Bonner Summer Leadership Conference 2010
Heather McNew Schill, M.Ed.
Coordinator, Student-led Service Programs
Center for Excellence in Learning Through Service (CELTS)
Berea College
Welcome to the session
 Who is in the room?
 Please share your name, school and why you came to this
session
 Who am I?
 Coordinator of Student-led Service Programs at Berea
College
 Supervise around 80 college students (through the Berea
College Work Study Program), which coordinate 10
community service programs and supervise
approximately 200 college student volunteers using the
Coalition of Project Model
The Coalition of Projects Model
I first learned of this model at the 2002 COOL Conference.
I attended a day long forum called Building It Up: A One Day institute on
building and strengthening campus-based community service programs
led by John Hoang Sarvey. John was a staff member at COOL, who later
went on to work as the Executive Director of City Year.
The Model Consists of the following:
1.
Umbrella organization of multiple projects
2. Issue or neighborhood focused projects
3. Group coordination of volunteers
4. Cascading Leadership structure
5. Coalition-wide support functions for the projects
6. Systematic training of project leaders
7. Systematic exchange of challenges and best practices among projects
8. Systematic quality improvement process
9. New Project incubator
10. Office space that’s student-oriented, has a “hang-out” quality
Umbrella organization of multiple
projects- The Model
 Cannot be just one single student organization, but instead it




should be a system of several organizations
Overall program serves as an umbrella to combine resources,
expertise and effective systems
Each program has its own leadership and volunteer base
Project Leaders (students) feel the primary responsibility for
their project, not their staff supervisor
Project Leaders are developed from among volunteers
Umbrella organization of multiple
projectsHow It Works in CELTS
 Each of the 10 Student-led
Programs are officially
recognized as a separate
club/organization
 CELTS serves as the
umbrella for student-led
community service and
academic service-learning
 Student Program
Coordinators are
responsible for the
leadership of their specific
program. They are
responsible for the
selection and training of
their volunteers
 No one can become a
team member in a
program with out first
being a volunteer
Coordinator,
Student-led
Service Programs
CELTS Student
Director
Student
Program
Coordinator
Student Program
Student Program
Coordinator
Coordinator
Student Team
Members
Student Team
Student Team
Members
Members
Volunteers
Volunteers
Volunteers
Issue or specific community focused
project- The Model
 Each project/program has a specific and unique focus:
 Focus could be on specific issues, a specific community,
or organizational affiliation
 Volunteer recruitment is made on the basis of specific
issues rather than the general concepts of
volunteerism or community service
Issue or specific
community
focused projectHow it works in
CELTS
 Each of the studentled programs has a
different issue focus
and population
served. Two have
affiliations with
national
organizations
 Each program recruits
its own volunteers at
the annual Volunteer
Extravaganza, where
potential volunteers
choose the specific
program in which
they wish to work
Group Coordination of VolunteersThe Model
 Volunteers work in groups or teams,
rather than individual placements
 This encourages informal (or formal)
orientation, reflection and
accountability
 This leads to a sense of community and
support
Group
Coordination
of
VolunteersHow it works
in CELTS
• Each student-led program
has a Student Coordinator
and a team of 2 to 4 students
working for them
• Student Coordinators are
responsible for the
orientation, reflection and
accountability of their team
members and volunteers
• I would hope our students
feel a sense of community..
Cascading Leadership StructureThe Model
 Utilizes successive sets of student leaders who
spend 3 or 4 years with the same project/program
 Often students start as a volunteer, become a
assistant project leader, project leader and then
serve in some support or leadership role for the
overall organization
 This structure allows for students to develop skills
and experiences to run their projects
independently
Volunteers
Cascading Leadership
Structure- How it works in
CELTS
Team Members
Program
Coordinators
 This is the exact structure of
our student-led programs
Student
Director
 Students begin working
for us as volunteers and
are able to move their
way up to Team
Members, Program
Coordinators and CELTS
Student Director
 Student leaders develop
skills which they in turn
help teach the younger
students- both
volunteers and team
members
Student
Director
Program
Coordinators
The Training
Cycle
Volunteers
First Year
Team
Members
Second Year
Team
Members
Coalition-wide support functions for
the projects- The Model
 There is a coalition-wide group of student leaders
who help support project leaders in areas such as
recruitment, funding, training, etc.
