Volunteer and Community Resource Management
Earn an Experiential Certificate in: Volunteer and Community Resource Management
Description
The James L. Curtis for Race and Belonging offers an Experiential Certificate in Volunteer and Community Resource Management. This certificate prepares students to work with volunteers in the community, non-profit agencies, and businesses. Students will learn key aspects of volunteer management, leadership, community asset mapping, program planning, and evaluation. Students will have exposure and familiarity with various volunteer management models and examine volunteer-dependent organizations. Students will explore organizational recruitment practices, risk management policies, and how to select, train, engage and recognize volunteers.
Student Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of this certificate, students will be able to:
- Critically analyze issues of power, knowledge, and organizational identity in volunteer and community resource management.
- Identify diverse stakeholders, profile communities, select appropriate forms of evaluation for community management programs, and develop necessary models that center and support historically marginalized communities as viable resources for engagement and change
- Apply techniques that aid in managing community-based programs, including group facilitation and conflict management.
Purpose Courses
Students will choose at least three academic courses through Albion College in consultation with a Faculty Director of JLC. Courses should introduce issues relevant to Volunteer and Community Resource Management. Examples include but are not limited to:
- COMM 241: Public Speaking
- COMM 306: Public Relations
- ETHN 270: Hip Hop and Social Change
- ETHN 300: Social Movements
- ETHN 289 – Identity and Social Location
- PLSC 207: Transitional Justice
- PLSC 322: Crime, Politics & Punishment
- PLSC 324: Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
- SOC 228: Cities & Urban Life
- SOC 333: The Sociology of Sex and Gender
- SOC 345: Race and Ethnicity
- SOC 370: Social Mobility and Inequity
- WGS 250: Gender and the Global Garden
Professional Development
Professional development hours can be fulfilled through any relevant Albion College training including workshops and Innovation Badges offered through the School for Public Purpose and Professional Advancement and college programs. External certifications and professional training offered by third-party providers may also be approved by JLC staff.
Students will design or select the appropriate number of professional development hours for their catalog year.
- Participation in two Writing Retreats and a related writing capstone
- Attend and present at least one academic/professional development conference
Experiential Learning
Students will design or select the appropriate number of experiential learning hours, including community-engaged experiential learning hours, for their catalog year.
Examples of possible opportunities include:
- Internship with respective community organizations (as approved by Curtis Institute Faculty and Executive Director). Organizations should have a particular focus on a historically marginalized community
- Internship with human and social services
- Attendance and participation in approved meetings that assist in the development of relevant knowledge and skills related to Volunteer and Community Resource Management
- Related service with community groups, schools, or social services such as Calhoun County Human Services, NAACP Albion Chapter, Albion City Council, Festival of the Forks Committee
- Participating in undergraduate research related to Volunteer and Community Resource Management
Interested in earning this Experiential Certificate? Please contact Ari McCaskill by email at amccaskill@albion.edu.