How do you measure the value of community service? Mayor Michael Bloomberg says, with points.
Barnard, Columbia, and other New York City colleges are now taking part in Bloomberg’s “College Challenge,” a program designed to encourage student and faculty volunteer work through competition.
The challenge, launched by NYC Service, an office Bloomberg created in April, 2009 to oversee service initiatives, tracks different universities’ service efforts through a portfolio of goals and points logged online that are based on hours volunteered.
Will Simpkins, program director of community and diversity initiatives at Barnard,said that the program was a good way to numerically monitor progress.
“It’s an incredible opportunity for us to collect data that we’ve never collected before,” he said. “Barnard has long been involved … but the information is not all in one place.” Simpkins is also the program director of the New York City Civic Engagement Program, a participating community service organization founded in 2003 to increase civic engagement between Barnard students and the local community.
Students participating have scored points with programs and events such as Dance Marathon, Columbia Community Outreach, the Athena Center for Leadership Studies, Relay for Life, and First-Year Reach Out.
For every hour students spend with nonprofits, they earn their school one point.
As of Thursday evening, Barnard had 73 points, and Columbia had 70. The top three schools now are St. John’s University,with 927 points, Hunter College,with 562.5, and the College of Staten Island with 489.25. Barnard and Columbia are in 8th and 9th place out of 13 schools currently tracking hours.
The city chooses the winning school based on the Service Portfolio and the average number of points logged by each volunteer, and the individuals with the highest number of hours will win the challenge.
Simpkins acknowledged that the current comparisons don’t take into account differences in school size. “They’re much larger than we are,” Simpkins said, referring to schools such as New York University and The New School.
But for many involved, it’s not about the competition.
Ana-Maria Poveda-Garces, SIPA ’11 and the top Columbia volunteer in the challenge so far, with 32 hours as of Thursday, said that she appreciated the concept.
The challenge is “an incentive for more people to get involved,” she said.
Logging hours is also a productive way to keep track of the amount of service each school is doing, she said, adding that the process, “gives valuable information for the analysis of local planning ... I think it’s a good proxy for centers to promote those other programs that need more community involvement.”
Poveda-Garces began volunteering in Colombia, her native country, before volunteering in the states. When she came to Columbia, she joined the Double Discovery Center, a department of Columbia College founded by Barnard and Columbia students to serve low-income, college-bound, local youth.
Marvin Cabrera, outreach coordinator for DDC, said that when NYC Service came to Columbia in September, 2009, it was a good partnership opportunity.
“College volunteers have always helped support the organization,” Cabrera said. “We’re always trying to increase the number of volunteers.”
The Barnard Student Government Association is also participating in the effort.
Katie Palillo, BC ‘10 and SGA president, said that SGA brainstormed a list of organizations and events for students.
“I think that SGA’s role in the challenge is not so much making sure everyone’s counted and that they’re logging their hours because on some level I think it’s problematic to quantitatively assess the dedication you have to a community service project,” Palillo said. “Instead, I think it’s an incredible opportunity to acknowledge what students have been doing and are doing and celebrate their involvement.”
Though the website lists Barnard College and Columbia University separately, Vivian Taylor, chief of staff and vice president for community development, said that it was not a specific choice. “There are resources on both campuses that are specific to our students,” she said, adding that they were invited separately.
Ultimately though, she said, it is a good opportunity to measure Barnard’s success. “We hope that Barnard students will register as Barnard students,” she said.
The objective, Simpkins said, is to “engage more college students in the life of New York City, and I think that’s a common goal for all of us.”
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