Civic Engagement Part II

I think the over all consensus of the group is to do a project that gives us a direct connection with people. By having a direct connection we are able to build a relationship with the people. The relationship we build will serve as a way to not suffer from the coat drive syndrome because the purpose of the project will not be how many people we helped but that something good came out of project. Also if we do some kind of project that involves an activity with people, then it is a more one on one interaction and the feeling of looking down on someone is avoided. I like the idea of doing a weekly or biweekly activity because it builds more of a relationship; however, I think it will prove to be too difficult to arrange such a project. Also a one time deal just does not seem like enough.

After thinking it over I thought it would be better to stay in one large group for the project. This way we all stay together and experience the same things. Also busy schedules could lead a small group to become even smaller. With a big group someone will always be available to do planning or something of that nature. I also would rather do something with kids. But I don’t have any problem doing something with the elderly. Whatever we decide on I would like for everyone to do the same demographic group. It just does not seem cohesive to split up into groups and do completely different projects with completely different groups of people. I thought maybe it would be a good idea to do a festival like thing once a month. Each time we switch up between the different topics that people in our cohort are interested in. So for example one month we can do a sports theme and the kids can choose between all different kinds of sports to play with us. Another month we can do an arts festival, then a music festival, and so on. I think it can be unstructured but at the same time have some structure. Options can be presented but not everyone will be running around not knowing what to do. I feel like the festival project allows us to all stay together and touch on all the topics we are interested in. The only problem with this is coming up with when we should do it (i.e., Saturdays or during the week). I feel like whatever we choose should be consistent, so if we choose to do it the first Saturday of the month it should always be the first Saturday of the month. I am not sure about the rest of the cohort but my afternoons are pretty much untouchable do to labs and practices, so it would work best for me to do it on a weekend. I would like to do the project with the Boys and Girls Club. I think if we did it with the Boys and Girls Club it would be easier to do the festivals on weekends.

For organizing the project I think it should be centralized and there should be no leaders. I feel like some people take initiative already in our group so giving someone the power of “leader” would take away any chance of anyone else contributing to the project. I also think it would be great if we could get help from Suzy to contact the organizations. She seems to have a lot of knowledge and respect of the community. If she makes the first contact it seems it would be easier to get the ball rolling on the project.