Dudley House Public Service Programs

 

Program Listing By Type

RESOURCES
Dudley House Volunteer Placement Service
The Harvard Public Service Network (PSN)
Phillips Brooks House Association (PBHA)
Weekly Public Service Update
The Coop Public Service Grants

ONE-TIME VOLUNTEER PROJECTS
Walks to Raise Awareness and Dollars for Worthy Causes:
American Cancer Society (Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk: 10/6/02)
Project Bread (Ride for Hunger 9/22/02 and Walk for Hunger 5/4/03)
Dudley House Clothing Drives (December and May)
Dudley House Blood Drives

TUTORING, TEACHING, MENTORING
Agassiz Afterschool
BELL (Building Educated Leaders for Life)
Cambridge School Volunteers
Gear Up
Harvard Prison Education Project
Project COACH
Project IF
Summerbridge Cambridge

COUNSELING
In Common

ENVIRONMENT
Environmental Action Committee

HEALTH
American Cancer Society
Project Health

HUNGER, HOMELESSNESS, POVERTY
Harvard Square Homeless Meals Program
Project Bread
Rosie's Place
Saturday's/Sunday's Bread

CHILDREN
Agassiz Afterschool
BELL (Building Educated Leaders for Life)
Cambridge School Volunteers
Gear Up
Project COACH
Project Health
Project IF
Summerbridge Cambridge

ADULTS
Harvard Prison Education Project
Harvard Square Homeless Meals Program
In Common
MATCH-UP Interfaith Volunteers (Elderly)
Project Bread
Rosie's Place

 

Alphabetical Listing of Program Descriptions

Agassiz Afterschool
The after-school program at the Agassiz school on Oxford Street (a brief walk from the GSAS dorms) is often looking for volunteers to help elementary school students with their homework. For more information visit their website at www.agassiz.org.

American Cancer Society
One-time public service opportunities include the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk (see previous page for more details) and the Relay for Life (an all-night relay event to celebrate cancer survivors and raise funds for cancer research, services, patient education, and advocacy). ACS also conducts a wide variety of special events throughout the year to raise funds for the fight against cancer. Visit the ACS website at www.cancer.org.

BELL (Building Educated Leaders for Life)
BELL is looking for college and graduate students to tutor elementary school children in reading, writing, and math. Work 9-20 hours a week, Monday through Friday, in the afternoons. Must be at least 17 years of age, proficient in English, and have experience working with children. If you are interested in changing a child's life for better call 617-282-1567 x. 110. Applicants will be asked to submit a resume and cover letter. Check the website at www.bellboston.org for more information.

Cambridge School Volunteers (CSV)
CSV is a private, non-profit organization that recruits, trains, and places volunteers in the Cambridge Public School Schools. During the school year we have students on the waiting list for tutoring in all academic areas, Monday through Friday, any time between 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Volunteers can become involved with CSV in a number of capacities, such as being a teaching assistant or classroom aide, providing study hall tutoring, or participating in after-school programs. Time commitments are usually one to two hours a week, and the CSV staff is ready to find a meaningful and rewarding placement for all volunteers either at Cambridge Rindge and Latin high school or in one of our 15 elementary and middle schools. For more information, visit the web page at www.CSVInc.org.

Environmental Action Committee
The Environmental Action Committee is Harvard's umbrella environmental organization. The EAC deals with a variety of environmental issues at campus through international levels. We are interested in spreading awareness and understanding of current environmental challenges, taking effective action to sustain our environment and promote environmental justice, and organizing events and activities to celebrate and protect our environment. The Environmental Action Committee is divided into several subcommittees which function more or less independently, and deal with distinct issues - this is where the real action takes place. Weekly board meetings are open to anyone interested in guiding the organization toward the future, and frequent committee-wide events bring everyone together for a common cause or interest. For more information, visit the EAC website at www.hcs.harvard.edu/~eac/.

Gear Up
A federally funded program aimed at dramatically increasing the number of low-income students who are prepared to enter and succeed in post-secondary education, Gear Up partners higher education institutions with local public schools. Harvard is partnered with the Grover Cleveland Middle School in Dorchester and Madison Park Technical Vocational High School in Roxbury. GEAR UP wants you! There are several unique opportunities available to graduate students such as in-school and after-school tutoring. GEAR UP is also looking for tutor coaches, graduate students who serve as a resource for the tutor teams on site, finding information, activities, curriculum suggestions, and other needed materials. For more information visti the website at www.gearup.mass.edu/.

Harvard Square Homeless Meals Program
This is an ongoing program run on a volunteer basis to provide hot meals to the homeless and hungry of Cambridge. Meals are served in the basement of Christ Church Episcopal (0 Garden Street) every Thursday and volunteers are needed anytime between 2 to 8 pm. For more information, please contact Adrian Kwek at kwek@fas.harvard.edu..

