Service Learning
NYU Silver Service Learning courses provide students with a valuable opportunity to do volunteer work. Through Service Learning, students will engage with individuals to learn their stories and experiences and gain a better understanding of their struggles. Service Learning courses are 2 credits each and are open to all NYU undergraduate students.
This course is offered as a co-requisite for student participation in a weekly community service opportunity on the Lower East Side. Students will provide after-school tutoring for middle school youth at the Houston St.Center, one program of University Settlement. The accompanying course will offer broad and general content related to students' service experiences. Emphasis will be placed on understanding the individuals with whom they are working and the contexts in which they live and learn. The course will touch on the fundamentals of engaging individuals in a helping situation; theories related to individual development; implications of race, ethnicity, culture and immigration; impacts of multiple social contexts: the family, peers, school, social agencies and community; understanding the effects of social oppression on people's lives: poverty, racism, sexism, classism, etc.
This weekly one-hour course is offered as a co-requisite for student participation in a weekly community service opportunity with refugees. Emphasis will be placed on students. understanding of the individuals with whom they are working and the contexts in which they live and learn. Students will learn about immigration and resettling refugees. The course will touch on the fundamentals of engaging individuals in a helping situation; theories related to individual development; implications of race, ethnicity, culture and immigration; impacts of multiple social contexts: the family, peers, school, social agencies and community; understanding the effects of social oppression on people's lives: poverty, racism, sexism, classism, etc. Students will be expected to do journal writing and will have opportunities in class to share their experience. As part of their community service they will provide academic coaching and mentoring for refugees from such nations as Honduras, Yemen, Bangladesh, Moldova, Uganda, and Sudan for a minimum of two hours weekly at Brooklyn International High School. Times to be arranged by the school in conjunction with NYU students' schedules. Some students volunteer in classes and some in the after school lab.
Students enrolled in the Food Insecurity service learning course will intern with the New York City Coalition Against Hunger (NYCCAH) for approximately 3-5 hours a week and attend a weekly seminar. This course will focus on providing sustainable services to combat food insecurity in New York City's children and families. Students will learn and engage in the following:
- The concept and history of food insecurity
- How food insecurity is measured and why
- Formal and informal sources of support for those in need
- Volunteerism and helping those in need access support
- The logistics and procedures around SNAP and how to engage members of the community around support for SNAP and facilitating enrollment
- Food insecurity and food policies and politics
Some of our greatest change-makers have been spiritual leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr., Dalai Lama, and Mother Teresa. What is it about faith and spirituality that motivates people to radically change their communities for the better? Join us as we explore the intersection of service, justice and spirituality through discussion, critical thinking, and “on the ground” community volunteering.
In this Service Learning course, students will gain an understanding of Alzheimer’s disease through a semester-long, one on one relationship with a person in the early stages of the disease. Students will meet with the person they are matched with once a week in their home for a couple of hours of conversation, or a walk, a trip to a museum or any other activity that is planned together. A one-hour weekly classroom component will augment the volunteer experience by providing the content to inform the students about issues of aging and dementia from a medical, psychosocial and public policy standpoint.