April 5, 2001 | Read Time: 1 minute
Reaching Out to Children and Families: Students Model Effective Community Service
by Michelle R. Dunlap
Today’s college students have diverse cultural experiences, personal interests, and attitudes about study. Despite their differences, however, they experience similar fears and anxieties when they volunteer with children and families in inner-city and urban environments, writes Michelle R. Dunlap, an assistant professor in Connecticut College’s Department of Human Development.
Ms. Dunlap searches for common themes among students’ reactions to their volunteer work, based on journal entries from 215 people who participated in community-service projects as part of a course she taught at the college.
The goal of the book, she says, is to offer practical and helpful suggestions and ideas to college-age volunteers as they organize and prepare for community work, particularly in unfamiliar environments. Students who feel better prepared and emotionally equipped for volunteering will provide superior services and have a more positive experience, Ms. Dunlap seems to suggest.
Reaching Out to Children and Families is intended primarily for college students but may be useful to high-school, international, or nonstudent volunteers, and to those who organize or manage student-volunteer programs.
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 4720 Boston Way, Lanham, Md. 20706; (717) 794-3800 or (800) 462-6420; http://www.rowmanlittlefield.com; 243 pages; $25.95, paper, or $69.00, hardcover; I.S.B.N. 0-8476-9116-0, paper; 0-8476-9115-2, hardcover.
