Tag Archives: teaching

Student Advocacy Projects–Disaster Plan for DV/SV Agencies

Posted on May 28, 2009 by melindaklewis | Leave a comment

This group had to organize and agitate to even secure an organizing/advocacy project in the first place! After a couple of options fell through, they were frustrated and a little panicked. They had to turn to their practicum agency, the Kansas Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence, and work internally to shape a project that would work for this class. That, in itself, was a valuable learning experience for them and reinforced my belief that a semester is really a short time in which to have students select and complete this type of project. I wish that there was a way to lay some of the groundwork in advance, but this spring course is an elective, and so there’s not a natural transition point from the fall.

April (Rand) and Kavya (Velagapudi) ended up with a project that combined community planning and organizing and will require some advocacy to implement. The project, inspired, in a way, by a couple of disasters that befell different parts of Kansas, was a disaster response plan for sexual assault and domestic violence agencies. It was an interesting process of problem identification, really, because it turned into one of those issues that very few people ever think about but that, when you start to consider it, becomes very apparently problematic. April and Kavya are extraordinarily conscientious and dedicated students, and they poured a ton of effort into this project in a short period of time. Much of it was more community planning than organizing focused–figuring out what existed in terms of resources for this type of plan (almost nothing), researching the status quo for disaster response in Kansas, and writing a guidebook of sorts for member programs of KCSDV to develop their own response and preparation plans. They included an incredible level of detail in the manual–contact information for relevant actors, checklists, things to consider. They have a good perspective as direct practitioners who now have a more birds-eye view, and I think that that influenced the development of the final product to be something that meets the needs of the providers.

In her reflection, April discussed her disappointment that the very short timeline prevented them from being able to involve survivors in the development of the plan. They have included guidance in the manual about how participating programs can ensure that survivors have a voice in developing disaster contingency plans that help them to feel safe, no matter what, but they did not have a chance to have these conversations themselves. For similar reasons related to time constraints, the students were able to identify but not work closely themselves with the institutions responsible for responding to disasters at the state and local levels. This organizing, obviously, would have been a valuable part of the overall experience.

I have reflected on this project quite a bit, but I’m not really sure that there’s anything else I would do differently as the instructor. The demise of their first two projects was completely out of their (and my) control, and they rallied as best as they could under the circumstances. It did reinforce the importance of some back-up plans, and probably a contract or something that they could share with the potential host may have identified the problems more quickly (in one case), but this project was also a demonstration of one of the truths of organizing: sometimes you just have to work with what you have. The fact that they were able to come up with a product that provides the infrastructure for an agency and community-level response to an under-recognized but very real social problem in a matter of weeks is fairly remarkable, and they learned a lot about themselves and their resilience, at least, if not as much about hands-on organizing as they (and I) would have liked.

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Posted in Inspiration and Examples

Tagged community planning, students, teaching

Student Advocacy Projects–Postpartum Resource Center

Posted on May 26, 2009 by melindaklewis | 2 Comments

For the SW846 class the past two years, I have worked with some of my former colleagues and organizational allies to identify a couple of potential student advocacy/organizing projects in advance of the spring semester. I present these as options to students through the Blackboard virtual classroom and in the second week of class, but I also encourage students to bring ideas from their own work or practicum sites to offer to their classmates as project options.

This year, I had several student groups who identified and developed their own projects, and it was exciting to see how those played out, particularly as they complemented the students’ existing work in the field. It is also an important part of the learning process to present one’s ‘pitch’ for a project and attempt to recruit other students to that particular cause. In many ways, it’s a kind of organizing in itself–figuring out how to talk about what it is that you’re committed to in such a way that your colleagues will become committed to that same cause, and then finding roles for them to play in the effort that are meaningful to them and helpful to you.

This project really exemplified that process; a student, Jen Stoll, raised her hand to suggest a project related to her work at the Postpartum Resource Center of Kansas. It was still in the early stages of development, and so Jen was a little vague as she talked it through, but her passion for women experiencing postpartum mood disorders, and their families, came through as always. Immediately, two students, neither of whom had ever done anything related to this population or issue, said that they wanted to work with her. She and I were both a little shocked, and she then faced the task of working with Hillary (Unrein) and Ashley (Marple) to define the project and carve out tasks within it.

