Civic Identity

Clara Lyden, Vijay Kamalumpundi, Alison Monroe, and Apoorva Raikwar

"An identity would seem to be arrived at by the way in which the person faces and uses his experience."

- James Baldwin

What is Civic Identity?

An individual and/or group's identity encompassing their knowledge, skills/abilities, attitudes, values and perspectives regarding civic engagement that they can contribute to their community.

"This approach to leadership requires continuous reflection, active learning, involvement, and action"

-Charlotte Brown, Alternative Spring Break class powerpoint

How did we develop our civic identity as a group?

DIVINE KINSHIP

At Divine Kinship on our first day, we learned to collaborate to make the manual labor more efficient. Coming from the Midwest, many of us grew up valuing agriculture in our communities. In Dallas, we were able to use our physical abilities to cultivate a space where food can be grown in the future. While the organization was small, the impact of agriculture is huge. We also broadened our perspective on generosity due to the positive and passionate people we worked along side.

AIDS INTERFAITH NETWORK

At the AIDS Interfaith Network, we had the opportunity to use our interpersonal communication skills with many people at the center. We connected with them through common interests and by listening to their stories. Some of us also got to cook and serve people a meal. We learned to approach public health issues, like AIDS, with an open and non-judgmental perspective.

CROSSROADS COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER

At the Crossroads Community Health Center, we learned how to utilize organizational skills while sorting food and clothes. It taught us how much planning and preparation goes in to a successful organization. We also learned how an organization like the center can be welcoming and approachable by offering people a food and clothes shopping experience who may be unable to visit stores regularly.

NORTH TEXAS FOOD BANK

Lastly, at North Food Bank, we discovered how much organization goes in to running a successful food bank. By taking part in sorting food with many other people, we learned the power of coming together in service and efficiently accomplishing our goals. We also received gratification by learning how many meals we provided at the end of our day of service.

How did we develop our civic identity as individuals?

APOORVA

I am interested in going in to public health, and more specifically health policy. Being able to interact with community groups and individuals “on the ground” was valuable for me as I was able to see public health issues firsthand rather than just through data and reports. For example, after leading HIV/AIDS advocacy and education efforts for two years on the UI campus, I was able to work directly with an organization- AIDS Interfaith Network- that provides services for individuals who have HIV/AIDS and listen to their stories as well. I was able to use interpersonal skills I gained as a nursing assistant and a strength of mine- empathy- when conversing with individuals at the AIDS Interfaith Network. This experience was the most valuable for me and I plan to look for additional experiences that are similar in the community I live in.

ALISON

The experiences we had serving in Dallas helped me further develop my civic identity, strengthening my existing value for service, and taught me new ways to apply my skills and abilities. As an Iowa native, I grew up in a family that valued agriculture and gardening, and learned how to garden to plant and grow vegetables for our family. Although we sometimes shared produce with neighbors, I never considered that gardening could be used to help solve food insecurity and feed communities at large. Through working with Divine Kinship at their permaculture garden, I was able to utilize and further develop my gardening skills to help eliminate food deserts and improve access to healthy and affordable fruits and vegetables in the Dallas area. Returning to Iowa City, I feel well-equipped to apply my knowledge and skills to make a difference in our community, and hope to volunteer with the University of Iowa student garden to address similar issues in our local community.

CLARA

I have wanted to become more active in my community and feel that this trip has helped to shape my identity as an active citizen. Specifically, I learned how to step out of my comfort zone regarding types of service to participate in. I have never thought of myself as an outdoorsy person so I was a little timid for our service at Divine Kinship. However, I ended up loving working with my hands and seeing all the progress we made just in one day, it was so gratifying. I also was struck by how much can be accomplished when we work together as a team. I am inspired to do more service that involves outside work, and have learned how growing food can leave incredible impacts for serving a community. I hope to find an organization with similar goals here, focused on food insecurity issues and growing food, in Iowa City or my hometown.

VIJAY

I was born in an Indian city with a population of 7.5 million people. Every time I would go back to my hometown, I would see gleaming business towers, gigantic shopping malls and state of the art hospitals in the middle of the city. These scenes were very picturesque, however what I often neglected to look at were the slums that people resided in next to these buildings. These people had stories... and I was deaf to them because I did not open myself up to hearing them in the first place. This marks my resolution for this trip: to hear the stories of those people we don't normally hear from. Through conversations with members at the AIDS Interfaith Network and Divinekinship, I had the unique opportunity to hear perspectives of social issues that people don't normally hear. Because of the lessons of active listening, acceptance, and silence that I learned in Dallas, I would like to foster such conversation within Iowa City. Through the various leadership positions that I hold in the hospital volunteer and the honors program, I believe that I have an obligation to create an environment where everyone feels like they matter and that their life stories are important. I want people to listen and learn from each other as this is what makes an ordinary community, a strong community.

How will we use our newly fostered civic identities to contribute to community development moving forward?

While we were at serving in the clothing closet at Crossroads Community Health Center, we learned that there is a huge disparity in shoe availability for men and women. There is an enormous demand for men's shoes, yet they don't receive many donations and those they do receive are quickly used by men experiencing homelessness. To help apply our civic identities to help solve this issue, we will be holding a shoe drive targeted towards men for our reorientation project. We plan to send the men's shoes we collect directly to Dallas.

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