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Berea College’s Center for Excellence in Learning Through
Service (CELTS) has received a Learn and Serve America innovation
grant for “Energy and Empowerment in an Appalachian County,” an
initiative to study energy needs and assets in Madison County.
The integrated three-year community-based research project will
bring together multiple community partner organizations and multiple
academic departments with their specific expertise. This
collaborative and coalition-based approach will produce data toward
the goals of improving financial security of low-income families
in Madison County; benefiting the environment by reducing demand
for coal-based electricity; and empowering community members to
become actively involved in transforming the policies, infrastructure,
assumptions and behaviors that drive energy use in Kentucky today.
“Our community’s history and current situation call
for a community-based approach to identify and develop strategies
to help residents of our community save money and energy in the
years ahead. A collaborative approach to researching energy
needs and assets will bring together the resources of Berea College,
the skills of community leaders who have been working to address
energy issues and to empower local citizens for many years, and
the grassroots knowledge of community members,” says Meta
Mendel-Reyes, Director of CELTS.
Of nearly 100 proposals, Berea
College’s project was one of just 10 selected for its innovation
and potential contributions to the field of community-based research
(CBR), which engages faculty, students, and community stakeholders
in research projects that aim to affect social change.
Founded in 2000, CELTS coordinates service and service-learning
opportunities at Berea College. The mission of CELTS is to educate
students for leadership in service and social justice through promotion
and coordination of service-learning, community service, and outreach.
In keeping with Berea College’s strong history of service,
faculty have been connecting their teaching with community service
and outreach throughout the College’s history. Through
collaborative service-learning and community-based research partnerships,
college students and faculty have worked with community partner
organizations to conduct research, gather data, produce educational
materials, and implement projects.
In being awarded the innovation grant, Berea College joins
the National CBR Networking Initiative, a larger network of community-based
research practitioners funded by Learn & Serve America and
spearheaded by Princeton University and the Bonner Foundation.
This Initiative is coordinated by Princeton University’s
Community-Based Learning Initiative and will generate a range of
best-practice tools and resources, including websites, manuals,
and data valuable to students, faculty, and the community. As
one of 30 other institutions expanding its CBR efforts through
the Learn & Serve America grant, Berea College has
the opportunity to grow and strengthen CELTS through funding,
as well share its work with other CBR practitioners nationwide.
Learn & Serve
America, a program of the Corporation for National and Community
Service, provides support to schools, community groups, and higher
education institutions to facilitate service-learning projects.
“Service-learning helps America pursue some of its most
critical goals, from improving academic achievement to helping
youth from disadvantaged circumstances succeed in school and in
life,” said David Eisner, CEO of the Corporation for National
and Community Service, which administers Learn and Serve America.
For more information about CELTS at Berea College, please visit www.berea.edu/celts/. To
learn more about the National CBR Networking Initiative, go to www.cbrnet.org.
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