Emerson/ Bird Street Civic Engagement Project

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Mission:

The ultimate goal of the program is for Emerson College students and faculty to act as mentors to the students in the program and to guide and help the students to a bright future. The program wants to engage and persuade at risk students through communication and dialogue, to pursue nonviolent options to conflict resolution and to make courses of interest available to the students and teach the students new and valuable skills along the way.

Project Overview:

The Emerson Bird Street Civic Engagement Project provides a forum for personal growth and supports our student change ambassador’s dreams for a better fulfilled life. The aim of the project is to listen, mentor, document, and share the stories of the Bird Street students. At risk youth from the Dorchester and surrounding areas are change ambassadors, who will research and formulate messages tailored to the specific target market of their peers. These messages are conveyed in a series of Public Service Announcements and creative writing produced by Bird Street students in an after school program during the summer, working in collaboration with Emerson College students, under the guidance of two Emerson College professors and a Boston elementary school teacher.

Goals and Objectives:

Faculty and students from Emerson College want to support the Bird Street students in their potential person growth endeavors and recruit other Dorchester students to join the team. During the course of the next year, events and workshops will take place to direct the Bird Street Students.

Timeline:

Fall 2013 Semester:

• Monthly workshops whose topics are selected by the student’s interests: Oct, Nov, Dec, Jan. Some of those workshops include; public speaking, Emerson campus open house and tour, bullying talks, creative writing, and sports clinics.
• Focus on recruiting new students into the program. We will be doing this through various high school visits, community outreach efforts, and through the students and program leaders connections.
• November 2013: Bird Street Students will travel with Emerson group CPLA (Communication, Politics and Law) to Washington, DC

Spring 2014 Semester:

• April Event at the Strand Theatre in Dorchester showcasing PSAs from last summer and give an overview of all of the accomplishments made this Fall semester. Also geared towards recruiting more students into the program. We hope to have a celebrity guest.
• January 2014: Emerson College/ Bird Street MLK Event
• Workshops continued each month Feb, Mar, Apr, May.

Summer 2014 Semester:

• Public Service Announcement (PSA) project (round-two) to begin. Students will create their own PSA’s and showcase them to their community.
• Editing, production, writing, and design lessons for students