Spring Break
CEL programs suspended at Prospect Hill
by Alana Abramson
Staff writer
News | 11/25/08
Posted online at 4:06 AM EST on 11/25/08
The Community Engaged Learning program at the Community Center at Prospect Hill in Waltham has been suspended indefinitely. Brandeis students will continue to offer some programs through the Waltham Group, but other programs will now be run by the housing development's tenants' association.
The CEL program offered tutoring and other after school activities for middle and elementary school students.
On Nov. 17 the Prospect Hill Tenants Association held a meeting and decided that Brandeis students involved with the CEL program will now volunteer at the community center on Mondays and Tuesdays, as opposed to Monday through Thursday as they had earlier in the semester.
To compensate for the students' absence at the end of the week, tenants will be responsible for the programming that was previously run by the volunteers.
According to Prof. Mark Auslander (ANTH), one of the professors who leads CEL programming at Prospect Hill, the center will only be open when at least two parents are there on Monday and Tuesday.
Senior Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences Elaine Wong wrote in an e-mail to the Justice: "The groups felt that suspending the program was in the best interest of the [Prospect Hill] children and [Brandeis] volunteers, chiefly because of the need for a better organizational structure, more coordination and training and orientation for volunteers. The center has been supported by good will and good intentions since it opened last spring, but now some student coordinators will be studying abroad in the spring or must turn their attention to other commitments,"
Auslander said that the economic crisis sped up these changes and the University had to cut its funding for resources for the CEL programming but that the goal of the program was always to encourage the tenants' self-sufficiency and empowerment, and giving the tenants more responsibility will fulfill that objective.
"The goal of Community Engaged Learning is to empower communities with our partnership so they can build up their own capacity to serve their interests," Auslander said.
The CEL program offered tutoring and other after school activities for middle and elementary school students.
On Nov. 17 the Prospect Hill Tenants Association held a meeting and decided that Brandeis students involved with the CEL program will now volunteer at the community center on Mondays and Tuesdays, as opposed to Monday through Thursday as they had earlier in the semester.
To compensate for the students' absence at the end of the week, tenants will be responsible for the programming that was previously run by the volunteers.
According to Prof. Mark Auslander (ANTH), one of the professors who leads CEL programming at Prospect Hill, the center will only be open when at least two parents are there on Monday and Tuesday.
Senior Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences Elaine Wong wrote in an e-mail to the Justice: "The groups felt that suspending the program was in the best interest of the [Prospect Hill] children and [Brandeis] volunteers, chiefly because of the need for a better organizational structure, more coordination and training and orientation for volunteers. The center has been supported by good will and good intentions since it opened last spring, but now some student coordinators will be studying abroad in the spring or must turn their attention to other commitments,"
Auslander said that the economic crisis sped up these changes and the University had to cut its funding for resources for the CEL programming but that the goal of the program was always to encourage the tenants' self-sufficiency and empowerment, and giving the tenants more responsibility will fulfill that objective.
"The goal of Community Engaged Learning is to empower communities with our partnership so they can build up their own capacity to serve their interests," Auslander said.
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