The crux of the project relates to birth trauma and how women who have been victims of abuse can be revictimized by standard procedures employed by medical professionals, particularly those that deny women control over their own birthing experiences. This is another social problem that I had really never thought about, and, at the end of the semester, I think the entire class was grateful to Jen, Hillary, and Ashley, for raising our consciousness. The project is very much ongoing, and it is truly multi-faceted, involving:

Advocating for Medicaid to reimburse for doula services, given that doulas’ presence at births is related to a more empowering experience for women

Development of a curriculum for providers to sensitize them to the problem of birth trauma

Organizing a core group of women to serve as consultants to the curriculum development process

Training women to become certified as doulas

Collaborating with organizations that serve survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault to identify program participants

Developing a list of recommended providers with a demonstrated commitment to protecting women from revictimization

And I’m probably leaving something out–it’s a pretty massive undertaking! They spent considerable time just navigating the Medicaid system to figure out the steps involved with pursuing approval of a new reimbursable expense, and that process is just getting started. It is key, though, to the fulfillment of PRC’s goal that services be available to women across the socioeconomic spectrum, and I think it sends a strong statement that they’re going to make that a priority. I expect they will also find, though, that while the Medicaid process is cumbersome, it is at least more publicly accountable than private insurance companies, whose own rules about covered services are often even more opaque.

The community organizing and coalition-building pieces are moving slowly, as PRC tries to establish itself with new partners and new constituencies, but the students see the value in building these relationships, and it seems that they’re definitely moving in the right direction. One of the more significant pieces of learning to come from this project, I think, was Jen’s process in explaining her work and her passion to two newcomers, a process that she’ll have to repeat dozens of times as she seeks allies around the community. Both Hillary and Ashley served as a sounding board, often, for Jen, and helped her to refine messages, an ongoing struggle for an organization dealing with an often-hidden and stigmatized social problem.

At the conclusion of the semester, students present their accomplishments, their process, and some reflection on their learning to their classmates. The presentation for this group was probably the most impactful and controversial in my history of teaching this class. The students sought to challenge all of our ideas about mothering and childbirth and family formation in order to illustrate some of the difficulties in confronting postpartum mood disorders and organizing this population. I consider myself fairly sensitized to these concerns, with a family history of PPD, but I still found myself pausing a bit as I considered the powerful stereotypes that I, as a mother in this society, have absorbed.

In the presentation, Hillary said (I’m paraphrasing, hopefully closely!) that she was just struck by Jen’s passion for women and their babies and that, even though she didn’t really have any idea what Jen even meant by ‘birth trauma’, she just had to be close to that kind of passion, and she knew that she would learn a lot from organizing and advocating in that environment. That really struck me, because I can’t think of a better measure of leadership than convincing someone to join with you in your cause just because they want to be close to the power and energy that you bring to it.

Is there anything that you would like to add to this, Jen and Hillary and Ashley? Given that this project involved one student who had real background in the issue and two that did not, what could I have done as an instructor to better facilitate the process for you? Have other students or instructors had similar experiences? Does anyone have advice for PRC in dealing with Medicaid?

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Posted in Inspiration and Examples

Tagged leadership, organizing, students, teaching

Student Advocacy Projects–CASA of Atchison

Posted on May 26, 2009 by melindaklewis | 2 Comments

This student project was very different from the others; it was much more strict ‘community practice’, rather than real organizing or advocacy. I was confident from the beginning, though, that it would be a valuable experience, largely because the students involved are really outstanding. In the end, I think that this project charted a bit of a new course for these student projects, because these students outlined how outreach, community relationship-building, and public education can be integral components of community practice.

Rebecca Heatherman and Loren Whitehorn, the two students in this project, had a goal to assist Court-Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) in recruiting new advocates for the program in Atchison County. In practice, this meant building relationships with community-based organizations in a new geographic territory, learning about the relationships among the different players, presenting the organization so as to appeal to potential volunteers, and creating messages that would work for this particular context. It was challenging, particularly in a community like Atchison that is dominated by strong institutions, including a university and the Benedictine Sisters, but, as Loren said, the students’ awareness of the difficulties in organizing in an unfamiliar community, and their sensitivity to these dynamics, demonstrated their openness and improved their reception. It is an important lesson for all of us who organize outside of our own communities; asking questions and proceeding somewhat carefully and showing an abundance of respect are good ways to insert oneself into a new community without immediately being alienated as an ‘outsider’.

Becky and Loren’s specific activities included creating a PowerPoint presentation about CASA and the work of advocates; building contacts at Benedictine College, with community leaders, and the Sisters; giving presentations about the need for volunteers; creating opportunities for CASA to continue to network with leaders in Atchison as the project proceeds; and establishing a reputation for the organization in a community largely unfamiliar with it (made more difficult by the fact that the staff member is still located in a different county). They also faced some resistance from some quarters, but, as all organizers learn to do, they worked around what they couldn’t work through!

I am grateful to Becky for identifying this project and framing it in such a way that it worked for this class, because, again, I think that it really demonstrated that community organizing can take many forms. They were creative; a faculty member at the university will begin offering college credit to student advocates! They were so persuasive in their presentations, too, that some of their classmates were even considering volunteering! I was particularly impressed with how this pair worked together; they had a unity of purpose and really complemented each other’s strengths. As an instructor, I learned to think about advocacy and organizing a bit more broadly and to honor my own ‘rule’ that macro practice should authentically complement direct work with people in need. This project really did that.

