My goal in creating the Advocacy Project is to provide opportunities for students to volunteer in the community while speaking Spanish and interacting with the Hispanic community. This goal requires a strong relationship on the part of the teacher with the Hispanic community, and requires these community organizations to find ways to implement high school student support in their program offerings.
Each quarter, I provide students with a list of volunteer opportunities that I will be present and help to facilitate. I then ask students to indicate which service opportunity they will be attending, or whether they plan to implement their own Advocacy Project volunteer service.
Below I have provided an example of a hand-out that I generated to provide students with information on the different volunteer opportunities that would be taking place that quarter.
Advocacy Project Opportunities: Quarter 2
Centro Sol: Johns Hopkins University Medical School
Embajadores de Salud: this is a wellness program oriented to educate the community. Weekly sessions include workouts and monthly talks about health topics. Students can help watch kids of parents in the session. It would be great to schedule series of sessions your students can participate; the holiday season will be particularly helpful. Saturdays at 9am (Bayview and venues around Patterson Park)
Light the Labyrinth: Session to light the Bayview campus and share the cultural meaning of light; includes African American, Hispanic and Greek culture. Students who attend will help with interpretation. December 2, 5-6pm. Additionally, students can help watch kids during the Testimonios session from 6-7pm on the same evening.
English education: We are starting a new collaboration with CASA to support English conversations for Spanish speaking students to improve their English. If this is of interest, we can discuss details and logistics.
Creative Alliance: 3134 Eastern Ave.
“We would love 10-15 volunteers on Saturday, Dec 13 during Kwanzaa Family Day from 11am-3pm to assist artists with face painting and drum making. We also need volunteers to help direct people to the building for activities celebrating Kwanzaa”. – Maria
Another great opportunity for 5-8 volunteers is on Wednesday, Dec 10 from 4-8pm to help with piñata decorating and cutting paper. Students will learn from our Mexican Piñata Masters. The same volunteers will also be asked to help on the 2nd day of the workshop on Sunday, Dec 14 from 1-6pm.
ME LLAMO: _________________________ FIRMA: ______________________ Check the volunteer opportunity you will complete for Quarter 2: Must be returned by Monday, December 1st.
________ Embajadores de Salud (Saturdays @ 9 AM)
________ Light the Labyrinth (Tuesday December 2nd, 5 – 6 PM)
________ English Education (TBA)
________ Kwanzaa Family Day (Saturday December 13th, 11 AM – 3PM)