A Hands-On Volunteer Program Enhances Classroom Learning

What happened: In 2004, Stephen F. Black, a lawyer who is the grandson of the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black, was invited to create and then direct the University of Alabama’s Center for Ethics & Social Responsibility, which works to expand the number of community-service projects at the university. There, he also created Impact Alabama: A Student Service Initiative, which develops projects for students from more than 20 colleges around the state. The projects combine hands-on experience with classroom learning.

The program has three main projects:

• FocusFirst was designed to provide vision screening to poor children before they start school. Over the last five years, students have screened more than 59,000 children in 67 counties across the state, with children who need follow-up care receiving it through Sight Savers of Alabama. “College students might know that there are nine million children in this country without health insurance, but they haven’t really thought about what it is like to be 3 years old and never having seen a pediatrician,” says Mr. Black.
• SaveFirst trains students to provide free tax-preparation services to low-income, working families. In its third year, the program trained more than 400 students to prepare tax returns for more than 2,600 families, helping them recoup $4.8-million in refunds.
• SpeakFirst recruits gifted, low-income students from Birmingham’s public high schools for “all-star” debate teams, which often compete for college-scholarship money against more-affluent schools in the state.

Says Mr. Black: “When SpeakFirst students win a debate against two girls wearing $300 outfits, that is a very powerful motivator.”

What he learned: Combining classroom learning with hands-on volunteerism, says Mr. Black, helps students understand the roots and complexity of social problems. “Moreover, such opportunities encourage students to interact with individuals and understand the lives of people outside the suburbs,” he says. “When students become more familiar with the realities of poverty and individuals struggling to break free of it, they begin to develop a greater sense of responsibility to take action to promote social change.”