Professional Documents
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Family Service Learning As A Tool To Strengthen Communities and Families
Family Service Learning As A Tool To Strengthen Communities and Families
Family service learning can be a helpful tool to strengthen WHAT ARE EXAMPLES OF SERVICE LEARNINGS?
both communities and families. Much research has sought to According to Learning to Give (n.d.), service learning activities
identify the educational, political, socioeconomic, and even can be direct, indirect, involve advocacy and research. Some
health factors that are adversely impacting communities and examples are:
families (Adarlo, 2020; Sabo, et al., 2015). However, there are Direct: Involves person-to-person service, where the
a number of accessible tools that can be immediately applied project benefits an individual directly.
that can support and even strengthen both communities and i.e.: reading to kids, tutoring, providing health or
families. One of those tools is family service learning. Family legal education to juveniles or foster youth or
service can unite families and encourage them to come providing health screenings to seniors.
together to contribute to a larger goal. This can help Indirect: Involves projects that benefit the community.
strengthen familial dynamics, while enhancing personal i.e.: home construction with habitat for humanity,
bonds to the community. The accessibility of family service community restoration (tree planting, neighborhood
learning is also an added benefit. There is no entry level beautification), food drives, raising money for a charity
criteria to engage in family service or to start a family service or nonprofit organization or web design.
group. Any person in any community can participate and offer Advocacy: Includes educating individuals about diverse
their time, resources or whatever they can afford to financially topics to bring awareness and support action on issues
contribute to support service projects in their community. In that impact the community.
addition to meeting a community need, family service can i.e.: Students write, speak, lobby or act to create
also have the added benefit of offering career exposure awareness about various issues in their community
(Mitchell & Rost-Banik, 2019), education (Eppler, et al., 2011) through government or grassroots action. Individuals
and supporting mental health (Wilczenski & Cook, 2009). may seek to impact laws or inform politicians and the
These supports can no doubt lead to the development of community about important issues.
long-term infrastructure by way of sustainable activities in Research: Involves identifying new information that leads
both the nonprofit and private sector. In this summary, there or guides action.
will be a discussion of our application of the National Center i.e.: being involved in data collection to address a
for Families Learning (NCFL) six step model for family service community issue or that can lead to social change.
learning, to the development of our own family service group,
Omenala Service Learning Collaborative. In this summary we HOW CAN SERVICE LEARNING BE APPLIED TO FAMILIES?
detail how we were able to apply the six-step process to our Cramer & Toso (2015) published the six step model to guide
family service activities. family service activities as implemented through the National
Center for Families Learning (NCFL) Toyota Family Learning
WHAT IS SERVICE LEARNING? Program. Highlighted below are the details of how we were
As described by the National Youth Leadership Council (n.d.), able to apply the NCFL six step process for carrying out our
service learning is an instructional strategy that has linked family service activities.
community service with academic study to enrich learning, NCFL Family Service Learning: Six-Step Process
teach civic responsibility and strength communities. It is a tool INVESTIGATION: Parents and children investigate
to encourage students to participate in community service, community problems that they might potentially address.
while at the same time making sure that academic learning is Investigation involves research and a community
a part of service. Service learning also has mutual benefits for mapping activity.
both the student and community.
ACTION: Involves the implementation of the service SUSTAINABILITY: Parents and program staff plan how to
activity. Parents, children, community members, and make their project or family service learning an ongoing
teachers carry out and complete the family service endeavor. This may include strengthening or cementing
learning project. partnerships, generating and leveraging resources, and
Our Application: Based on what was agreed upon identifying and securing funding sources that are
between the organization and family, the service available over time.
activity would be implemented. Again, it was Our Application: There may be some service
important that the details of the activity were clearly programs that families continue to participate in on a
agreed upon between the organization and family, so long-term basis or they may assist in devising
that the needs of the organization and important strategies that can support the service activity’s
learning lessons for the family are achieved.
CONCLUSION
As we continue with our family service activities, we see how
service learning can be a practical tool that families can use
to forge a sense of human connectedness. Indeed service
learning is a wonderful activity that can support personal and
community development in every season of life.
REFERENCES
Adarlo, G. (2020). Service-learning as global citizenship
education: Acting locally on global challenges and concerns.
IAFOR Journal of Education, 8(3), 7-23.
https://doi.org/10.22492/ije.8.3.01