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Posted in Inspiration and Examples

Tagged organizing, students, teaching

Student Advocacy Project–Invisible Kansans

Posted on May 19, 2009 by melindaklewis | Leave a comment

This is the first in a series of posts about my students’ organizing and advocacy projects this semester. They have graciously given me permission to post about their activities, their reported learning, and my response to their projects, and I am very grateful. I hope that these summaries might be helpful to other faculty engaged in the supervision of similar advocacy/organizing projects, to students contemplating how to weave together action and academics, and to practitioners who are considering utilizing student activists in their work. Students, PLEASE comment to correct any mischaracterizations on my part and/or to add your own analysis. I appreciate so much your openness to the learning experiences this past semester and your generosity in sharing your stories. You are a tremendous group of people!

I’m starting in no particular order, but I think everyone will agree that this first project was truly stellar. I was very excited about this project even before the semester started because I have very high regard for the host organization, Interhab, and their advocacy. They consistently involve constituents in very meaningful ways and, while they have not always been successful in advancing their ambitious legislative agenda of increased funding for services for those with developmental disabilities, they are absolutely always on the agenda, due to their lobbying, organizing, and media work, and that is no small feat.

The students’ experience ended up even more rewarding, I think, than I had dared to hope. Interhab involved the group of 5 students in their Invisible Kansans campaign, and they had opportunities to participate in event organizing, direct campus/peer organizing, policy research, and messaging work. They were also able to observe Interhab’s truly cutting-edge work related to paid advertising, lobbying, emerging technologies, and constituent empowerment. (You should seriously check out their website, because their use of YouTube videos and Facebook and consumer testimonials is really outstanding). Some of the students’ specific activities included:

Collecting more than 100 signatures on postcards to legislators regarding legislation to increase funding for Medicaid waiver services (including those collected on campus at KU, as students canvassed in front of Wescoe Hall)

Helping with the organizing of a reception to honor providers and other leaders in the movement for justice and dignity for those with developmental disabilities, and the preparation of advocacy materials to be included there

Assisting with the creation of these excellent documents that detail the economic impact of HB2094, the “Invisible Kansans” bill–I was blown away by how slick these documents look (see links below), and how excellent the information was regarding the actual dollars that would be brought into each county if the bill passes; we all need to get a lot smarter about learning how to talk about our social service issues like this!

Identifying organizations at KU that could be recruited to endorse the legislation and participate in the campaign–hopefully some of these will become long-term partners of Interhab, as a major goal of theirs for this year was to expand their coalition beyond providers and consumers, and they identified college students as a possible target group

The students expressed some challenges, particularly related to distance (Interhab is about an hour away from the campus where these students have class) and to some communication difficulties, particularly as their primary contact at Interhab (Matt Fletcher–a great person to know if you want to learn about how to mobilize and do media work, particularly) was extremely busy during the legislative session. They also missed Interhab’s Lobby Day, because it was very early in the session. In all, though, it was a pretty smooth collaboration, and the students identified a few key learnings that I think apply to other students engaging in advocacy for the first time, too:

Some of the strategies that were the most successful were also those that were the most uncomfortable initially; it was in getting beyond their comfort zone, so to speak, that they saw the most impact.

Dividing up work according to their areas of greatest interest and skill helped their group to function more effectively and maximized their enjoyment of the project–Adam did amazing things with the analysis and document preparation, and I wasn’t surprised, since his policy brief was terrific, also; Alicia is outgoing and determined, and she took the lead in the canvassing on campus.

Because they had little direct experience working with this population or these issues, it helped to work with an organization that is so focused on keeping the consumers at the center of the advocacy; however, it was still hard to feel totally connected, particularly to the legislative piece, so more frequent updates from Matt would have been helpful.

At the end of the semester, HB2094 still hadn’t even been voted out of the House Appropriations Committee, evidence that even stellar organizing does not guarantee legislative progress, particularly in a budget year like this one. While the students were frustrated by this, they also felt that they had been able to see some steps in the process through to completion, which helped their overall feelings of accomplishment. As their instructor, one of my biggest learnings here was that it is important to choose projects not just based on my relationships (I had really had very little interaction with Interhab before) but primarily based on the organization’s own track record for advocacy and organizing. Interhab provided the students with a superior experience, and I have built some new contacts that will help other students in the future. I also think it’s important to provide some of the context for organizing and advocacy work in class, since the ‘big picture’ easily gets lost in the field when students and their hosts are busy moving towards a set of goals.

The students involved in this project were: Adam Timberlake, Susila Gabbert, Anna Giles, Anna Gude, and Alicia Jones. What questions do you have for them? Or for me? Students, what did I leave out, or what do you want to say about your experience this semester? Interhab folks, is there anything that you want to add?

politicallyDisabled_large One of the pieces the Invisible Kansas Campaign developed for their branding