- The Center for Immigrant and Refugee Community
- Leadership and Empowerment
- CIRCLE
- Leadership and Empowerment
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| Helping ROAD | |||
| Who We Partner With | |||
| How We Share and Celebrate | |||
| What We Learn and Know | |||
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What does the Kellogg Foundation's decision to award $153,000 mean to CIRCLE? It means the number of Khmer and Vietnamese youth involved can be expanded. It means all youth groups will able to apply for mini-grants to use towards the community projects they develop. It means Project Crossroads, to form youth groups for local Latino and African Americans, will finally be implemented. It means we will be able to develop interethnic youth groups to explore ways that people of diverse races, cultures, and backgrounds can work together for the common benefit of all.
In a time of increased anti-immigrant sentiment and ongoing racial conflict, CIRCLE director Sally Habana-Hafner believes that grassroots projects such as the Giving SEED make an important difference. "I'm aware there are barriers and hurdles, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to overcome them," she said. "That's why we start with a small seed, a small group of people who envision something innovative and different."
Now in its third year, the Giving SEED program is developing a growing reputation among teachers and community workers, locally, state-wide, and nationally. The project trains newcomer undergraduate students to be leaders across cultures by linking them as role models to newcomer youth from Springfield, Holyoke, Northampton, Amherst, and Greenfield. The youth, in turn, learn to take an active role in making their community stronger. Together, the undergraduates and youth organize projects to celebrate their culture or to build their neighborhood.
"We directly tie in with the UMass's emphasis on outreach to local communities through public service learning," declared Habana-Hafner. "Student learning should not only occur in the classroom, but out there, in real life."