Dr. Chang I posted on Scott and Jillian's papers.

John Adam Murray

MA: Executive Development for Public Service Program

Spring 2014

“The Community Educator”: Interview Practicum

EDAC 648

Dr. Bo Chang

1-25-2014

Community: An Initial Impression

The idea of community, its boundaries, its influence, and the impact of those within it is not an easily defined term, as the perception of its many substructures is easily personalized to the individual at hand. Utilizing the interdisciplinary research that has gone into trying to define community affords the student some stable footing upon which to find a better understanding. Moreover, directly interviewing a respected community educator allows one to build a greater appreciation for the positive change that can come about from those individuals with a comprehensive understanding of the needs and resources amongst them. Let us begin with trying to centralize a working theory of what it means to be a part of a functioning community, and then move forward in relating this theory to what the writer witnessed in his practical interview.

In attempting to create a more solidified model of community, Warren outlines five components: production/distribution/consumption, socialization, social control, social participation, and mutual support (Warren, p. 7). Briefly summarizing each component, gives one only a tertiary concept of community, but again, if nothing else, it allows a jumping off point. Regarding the chain of production/distribution/consumption, Warren identifies an aspect of satisfying the needs and wants of a central population within the locale itself. Socialization, on the other hand, pertains to the transferal of knowledge based within the community at-large, namely the overriding values and norms (p. 8). Warren points especially to the impact that socialization plays amongst youth, recognizing schools and individual families as main centers of socialization. One can recognize social control as being the overriding influence establishing uniformity at a community-wide level, and social participation as a term symbolizing the various outlets for individual linkage to his/her community. Finally, mutual-support is best understood as the inter-connectivity that organizations have to their communal residents, allowing for specialized needs being met in order for community development to transpire (pp. 8-9). All of these components are represented in discussing the community educator role, and will be noted forthcoming.

Though Warren gives us a working model, the idea of community is extremely dynamic and deserves more examination. In his research of community development, Ruud Van Der Veen acknowledges community development as an “alternative route for the education, training and learning-by-doing of citizens, in particular citizens of poor formal education” (Van Der Veen, p. 584). Again, this coincides directly to the words of our interviewee below, and will be acknowledged forthright. What is more, Robert Tobias' analyzation of adult educational opportunities yields two interesting finds; first being that “voluntary adult education organizations ... were somewhat less constrained than formal educational institutions”, however these voluntary organizations often proved limited in their resources and were “subject to severe constraints “ (Tobias, p. 426). Therefore, with my community educator being affiliated with a non-traditional, voluntary, organization, it is interesting to hear his perspective on said restrictions. Additionally, aware that there is a substantial service-learner program immersed within the larger program itself, the writer was interested in learning the interviewee's opinions about the service-learner impact upon his program; specifically, attempting to determine if he agreed with previous research showing that “service learning contributes to an increased sense of ethics” (Smith, p. 9). Finally, appreciating the role of, and dependency upon, volunteers within non-profit organizations, the writer was interested in learning more about the effect of retiring baby boomers on his organization, and how their proven desire for “meaningful, challenging” service is being met (Holland and Robinson, p. 27).

Community Educator Interview

Date: 1/23/2014

Time: 1:00pm CST

Location: Telephone (Interviewer: Champaign, IL --- Interviewee: Salinas, CA)

