    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.