clark County area, the Community Service Partners Development Series offers a variety of informative workshops. The Community Service Office has invited facilitators from is Think Tank Inc, an organization focused on anti-poverty programming, which began in 2005, to present two of the workshops this year. Think Tank’s mission is to work with social service organizations to assess, develop and implement creative strategies to strengthen their capacity to more effectively serve the community.
Director of Community Service Kristen Collier, Wittenberg class of 1992, is coordinating the program.
“I hope the representatives from community are able to use what they have learned to benefit their organizations, but to also positively impact the interactions they have with the students themselves who are completing their service hours with their organization,” Collier said.
The program was made possible by a generous donation from Wittenberg Assistant Director of Alumni Relations Barb Mackey and the Ruth B. and Thomas F. Mackey Charitable Gift Fund, which was created 12 years ago with the goal to fund arts, religious and educational needs. Mackey felt this series fell under their educational goal.
In addition to the Mackey gift, Sodexho has provided an in-kind donation to support the program.
“The Community Partner Development Series is something I would like to support,” Mackey said. “This seems like a unique opportunity to create a relationship between Wittenberg and other community service partner sites.”
The program kicked off with a Sept. 20, event in Room 105 of the Joseph C. Shouvlin Center for Lifelong Learning. Mackey spoke on the topic of transformative learning within the different sites for community service.
To further facilitate the program goals, an Oct. 24, series event with Think Tank, titled Springfield/Clark County Initiatives, included a panel of five leaders working on community initiatives. The leaders each focused on issues and strategies involved with education, health care, economic development/workforce development, housing and poverty.
The Community Partners Development Series will continue with events on Thursday, Nov. 27, Thursday, Feb. 21, Wednesday, March 26 and Thursday, April 24, all in 105 Shouvlin Center. The meetings are designed to find more effective ways to serve the community while strengthening and revitalizing Springfield.
Written By: Elizabeth Burdsall '08
Photo By: John Strawn
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