Mr. Nelson is the Deputy Executive Director for the First Tee of Monterey County, with its main campus located in Salinas, California. Attempting to summarize his many daily tasks and duties proved to be a challenging prompt, as he performs an array of jobs each and every day. Nevertheless, he did his best to condense his typical weekly responsibilities. The First Tee is an international youth development organization that uses the context of golf to instill a life-skills curriculum within its participants, establishing values and problem solving skills to afford them opportunities for a better future. A substantial portion of this organization's success consists of community outreach, that is to say, establishing relationships with other organizations, making parents and educational leaders aware of The First Tee's impact on youth, and holding training sessions for adult volunteers. At the beginning of each day, Mr. Nelson makes sure that his email is reviewed, with any inquiries responded to thoroughly and as quickly as possible. He says, “Our organization, and our brand, is only as valuable as the message we deliver. If I deliver a message that each of our community partners is important to me, than that, in and of itself, conveys that we are an organization that values its partnerships and recognizes opportunities as being time-sensitive matters.” Following his morning correspondence updates, Mr. Nelson does a quality control check to ensure that everything is organized for the day to follow. “We are very unique here in that we handle upwards of two-hundred children each day, Monday through Friday. That requires a great deal of trust amongst the adult members of our community. These are their sons, daughters, nephews, or nieces. As such, we take a great deal of pride in making sure that their time here is spent as positively and efficiently as possible. We are about impact here, and impact requires preparation.” The quality control he refers to includes such duties as a review of the daily lesson plan, a morning briefing with staff to make sure everyone is cognizant of the daily objectives, and a walk-through of the physical stations. “I will actually spend twenty or thirty minutes walking through the learning stations throughout the golf course even though we may do the same stations four or five days in a row because each day we do them is the first day that each child witnesses them. In other words, I am making sure that the staff is giving each participant the best environment possible. That is what goes home to mom and dad at the end of every day.”

The aforementioned duties are typically completed by 9 a.m., the arrival time of the first bus. From there Mr. Nelson turns over the reigns to his team of Golf and Life-Skills Coaches and volunteer coaches. He makes sure to point out that he drops in from time to time to make sure everything is running smoothly, but once the buses arrive his focus shifts to the teachers. “The teachers are really our liaison to what is occurring once our participants leave our campus. Are they taking the life-skills we focus on here back to the classroom? Are they bettering themselves and those around them? Essentially, they give us an idea of the impact we're having, so I make sure to touch base with all of them. They give me an update, and I update them on any changes we're making.” This will occur three times each weekday as there are three programming sessions each day, with the participants being bussed in from the local school district, followed by the after-school programming session. Aside from meeting with teachers each session, Mr. Nelson is also completing his outreach duties when time allows. “A big portion of what we do is a collaborative effort with other organizations within our community. I may spend fifteen minutes on the phone with the Alisal School District Superintendent, than twenty minutes with my contact at the Department of Defense (programming is also done with children of military members at an off-site location), than five minutes touching base with The Boys and Girls Club, and another ten minutes with Rancho Cielo (a rehabilitation program for juvenile delinquents). We appreciate that we cannot reach every youth in Monterey County, but these other organizations might have an untapped pool of potential participants. Part of my job is being a salesman, selling our services as they pertain to the community at-large, and their benefits to like-minded organizations.”

As the day reaches into the afternoon Mr. Nelson helps oversee what he views to be one of the most important aspects of the day: the staff “Good, Better, How” review session. This is when the staff comes together to review the daytime programming sessions, with each staff member noting a “good”, in other words acknowledging a positive or two from the day, followed by a “better”, recognizing an area of deficiency along with a recommendation for “how” to fix it. He says, “This is really how we grow as an organization. Consistently looking at what we are doing and trying to improve upon it. This is what creates results outside of our campus, in the community.” The First Tee has also brought in outside agencies to assess their impact, reviewing statistics of its participants, such as grade changes and disciplinary matters. “What we see is that our participants show marked improvement in the classroom, both academically and behavior-wise when compared to non-participants. So we're having success, but part of my job is to relay these results to the parents and educational professionals in our community, so that they can in turn point to us as a major resource for youth development.” Another important aspect of the “Good, Better, How” is that it gives everyone a sense of ownership in the process. “Volunteers, teachers, and service learners all have a say, not just staff. In fact, this helps us have fresh prospectives on a consistent basis.” Notes are taken and emailed to all pertinent staff, so that everyone is made aware of the day's progress. It is clear that Mr. Nelson takes a high degree of pride in this internal assessment. “We would not be where we are today if we didn't look at our progress on a daily basis.”

