MPU3412 COMMUNITY SERVICE

Chapter 2
Starting a Community Service Project
MPU3412 Community Service

Pick a project by determining needs

Brainstorm as a Group

• Discuss prominent issues that need attention

in your neighborhood and brainstorm ways to
address the problems.
• Prioritize your ideas and select the best one.
• Think about what you would like to learn from
the project.

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MPU3412 Community Service

Pick a project by determining needs

Select From the News

• Select stories that have emotional effects on

your group.
• Discuss them together to select your project.

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MPU3412 Community Service

Pick a project by determining needs

Conduct a Survey

• Survey members of the community to find out

about their greatest concerns.
• Do a project about which the community
residents feel strongly.
• Perhaps community members will be inspired
to help with your project!
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MPU3412 Community Service

Pick a project by determining needs

Research the Issues

• Do some web searches or go to the library and

find out as much as you can about the
problem in your community.

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MPU3412 Community Service

Identifying resources, skills, and

assets
• There are many resources and skills that we
can lend to solving a community problem; we
just need to identify them.
• Write down three to six sentences about what
resources, skills, or assets (such as other
groups, programs, funders, volunteers, etc.)
your group brings to the project or that exist
in the community to help solve the selected
problem.

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MPU3412 Community Service

Defining mission, vision, and goals

• Planning a project requires developing a

structure that helps organizers define their
vision, mission, goals, and strategies.
• Strategic planning enables people to "See It",
"Believe it", and "Build it“.

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MPU3412 Community Service

Defining mission, vision, and goals

(cont…)
• First give your project a name.
• See It-Mission: Write one sentence that
describes what your group's long term goal or
purpose is in meeting this need. A mission
should be a concise statement that reflects
what, why and how your group does its work.

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MPU3412 Community Service

Defining mission, vision, and goals

(cont…)
• Believe It-Vision: A vision statement provides
a clear description of what success looks like
for your project. Complete the following
sentence with the ideal vision you have for
your community related to this issue: "(Name
of group) is working toward the day when…
(describe the change you wish to see in your
community)".

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MPU3412 Community Service

Defining mission, vision, and goals

(cont…)
• Build It: Define your short-term objectives and
describe the specific tasks that you will need
to accomplish to achieve the objective. (An
objective is a specific time-based measurable
goal that you work towards.) Also, be sure to
write down the name of the contact person
for each task and your deadline for completing
the task.

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MPU3412 Community Service

Roles and Responsibilities

• Creating your coordinating committee and

advisory committee.
• Make a list of who in your group is in charge of
what areas of project coordination.
• In addition, list some adult allies that can
serve as advisors to your project.

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MPU3412 Community Service

Roles and Responsibilities

• Example:

Contact
Leaders Coordination Area Email
Information
Melissa Food 01x-xxxxxxx melissa@mail.com
Jeremy Equipment 01x-xxxxxxx jeremy@mail.com

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MPU3412 Community Service

Getting People Involved in the Actual

Project Event
• Publicize, Advertise, Mobilize.
• Get the community interested in your event
by creating flyers, posters, etc. and soliciting
their help in making your project happen.
• Recruitment can happen through handing out
leaflets, postering in high visibility areas, and
word of mouth.

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MPU3412 Community Service

Getting People Involved in the Actual

Project Event
• This is the exciting part of the project because
you get to put your plan into action.
• Remember this is a team effort. Everyone in
the group should know his or her
responsibilities.
• Do your best and have fun!

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MPU3412 Community Service

Evaluating your Impact

• It is important to talk about and reflect upon

our service experience in order to learn
lessons that will make our work even stronger.
• Create a list of reflection questions and ways
that the reflection will be carried out.

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MPU3412 Community Service

Evaluating your Impact (cont…)

Sharing:
• Discussing what happened. Sharing what
actually happened during the event with
positive interaction and learning from group
members.

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MPU3412 Community Service

Evaluating your Impact (cont…)

Processing:
• Thinking about and sharing what was learned
and what was important, including what
problems or issues occurred, similar
experiences of the group members and how
they felt about the experience.

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MPU3412 Community Service

Evaluating your Impact (cont…)

Generalizing:
• Doing more in-depth reflection and having the
group members think and talk about what life
skills they learned during the experience.

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MPU3412 Community Service

Evaluating your Impact (cont…)

Applying:
• Applying what was learned to other
experiences. Young people think about how
they can use the life skills and knowledge they
have learned in other situations in their lives
with their peers, their families and in their
community.

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MPU3412 Community Service

Celebrating and Recognizing the

Efforts
• Take time to celebrate the completed service
project.
• Be sure to find a way to let members, key
volunteers and funders who made the
program successful feel appreciated.
• Provide refreshments, write a thank-you letter
or pass out mementos of the day.

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MPU3412 Community Service

Celebrating and Recognizing the

Efforts
• List the steps you will take to celebrate your
project and who is responsible for each part.

Method for
Resources Needed Person Responsible
Celebration
Recognition Paper, Computer
Janet
Certificates for Printing

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