Connect 2 Complete: Peer Advocacy and Service-Learning at Edmonds Community College
10 Pages Posted: 25 Oct 2013
Date Written: June 25, 2012
Abstract
Connect 2 Complete (C2C) is a Campus Compact program with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. At Edmonds Community College C2C employs community-engaged peer advocacy to foster the success and completion of low income students who need developmental education courses. Our strategy is two-pronged. First, we have enhanced, streamlined and integrated peer advocate training for four mentoring programs across campus. Peer advocates, under the guidance of four full-time AmeriCorps members, lead C2C and service-learning students through hands-on service and learning activities in the community and on campus. Second, we have recruited and supported four faculty fellows, three from developmental education courses at Edmonds CC and one from the anthropology department at Everett CC. Faculty fellows integrate peer advocacy and service-learning into existing their courses, integrating their efforts with the mentoring programs on campus. We are exceeding our goal of reaching 100 C2C students per quarter. We are in the process of using technology to improve and enhance our documentation of student involvement in service-learning and peer advocacy activities. Our efforts coincide with other changes on campus such as Achieving the Dream. Our parallel efforts show considerable promise for implementing peer advocacy on a broad scale across campus as a strategy for improving the success of low income students who need developmental education courses.
Keywords: Connect 2 Complete, Campus Compact, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Edmonds Community College, Peer Advocacy, Mentoring, Service-Learning, Low-income, Developmental Education, Achieving the Dream
JEL Classification: I21, Z10
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