Application of Knowledge

Courtney Becker, Jadie Knobbe, Carolyn Lo, & Abbey Schaefer

"Active Citizenship begins with an envisioning of the desired outcome and a conscious application of spiritual principles"

~ Dennis Kucinich

Before Our Trip

Active Citizenship:

Grounded in the belief of community empowerment. Uses behaviors, attitudes, and actions to help address community needs and make a positive impact. The community becomes a priority in values and life choices. Active Citizenship can be exemplified by Triangle of Quality Service in the following areas: Direct Service, Reflection, and Education.

Examples: Duration of the trip, shown below.

Social Change Model:

It is a transformation of the culture and social norms over time that contributes to making the world a better place for current and future generations. Diverse groups work together to benefit the common good.

Examples: Little Rock Nine, Women's March, Gay Rights Movement, Immigration Reform, etc.

Photo Credit: https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/central-high-school-integration

Asset Based Community Development:

Focuses on assets that can help identify ways to build community capacity.

Physical Capital
Human Capital
Social Capital
Environmental
Political Capital
Cultural Capital

Assigned Reading: A Sippy Cup of Chemo by Sue McKechnie

Children International

On March 12, our first service day, we had the privilege of listening to an educational presentation from Stephanie Jones, the volunteer coordinator at Children International. Stephanie embodied every quality of an active citizen, as it was clear to see how greatly she prioritized her community, how passionate she felt for helping those living in poverty, and how knowledgeable she was about the issues facing the children of Little Rock. Her powerful knowledge led to many of us viewing her presentation as one of the most impactful moments of the whole trip.

One thing Stephanie discussed was how it can be difficult to “see” poverty. Some people see a kid wearing Jordan shoes and automatically assume that the child doesn’t live in poverty. In reality, this is not a valid assumption. In American culture, image is prominent. People have to present themselves in a way that shows they have the best possessions, even though that may not be true.

Another important point that she made was that kids can’t be what they can’t see. If a child doesn’t have any good role models to look up to, they can’t believe that they will become anything better. They have nothing to aspire to be.

With the help of service organizations and people like Stephanie, children living in poverty have a fighting chance to turn their situation around and stop the cycle of poverty. Children International and similar organizations make a crucial impact on those they serve by working to end poverty in Little Rock and give everyone access to opportunities they deserve.

We applied the knowledge Stephanie provided us with during our service opportunities at Our House, Women and Children First, and Arkansas Children's Hospital. We were better able to interact with the Little Rock community members by remembering Stephanie's powerful words. It worked out perfectly that this was our first service experience because it laid the foundation for the rest of the trip.

How We Applied Our Knowledge Throughout the Trip

Our House

Following the morning spent at Children's International, we visited Our House. Our House is a well-known shelter in the Little Rock, AR area. Our House focuses on housing programs, education and the work force, children's programs, homeless prevention, and client services. Our House does not only serve those living in the shelter, they also serve the community through programs they offer. Our House is really trying to reach everyone in the Little Rock area.

When we first arrived at Our House, we were given a tour of the campus. They had a place for residents to eat and separating sleeping areas for women and men. There was also apartment style living for families. In order for people to be able to reside at Our House, they had to follow a set of rules. One of these rules included finding a job within the first seventeen days of stay. Open to the public was their career center. This is where people could go to and seek services they would need to find a job. They also held classes to learn more about living on your own.

We applied our knowledge learned from lectures and models to working with the kiddos for the afternoon. We were able to show them ways of taking care of our bodies. We read a book with them about yoga and shared ways to eat healthy to grow up big and strong. We were able to take time and play with age groups that were not old enough to go to school. It was a beautiful day in Little Rock, so we had the opportunity to play outside on their playgrounds they had for every few rooms. Below are some of the team members playing with children at Our House during the afternoon. This was a great time for both the children and team members.

While at Our House, we participated in the direct service by entertaining the children so the caretakers that spent their days in the classrooms could catch up on jobs that were needed to complete. We were able to spend time with the kids one-on-one and get to know little bit about their favorites things. It was so great to be able to be a potential role model for them. Mentioned above from Children's International is the fact that children cannot be what they cannot see, and this was really prevalent when working with kids at Our House. We are blessed to have had the opportunity to work with the children at Our House and hopefully given them some things to look forward to.

Courtney Becker sharing a moment with a kiddo making "cake".

Ashley Sitzman enjoys making "chocolate chip cookies with a new friend.

Jesse Weiss cheesing for a picture playing on the playground.

Jadie Knobbe is pictured giving a playful piggy-back ride.

Women and Children First

Women and Children First were able to see the deprivation trap in person. With this being a domestic abuse shelter, many of the in-house clients were physically or emotionally weak. They lost the homes that they were living in, so they were suddenly stuck in poverty. The situations that they find themselves in lead them to be vulnerable in other situations, in turn trapping them in the deprivation trap.

These clients were so great to talk to because they truly showed us that they were capable of doing great things, but societal oppressors were keeping them from being able to do those things.

Arkansas Children's Hospital

On our last full day of the trip, we visited Arkansas Children's Hospital. This was a great experience to apply everything that we had learned over the week because we worked with children of all social backgrounds. The hospital does not just work with a specific population, but rather a mix of all different populations.

When we arrived at the hospital, we were greeted by a member of the foundation who gave us the history of the hospital as well as the different services they provide. We then were split up into groups where we were able to apply our knowledge of the hospital in areas such as the clinic, gift shop, and the volunteer office.

In the afternoon, we went back to making crafts in the clinic, organizing the gift shop, and working directly on the unit to help the Child Life Specialists prepare games for the kids!

This was a great wrap up to the week because we were able to apply our knowledge from the common read book from class, A Sippy Cup of Chemo, to the experiences in the hospital. A Sippy Cup of Chemo was about a child's journey with cancer, and this hospital was the place that we were able to apply our knowledge from that.

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