Welcome Back!

As another school year begins, the Center for Civic Engagement is getting back into swing!  For those of you new to the office, we focus on community development both inside and outside the College of Charleston community.  We do this by focusing on education, direct service, and meaningful reflection.

This year we will be putting a lot of emphasis on our recurring service events with different community partners.  These partners include Neighborhood House, Keep Charleston Beautiful, and Lowcountry Food Bank.  The service with Neighborhood House and Lowcountry Food Bank will be focusing on the issues of homelessness and food insecurity, while Keep Charleston Beautiful will be focusing on litter and how it relates to other social issues around Charleston.

The Alternative Break program is also getting started as we prepare three Alternative Fall Break trips to Atlanta GA, Asheville NC, and Beaufort SC.  The trips to Atlanta and Asheville will be focusing on homelessness and food insecurity, in both urban and more rural areas respectively, and the trip to Beaufort will be focusing on migrant worker rights.  We are also looking forward to planning the Spring, Weekend, and Maymester breaks (applications for Site Leader positions are available, email cofc.alternativebreak@gmail.com if interested).

The Bonner Leader program will be spending the semester training the new Bonner leaders and prepping for Engage and Empower week in the spring.  Engage and Empower is an opportunity for students to get more involved with organizations both on and off campus and gives Bonner leaders an opportunity to facilitate group presentations.  The freshman and sophomore Bonner leaders will also be going on an Alternative Break this fall, to a not yet determined location.

If you are interested in any of the above items, feel free to stop by our office in 203 Lightsey.  Its going to be a great year, lets spend it becoming active citezens!