Eighty-five percent of all refugees arriving in Kentucky are resettled to Metro Louisville. The Arcadia Apartments located on Taylor Boulevard in Louisville consist of 85 percent Somali-Bantu families. The community center at Arcadia hosts an after school program for these children, and this is where students of Jefferson Community and Technical College decided to complete the hours needed for professor Mona Leonard’s community service learning project for the Introduction to Intercultural Communication course.
The Arcadia Community Center, established in 2001, partners with refugee and immigrant groups and additional community organizations to provide holistic services that offer educational and social support for new families adjusting to life in the United States. “The kids of The Arcadia Community Center are trying to bridge together two different cultures along with just normal kid and teenager issues on top of all that,” says Emily Sadler, director of the after school and summer camp program for the elementary children. Sadler is part of the AmeriCorps VISTA Program which is designed specifically to helping others fight poverty. Sadler came to Arcadia nine months ago and will continue to be employed there for another 15 months. At the end of her time at Arcadia, Sadler will be eligible to win an Education Award presented by AmeriCorps, an award of a small cash prize or a larger amount to pay off her school loans.
In addition to those duties, Sadler organizes a project plan to better the Arcadia Community center by recruiting volunteers. “We depend a lot on our community volunteers,” she says. The center has 150 kids enrolled in the after school program and only a few full time staff members. “The center needs volunteers to conduct workshops, clean, help organize the food pantry and clothing closet, and to tutor the kids,” says Sadler. Leonard invited Sadler to speak to the Intercultural Communication class at Jefferson Community and Technical College. The students of this class are required to do five community service hours for a community service learning project. The project is intended to help the students experience different cultural situations and use intercultural communication skills to deal with the situations properly.
“People that volunteer here can get experience with children of the international population,” says Sadler after being asked about how the students can connect the center with the intercultural class. “Service learning hours are truly beneficial in becoming more aware of other cultures. Working with the youth at Arcadia helped me to understand their culture. You never really understand what a person has been through unless you walk a mile in their shoes. However, working with them may allow one to have a better understanding of their culture,” says April Rouson, a student who volunteered at the Arcadia Community Center for the service learning project. Rouson also says, “The Arcadia center connected to my intercultural class because I was able to take into account the cultural differences by using empathy as a way to connect with the youth.”
Although the volunteer work at Arcadia is rewarding, it can also be challenging. “The kids at Arcadia have recently arrived in a new country so they are learning a new language, learning to write, and many refugee families escape whatever situation they are in with very little, so poverty,” says Sadler. Sadler along with all of the other volunteers tries to make the arrival of the refugees and their stay in Louisville as rewarding and comfortable as possible. Laura Darnell, another student involved with the project explains what she took with her after working with the kids from Arcadia, “I took with me the importance of treating those from other countries with respect and making them feel welcome in the United States.” The focus of the project is to learn to communicate effectively with those who are culturally different. Darnell thinks that volunteering is a great experience for anybody studying intercultural communication. “I think service learning is a great way to get students in to the community and around those with different cultures. If these hours were not required, most students would not experience the things that they are learning about in their intercultural communication class. Community service learning is an excellent way for students to learn how to relate to the terms they are learning in the classroom and how to act in intercultural communications situations.”
Sadler goes on to say, “The children need to be exposed to different kinds of people, and need the volunteer’s undivided attention.” She also states, “Our philosophy here at Arcadia is we cannot fix the issues the children are facing alone. We have to work with our ethnic community leaders to get their input on ideas for bettering the center. We need volunteers to help create programs that work for the communities we are serving.”
The Arcadia Community Center, established in 2001, partners with refugee and immigrant groups and additional community organizations to provide holistic services that offer educational and social support for new families adjusting to life in the United States. “The kids of The Arcadia Community Center are trying to bridge together two different cultures along with just normal kid and teenager issues on top of all that,” says Emily Sadler, director of the after school and summer camp program for the elementary children. Sadler is part of the AmeriCorps VISTA Program which is designed specifically to helping others fight poverty. Sadler came to Arcadia nine months ago and will continue to be employed there for another 15 months. At the end of her time at Arcadia, Sadler will be eligible to win an Education Award presented by AmeriCorps, an award of a small cash prize or a larger amount to pay off her school loans.
In addition to those duties, Sadler organizes a project plan to better the Arcadia Community center by recruiting volunteers. “We depend a lot on our community volunteers,” she says. The center has 150 kids enrolled in the after school program and only a few full time staff members. “The center needs volunteers to conduct workshops, clean, help organize the food pantry and clothing closet, and to tutor the kids,” says Sadler. Leonard invited Sadler to speak to the Intercultural Communication class at Jefferson Community and Technical College. The students of this class are required to do five community service hours for a community service learning project. The project is intended to help the students experience different cultural situations and use intercultural communication skills to deal with the situations properly.
“People that volunteer here can get experience with children of the international population,” says Sadler after being asked about how the students can connect the center with the intercultural class. “Service learning hours are truly beneficial in becoming more aware of other cultures. Working with the youth at Arcadia helped me to understand their culture. You never really understand what a person has been through unless you walk a mile in their shoes. However, working with them may allow one to have a better understanding of their culture,” says April Rouson, a student who volunteered at the Arcadia Community Center for the service learning project. Rouson also says, “The Arcadia center connected to my intercultural class because I was able to take into account the cultural differences by using empathy as a way to connect with the youth.”
Although the volunteer work at Arcadia is rewarding, it can also be challenging. “The kids at Arcadia have recently arrived in a new country so they are learning a new language, learning to write, and many refugee families escape whatever situation they are in with very little, so poverty,” says Sadler. Sadler along with all of the other volunteers tries to make the arrival of the refugees and their stay in Louisville as rewarding and comfortable as possible. Laura Darnell, another student involved with the project explains what she took with her after working with the kids from Arcadia, “I took with me the importance of treating those from other countries with respect and making them feel welcome in the United States.” The focus of the project is to learn to communicate effectively with those who are culturally different. Darnell thinks that volunteering is a great experience for anybody studying intercultural communication. “I think service learning is a great way to get students in to the community and around those with different cultures. If these hours were not required, most students would not experience the things that they are learning about in their intercultural communication class. Community service learning is an excellent way for students to learn how to relate to the terms they are learning in the classroom and how to act in intercultural communications situations.”
Sadler goes on to say, “The children need to be exposed to different kinds of people, and need the volunteer’s undivided attention.” She also states, “Our philosophy here at Arcadia is we cannot fix the issues the children are facing alone. We have to work with our ethnic community leaders to get their input on ideas for bettering the center. We need volunteers to help create programs that work for the communities we are serving.”
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