In Common
This program is the peer counseling hotline for seven of Harvard's graduate and professional schools, including GSAS. The hotline is staffed by two graduate student volunteers Sunday to Thursday, 8pm-midnight. Volunteers receive training from UHS and the Bureau of Study Council, and respond to calls regarding a variety of issues- from new student worries and academic pressures to relationships and depression. For more information, visit the website at www.digitas.harvard.edu/~incommon/whatwedo.html.


MATCH-UP Interfaith Volunteers
MATCH-UP's mission is to reduce isolation and help elders remain independent by providing friendly visitors, medical escorts, one-time assistance and educational programs. To fulfill this mission, MATCH-UP recruits volunteers to visit isolated elders and to accompany elders to and from their doctor appointments. For more information, visit the website at www.matchelder.org.

Project Bread
Project Bread is Massachusetts' leading anti-hunger organization. Project Bread operators at the Food Source Hotline (800-645-8333) can recommend emergency food services that are looking for volunteers. Special opportunities include the Walk for Hunger (May): a 20 mile noncompetitive walk through Boston to help benefit Project Bread and a statewide network of soup kitchens and food banks. In September, Project Bread also organizes the Ride for Hunger, a 25 mile or 70 mile bicycle ride on safe and scenic back roads just west of Boston.

Project IF
Project IF ("Inventing the Future") is a research and practice partnership at the Harvard Graduate School of Education dedicated to understanding how support systems can best help children and youth from low-income backgrounds invent their futures. Tutors provide after-school homework help and educational enrichment activities to children ages 6-16 living in a diverse, low-income housing community in East Boston. Tutors provide homework support, facilitate engaging and meaningful opportunities, and model strong organizational and time management skills. Training and supervision are provided, and work-study eligible students can be paid for their work. For more information, visit the website at www.gse.harvard.edu/~projectif/index.html

Project HEALTH
Project HEALTH works to ensure that all children grow up free from the obstacles imposed by poor health. By uniting the creative energy of university students, the expert knowledge of medical professionals, and the first-hand experience of families, Project HEALTH interrupts the well-established link between poverty and negative pediatric health outcomes. Volunteers work closely with doctors, lawyers, social workers, thoughtful students, and most importantly, children and families to tackle the web of social, legal, and economic problems that influence health outcomes. For more information, visit their website at www.projecthealth.org.

Rosie's Place
Rosie's Place is a sanctuary for poor and homeless women in Boston; their mission is to provide a safe and nurturing environment in which women are able to maintain their dignity, seek opportunity, and find security in their lives. For information about volunteering, visit their website at www.rosies.org.

Saturday's/Sunday's Bread
Saturday's/Sunday's Bread is a program that serves free hot meals to people in need in Boston every Saturday and Sunday. This is an interfaith, interracial, interdenominational activity of people concerned with the hungry in the Boston area. It is an entirely volunteer program, relying on the support of religious, business, college, and military organizations. Groups from BU, BC, Wellesley, MIT and Simmons and Harvard B-Schools are participants. Over the course of its 20 plus years, Saturday's/Sunday's Bread has served more than 280,000 guests. For more information, visit their website at www.satsunbread.org.

Summerbridge Cambridge
Summerbridge Cambridge is a non-profit that offers tuition-free academic programs for motivated, diverse middle school students in the Cambridge public schools. We run after-school programs during the year and an intensive, six-week summer session. Our philosophy of "students teaching students" gives middle school students an academic boost with strong role models, and gives university students a complete, hands-on exposure to the world of teaching. Volunteers teach enrichment classes, tutor individual students, lead test prep/study skills sessions or coordinate service learning projects. Our after-school program takes place at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (459 Broadway), a short walk from the Yard. The program begins October 8 and runs through December 11. For more information, visit the website at www.summerbridgecambridge.org/

Walks to Raise Awareness and Dollars for Worthy Causes

Dudley Public Service organizes teams of Dudley House members to participate in the following walkathons:

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer (October): a noncompetitive 5.7 mile walk along the Charles River designed to raise awareness, foster camaraderie, and raise funds for breast cancer research, services, patient education, and advocacy.

Walk for Hunger (May): a 20 mile noncompetitive walk through Boston to help benefit Project Bread and a statewide network of soup kitchens and food banks. Project Bread is Massachusetts' leading anti-hunger organization.

 

To learn more about these volunteer opportunities, or if you have ideas or questions, please contact your Dudley Public Service Fellows.

 

© Dudley Public Service (page last modified September 4, 2007 )