Communication and Ethnicity: Outreach and Change through Service-Learning

• In Event: Service Learning Discussion Circles Turns 10: Celebrate Service-Learning in Communication Classrooms

Abstract

The students enrolled in the course “Communication and Ethnicity: Asian Americans” offered by the Department of Communication at Rutgers University, have undertaken a semester-long, service-learning project with Elijah’s Promise in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The purpose of this project is to assist Elijah’s Promise in identifying communication strategies that can help reach out to the underrepresented Asian American communities for program expansion, fund raising, community awareness, and organizational reputation.

Beyond a soup kitchen, Elijah's Promise vigorously helps low-income people in central New Jersey by providing nutritious meals, social services, health screening, culinary arts job training, and entrepreneurial training.

The objectives of this project are to design a communication proposal that aims to cover, for example, (a) demographic data, Asian American community directories, action plans, timeline, and projected outcomes; (b) clear descriptions and recommendations of who/what/where/when/how for each action; and (c) a collection of stories, anecdotes, comments, and/or reactions gathered from contacts with Elijah’s Promise and the neighboring Asian American communities.

The presentation will introduce (a) the project’s design, development, implementation, and outcomes; (b) connections between community outreach and change, Asian American communication, and service learning; (c) rewards and challenges of working with students on this community-centered project; and (d) insights and reflections of participants including students, faculty supervisor, and staff members of Elijah’s Promise.

Author

• Hui-Min Kuo, Rutgers University