As the day winds to a close, Mr. Nelson spends the rest of the day attending to a mixture of duties, such as updating forthcoming lesson plans, attending development meetings, hosting prospective donors, and/or returning phone calls and emails. “The day is never really over until you're out the door. There is always a message to return or requirement to attend to.” Reflecting upon how he arrived at his current position, Mr. Nelson recounted how he became heavily involved in the junior golf program at another golf course where he was a teaching professional. From there, following the creation of The First Tee organization, Mr. Nelson recognized the potential that something like The First Tee could have and with the assistance of others helped create a chapter for Monterey County. “The needs within the community pretty much satisfied the means coming together to get us started almost ten years ago. Gang violence was tearing apart the fabric and destroying future generation's opportunities in our community. We set out to make a change. We definitely would not be where we are at today without the support of the community at-large. A big portion of that came down to us getting out and educating the community about what it is we do and how we do it.” Today The First Tee of Monterey County works in conjunction with the local school district to actually be an integral part of the student school day. Classes are held bi-weekly, on site, at The First Tee campus, with students being bussed in from their respective schools.

An integral part of The First Tee are its volunteers. Trainings are held approximately twice a month for all new volunteers. Mr. Nelson also makes sure to note that “numerous volunteers have gone onto formal coach trainings in order to become recognized coaches of The First Tee.” When asked if he considers this a reflection of baby boomers entering retirement and the volunteer field, he states, “ I see many of our volunteers adopting us as a second career. We have a few individuals that are here over forty hours a week, and appreciate the challenges that come with youth development, but more importantly the rewards and mentorship that are a by-product of these challenges.” He goes on to say, “We do our best to offer opportunities not just to our participants, but to our volunteers as well, because we recognize that any growth they achieve comes back ten-fold to our organization.” Asked about the service learner impact by comparison, he says proudly, “Our service learners are great because they are an extension of our community development. They're similar to our volunteers in that they require a great deal of initial training, but unlike many of our volunteers, they are learning the value of their work as they go along. Many of them return as part-time or even full-time staff, because they come to appreciate the impact that they themselves can have on their community.”

Finally, given the opportunity to expound upon how The First Tee differs from other, traditional educational outlets, Mr. Nelson says, “We're truly a community here. Our participants remain active for many, many years, and I think a large part of that is because they're getting something here that they don't receive at school or at home. We allow them to develop at their own pace, but drive home the requirements of personal conduct and values. Sometimes these attributes get overlooked in a traditional school system. Also, we have fun, and allow an environment completely the opposite of a classroom.” Asked if he felt constrained at all he said, “Only in that there is so much more potential for impact within our community. We've made a great deal of progress, but there is still a lot of headway to be made in reaching and marketing to other possible participants. Part of that is generational and we'll see the benefits as our participants pass the word along to their siblings, but part of that is just the frustration of being apart of a community development organization. You always see the potential, and sometimes fail to fully appreciate the successes happening each and every day.”

Linkages

Clearly, looking at Warren's community model in the context of The First Tee, we can recognize all five components at play.

• Production/Distribution/Consumption - Members are drawing upon resources specific to their city and county to help uplift the residents within it.
• Socialization – Focusing on youth and creation of a value-system instilled by adult educators within a structured environment
• Social Control – Utilizing the school district, i.e., the influential institution, to assist in accelerating the life-skills curriculum taught and learned at The First Tee as being valued and embodied
• Social Participation – Creation of an outlet for participants, volunteers, and service learners to take ownership in their community
• Mutual Support – The confluence of organizations, such as the school system, The First Tee, the Y.M.C.A, and/or The Boys and Girls Club, coming together to recognize and meet specific needs of its citizens

What is more, looking directly at the aforementioned concepts of community development, service learning, and volunteerism, one witnesses an accurate reflection of what researchers have come to anticipate in contemporary civic engagement.

References

Holland, B. and Robinson, G. (2008). Community Based Learning with Adults: Bridging Efforts in

Multiple Sectors. In S. Reed, Linking Adults with Community: Promoting Civic Engagement

Through Community Based Learning (p. 27). San Francisco: Wiley Periodical's Inc.

Smith, C. (2008). Does Service Learning Promote Adult Development? Theoretical Perspectives and

Directions for Research. In S. Reed, Linking Adults with Community: Promoting Civic

Engagement Through Community Based Learning (p. 9). San Francisco: Wiley Periodical's Inc.

Tobias, Robert. International Journal of Lifelong Education, Volume 19, Number 5, (September- October 2000), 426.

Van Der Veen, Ruud. International Journal of Lifelong Education, Volume 22, Number 6, November-

December 2003), 584.

Warren, R. L. (1978). The community in America (3^rd ed.). New York: University Press of America,

7-9.