For Immediate Release
December 6, 2001
Hartwick USCT Institute Grant Award Creates Unique
Community Partnerships and Learning Opportunities
ONEONTA, NY -- The United
States Colored Troops Institute for Local History and Family Research
(USCT),
headquartered at Hartwick College, recently received a $6,400 grant
award from the Washington, DC-based
Corporation for National and Community
Service, in cooperation with the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for
Nonviolent
Social Change, Inc. in Atlanta, GA. The grant, designated for the
USCT’s "Martin Luther King–USCT Common Ground
Initiative and
Heritage & Leadership Forum," is one of three awards that were made in
New York State. Hartwick is the
only college among the three to be selected
to receive funding for the program, which kicks off on January 20 and
runs
through June 2, 2002.
The project is the
brainchild of Harry Bradshaw Matthews, president of the USCT, associate dean of
Hartwick’s
Center for Interdependence, and director of the
College’s U.S. Pluralism programs, who prepared the grant proposal
in
cooperation with Laura Malloy, dean of academic affairs, and Martha Symes,
senior grants officer.
"The initiative, which
supports the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, is named in honor of the
heroic Civil
Rights leader, and the United States Colored Troops, who fought
for the right of freedom and citizenship for four million
slaves during the
American Civil War," said Matthews. The Day of Service is a federal
recognition funded by the
Corporation for National and Community Service.
The multi-faceted project is designed as a collaborative
service-learning project linking
Hartwick students with a diverse student
body in residence at the Oneonta Job Corps Academy, as well as three
local
community organizations–the Oneonta chapter of the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP), Opportunities for
Otsego, and the Oneonta Family YMCA. Members of Hartwick’s Pluralism
Associates
League for Students will assume leadership positions during the
project.
The initiative seeks to foster racial and ethic
understanding and an appreciation of differences through community
service,
mentoring, and heritage studies. It also provides outreach to high schools and
academic programs in the Eastern
U.S. for the study of the Freedom Journey of
African Americans, which has spanned more than 200 years.
On Sunday, January 20 at 3 p.m., the NAACP will host a reception,
"Remember! Celebrate! Act! A Day On…Not
A Day Off," in
preparation for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, which will be held
the following day. The
reception is planned for Hartwick College’s
Agora, located in Dewar Hall. The community is invited to attend.
On Monday, January 21, the day that officially recognizes
Martin Luther King Jr., students, staff, and faculty
volunteers from Hartwick
College and the Oneonta Job Corps Academy will combine forces with the greater
Oneonta
community to deliver services at a variety of local venues. The
day-long community service initiative will focus on
continuing the legacy of
the fight for voting rights, family stability through health issues, education
of youth, and human
rights concerns. Primary activities will include
registering voters at several sites, hosting a community service fair,
blood
pressure screenings, tutoring and storytelling for young children at
the YMCA, initial planning and preparation for creating
the MLK-USCT Youth
Museum at the Oneonta Job Corps Academy, providing transitional services to
local residents,
and other community service projects.
The project also includes a unique model for learners–a mentoring
initiative that will involve a minimum of ten select
high schools chosen from
throughout the eastern U.S. Each school will be asked to prepare 30 students to
engage in
projects that culminate on the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of
Service. Projects may include interviewing family members,
neighbors or
others who were eyewitnesses to the Civil Rights events of the 1950s-1970s, or
experiential learning
activities that expose the students to anti-slavery
events, the Underground Railroad, the Civil War, or the
Reconstruction
Period. Participants will be provided with instructional
support from Hartwick College through the identification of
pertinent Web
sites and access to rare USCT materials about the Freedom Journey.
As part of the College’s 5th Annual Emancipation
Memorial Ball Weekend, February 22 through February 24,
Hartwick will host a
Heritage and Leadership Forum on Saturday for a group of high school seniors who
have applied to
the College and who will compete for admission to the forum.
Students will be judged on their academic achievement,
leadership, and
community service activities. Those selected will attend a series of workshops
and presentations made by
Hartwick faculty and staff, including a program
that teaches students about leadership styles, and how those styles
are
influenced by their respective heritages.
Additional future program activities include Hartwick College student tutorials
for Job Corps Academy students to
support the MLK-USCT Youth Museum; a
performance, "Of Ebony Embers," a musical theatre work about the
Harlem
Renaissance sponsored by Hartwick’s Foreman Creative and
Performing Arts Series on February 22; the 5th Annual
Emancipation Memorial
Ball set for February 23; New York State regional heritage tours for students in
March and
April; and "Into the Streets" student volunteer events in
May.
In 1998, the USCT Institute was created at Hartwick
to honor the 200,000 black soldiers, who were organized into
166 regiments,
and their 7,000 white officers during the American Civil War. Before the end of
the war, 16 black
soldiers had been awarded the Medal of Honor, and nearly
200 others had been presented the Medal of the James,
which was specifically
authorized by General Benjamin F. Butler to honor the heroism of black soldiers
at the Battle of
Newmarket Heights in Virginia.
The
USCT is an educational body governed by an independent board of directors and is
devoted to placing the
Freedom Journey within the historical context of the
U.S., Canada, and the Caribbean nations. In 2000, the Commission
on
Independent Colleges and Universities recognized the Institute as one of seven
innovations in the arts in New York
State.
Established
in 1993, the Corporation for National and Community Service engages more than
one million Americans in
improving communities through service via
AmeriCorps, Learn and Serve America, and The National Senior Service
Corps
(Senior Corps).
For more information about the
"Martin Luther King–USCT Common Ground Initiative and Heritage &
Leadership
Forum," or to recommend additional community service
projects, contact Matthews at 607-431-4428.
http://www.hartwick.edu/usct/usct.htm
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