 Project Leaders know and utilize the assistance
they can receive from coalition-wide leaders
 Coalition-wide leaders are experienced and ideally
have former project leadership experience
Coalition-wide
support functions for
the projects- How it
works at CELTS
Student Leadership
Team
 In CELTS, the coalitionwide student leaders are
called the Student
Leadership Team
 These three students
represent the three areas
of CELTS programming:
Student-led Service
Programs, Bonner
Scholars and Academic
Service-Learning
 All three of these students
have previously served as
a Student Coordinator in
their particular program
area
ServiceLearning
Associate
(Academic
Service-Learning)
CELTS
Student
Director
(Student-led
Service
Programs)
Bonner
Senior
Intern
(Bonner Scholars
Program)
Systematic training of project leadersThe Model
 Project Leaders participate in a
comprehensive training program which
covers all the different areas of project
management, including volunteer
recruitment, funding, program
development, community relations,
reflection, etc.
 Sometimes this training is also offered as an
academic course
Systematic training
of project leadersHow it works at
CELTS
•In CELTS all our student
leaders meet once a week for a
training session. These
sessions vary from specific
skill development to awareness
events and guest speakers
•Student Coordinators also
attend a separate training each
week in addition to the all
student meeting above
•Unfortunately, none of our
training programs are offered
as an academic course
Skill Trainings
Personal
Leadership
Skills
Skills
Professional
Skills
Conflict resolution
Budgeting
Decision making
Delegation
Evaluation/research
Organization
Active listening
Planning
Event planning
Public speaking
Fundraising
Running a meeting
Grant writing
Teamwork
Marketing / public
relations
Planning
Balance/boundaries
Communication
Reflection
Time management
Goal setting
Understanding civic
engagement
Understanding public
policy
Working with diverse
groups
Mediation
Networking
Public education /
advocacy
Volunteer management
Systematic exchange of challenges and
best practices among projectsThe Model
 Regular opportunities exist for projects to
share successful practices and challenges
with each other
 This helps to uncover innovative and
effective approaches to different issues
Systematic
exchange of
challenges and
best practices
among projectshow it works in
CELTS
•Student Coordinators are
provided with an opportunity
to share both best practices
and challenges at a weekly
meeting we call the Core Staff
meeting
•Specialized training for
Student Coordinators also take
place at this weekly meeting
Systematic quality improvement processThe Model
 Some sort of qualitative program
development occurs each year, which
could include annual proposals and
regular progress reports
 An ideal system would include an outside
funding board external to the program
Systematic quality improvement processHow it works in CELTS
 Student Coordinators are required to submit program updates monthly
and an annual end of the year report, used to evaluate each program
 Each student worker (both Team Members and Student Coordinators)
in CELTS receives a formal mid-term and end of year evaluation of
their work and on-going informal
 Recently, a quantitative study showed that both CELTS student workers
and volunteers graduated at a significantly higher rate and had a
significantly higher GPA than those who did not work for CELTS or
volunteer with CELTS
 The student-led programs of CELTS do not have an external funding
board. All funding comes from Berea College, however, our Bonner
Scholars Program is endowed by The Bonner Foundation
New Project Incubator- The Model
 The umbrella organization should have a
clear system for adding or developing new
projects which includes criteria and
expectations
 Coalition staff should be able to articulate
the value of joining the coalition
New Project
IncubatorHow it works
at CELTS
•In the last few years,
several new projects and
programs have been added
to the student-led
programs to address the
needs of the community
•We are often approached
by people wanting to start
new programs and
projects; however, it takes a
lot of time and
consideration before a
program “officially” joins
CELTS
Student Office space with
a “hang out” quality- The Model
 Office space should provide a sense of community
and home base on campus
 Students should be drawn to come back between
classes and other activities
 Informal conversations will help students
strengthen the community
 Each program should have its own identifiable
space in the office, which includes a phone and an
actual desk
Student Office
space with
a “hang out”
quality- How it
works at CELTS
•Each of our studentled programs has its
own identifiable office
space with a desk and
phone. Each program is
allowed to decorate
their space in any way
they choose
•Students are always in
their office space, where
informal conversations
often lead to program
collaborations
Want to learn more?
Check out the CELTS web page: www.berea.edu/celts
Give me a call or send me an email
Come visit us in Berea
Heather McNew Schill
CPO 2170
Berea College
Berea, KY 40404
(859) 985-3804
Heather_Schill@berea.edu