Venture Grant Cycle 36 Grantees
Eastern Michigan University “Clarita Park and the YMCA Service-Learning Academy: A Collaboration to Save an Urban Green Space”
This project will involve fifth and six grade students at the YMCA Service-Learning Academy in Detroit as well as students and Professor Robert Simmons of Eastern Michigan University. The objective is to provide the elementary school students with a service-learning experience, lessons about environmental issues and a social-action campaign in an urban setting. Activities will include a park clean-up and beautification, environmental education and a letter-writing campaign where the elementary students will lobby people in the city's administration, including the Parks/Recreation Department.
Grand Rapids Community College “An Introduction to Fine Etiquette”
The Baxter Community Center's Mizizi Maji Mentoring program's Director Sharon LaChepelle is partnering with Grand Rapids Community College's Culinary Arts Professor Audrey Heckwolf to develop and run "An Introduction to Fine Etiquette" Program. This project will become part of Professor Heckwolf's Table Service course and provide approximately 23 youth with an opportunity to learn about etiquette and culinary arts. This project is important because it is a networking skill many of the youth do not currently posses, it also provides an opportunity for college students to connect academic/work skills and increase civic engagement and impact real world need.
Lake Superior State University “LSSU - Upward Bound CERT Training”
Lake Superior State University's Upward Bound program and the Alpha Phi Omega service organization will arrange Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training to 70 college students and at risk high school students. As CERT members, these trainees will assist individually or as a group, in emergency situations and conduct fundraising activities to pay for more students to be trained in subsequent years.
Madonna University “Metro-Vision: Community Leadership and Lifelong Learning”
This new program will bring Madonna University students, staff and faculty together with 40 youth from the metropolitan Detroit area to learn about the history of their community and gain a greater appreciation for diversity. Students will begin a dialogue that will inspire a lifetime of learning through leadership seminars, teambuilding workshops, service projects, career exploration exercises and presentations, and tours of historical museums and landmarks.