Fall 2024
Students Reporting: 15
Time Reported: 287.74 hrs
Community Partners:
This semester, students in UW 1020 University Writing with Professor Ryder engaged with multiple community partners across Washington, DC, applying their academic knowledge through direct service, community engagement, and advocacy work.
Little Friends for Peace: Students participated in peace-building activities to help promote a violence-free society through community-building exercises. They created friendship bracelets and posters for the organization's events, learned conflict resolution strategies, and some students tutored local children through LFFP's after-school program.
Charlie's Place: Students served food to community members experiencing homelessness, distributed clothing items, and helped with kitchen duties including meal preparation and dish washing. This direct service work allowed students to engage with the Dupont Circle community.
DC Central Kitchen: Students assisted with meal preparation by chopping vegetables, packaging prepared food, and organizing meal containers. DCCK provides over 16,500 meals daily to DC residents, making this vital service work for combating food insecurity.
Sasha Bruce Youthwork: Students helped with community projects including a "tulipalooza" event where they planted tulip bulbs at the main youth center and Bruce Farm, an urban agricultural training center. They also assisted families in moving into new housing by setting up apartments with shelves, artwork, and furniture.
Additional partnerships included Higher Achievement (tutoring middle school students), Casey Trees (planting trees in affordable housing communities), 826DC (assisting with children's writing programs), League of Women Voters (conducting voter education in DC high schools), and various political campaigns and advocacy groups where students engaged in voter outreach.
Student Comments:
"I really enjoy working with this organization. I feel like I am really building a rapport with the people I am working with, as well as building connections with the community as a whole. I am developing useful skills for myself as well. This is one of the best things I have done at GWU so far." - Student working with Charlie's Place
"I learned that service is more powerful than I thought and I am excited to interact with members of a new community. I felt like I was making an impact when we were told that this is one of the only housing projects in DC for teenage mothers and their kids who are homeless, and I also gained a lot by being around the other volunteers and getting to talk to them."- Student working with Sasha Bruce Youthwork
"Although the topic of politics and political figures are often divisive, I found that this experience very insightful. This event also made me realize how unique attending a University that is in the center of the nation's Capitol. I realized how cool it is that on a random Wednesday night, a Congressman can come speak at a small forum. This event made me want to get involved in many more 'only in DC' events and helped me discover a newfound gratitude for the GW community and connections."- Student who attended a Q&A with a Congressman
"As a result of working with Little Friends for Peace, I learned the importance of community bonding. Our day of service was supposed to consist of working with members of the local community, however, most of the day consisted of just our cohort, all of which live in the same residence hall." - A student volunteering with Little Friends for Peace
"Seeing the thousands of people flooding the streets and chanting 'Regime Change!' over and over again really had a powerful impact on me. It let me know that the work I do for the NCRI is important and gave me renewed hope that the Iranian regime will fall - soon." - A student working with National Council of Resistance of Iran
Fall 2023
Professor: Phyllis Ryder
Students Reporting: 11
Time Reported: 175.67
What students learned:
- Practical application of language, writing, and communication skills in the context of social change
- Collaborative engagement with community organizations in D.C.
- Appreciation for the importance of community-building and collective action
- Research skills
- Exploration of real-world issues and perspectives within community settings.
Community Partners:
| Community Partner | # of students at the site |
| Ethiopian Community Development Council | 1 |
| DC Central Kitchen | 4 |
| DC YMCA Youth and Government | 2 |
| Filexcellence: A Filipino community mentorship and advocacy group | 1 |
| For Love of Children | 3 |
| Pathways to Housing | 1 |
| Thrive DC | 1 |
| Ward 2 Mutual Aid | 1 |
Student Comments:
"I engaged in direct service through Pathways to Housing, helping staff arrange their new office space and prepare for the year. The organization is in the process of relocating and expanding, and they needed help setting up for new team members who were joining. I had a lot of fun serving with a small group of volunteers and staff members, and the size of their space and how much there was to do really gave me an idea of how extensive some nonprofits are and how much they do for the community" - Student who served with Pathways to Housing.
"I am now an expert in chopping broccoli and peeling carrots ;)" - student who worked with D.C. Central Kitchen.
"Super informative session about how to serve, highly recommend their reading on serving vs helping: https://www.awakin.org/v2/read/view.php?tid=940"- Student Thrive DC.
