Two-Year Format

Participating in the INVST CLP is like being in the Peace Corps while in college.  The cultural immersion experiences offered during the summers deepen understanding about issues such as environmental stewardship, housing and healthcare access, human rights, energy and globalization.  For each group of admitted students, the program begins with the Domestic Summer Service Learning Experience that includes an orientation, a week-long wilderness component, a week living and working with people who are homeless, and two weeks learning and serving with Native American families.  Students are assigned readings and are guided throughout the month in journal reflection and integrative discussions about the interdependence between social and environmental communities.  The Domestic Summer Service Learning Experience is essential because it lays the foundation for a sense of community among group members who will participate in all program activities together for two years, and it serves as an experiential foundation for issues that will be explored during the first academic year.

The second Summer Service Learning Experience gives students the opportunity to learn and serve in another country, which is essential for educating INVST CLP students about the global scope of the problems they will confront while they are working as community leaders.  Students observe the impact of U.S. policy on neighboring nations, and gain exposure to hopeful possibilities for addressing global issues from diverse perspectives.  Preparation for this experience includes readings, presentations and discussions with experts who are knowledgeable about the host country.  Students spend time at the U.S./Mexico border and in the interior of Mexico.  In El Paso and Juárez, students volunteer with organizations such as the Annunciation House, which is a shelter for refugees seeking political asylum, and with Tierra Madre, a cooperative that builds affordable housing using sustainable straw-bale construction.  With the Mexico Solidarity Network, in the rural area outside Mexico City, students live with campesino families, learn about the lives of farmworkers and help with community projects such as school restoration and communal land cultivation.

During the academic year, INVST CLP students participate in service-learning internships.  First-year students work as volunteer staff at agencies where they are given responsibilities such as grassroots organizing, volunteer recruitment, coalition building, resource development and workshop instruction. Ginger Tayler, Former Volunteer Coordinator at the Emergency Family Assistance Association, stated, "By far the most successful student volunteers have come from the INVST Community Leadership Program.  I believe the program's superior design results in students who are remarkably capable and mature." 

During their second year, students create their own community leadership projects. Students develop leadership skills by designing, implementing and evaluating community-based service initiatives, consistent with their group's mission statement. The Community SOL (Serving, Organizing, Leading) Projects, as we call them, serve as organizational models for the students' lifetime endeavors. For example, one year, three students coordinated and hosted an event in which 15 visual artists and 17 performance artists came together to increase awareness about sexual assault. They held an event that drew a crowd of over 200 people! In addition, an estimated 6,000 people saw the visual art displayed by the Community Leadership Program students as part of their four-week exhibit. The students strengthened leadership skills like communication and media relations while they implemented their Community SOL Project.