HNR 101 Leadership & Society

In Honors 101, students join in learning around a central topic that they explore in the first year experience, building their written and oral communication skills through this community of inquiry. In this section, students explored leadership from various aspects of society, including citizen leadership and non-profit leadership. Their Mayerson Student Philanthropy Project provided the opportunity to build their understanding of non-profit work in the community, the volunteerism and organizational structures in which the organizations work, and the philanthropists who help fund non-profit initiatives. Students enjoyed a virtual Zoom class visit from Ruthe & Jordan Klette of the Elsa Sule foundation that funded our class Mayerson Student Philanthropy grant in which students worked in teams to research selected non-profits in the region. To enrich their research experience, teams created interview guides and conducted Zoom and/or phone interviews with organization representatives to learn more about how the organizations operate and meet their goals and objectives. Their projects culminated in team presentations to inform and advocate for their selected organizations in persuasive speech.

"The Mayerson Student Philanthropy Project was an eye-opening experience that I am thankful to have been involved in. Not only did it encourage me to volunteer throughout my community, but the project also explored the different styles of leadership demonstrated in the non-profit division. Discovering the various forms of leadership also enhanced my awareness of non-profit services within the community. ... On top of promoting my awareness, this project has also inspired personal growth. Working with the Women's Crisis Center sparked an urge to help. I want to assist these women and their children fleeing terrible situations and make them feel comfortable. No one should have to go through the abuse, neglect, homelessness, and poverty that some of these women go through. Listening to Kristy Dangel, the leader we interviewed, speak about some of the story’s survivors have shared with them broke my heart. I feel a personal need to help these women and children not only find their way back to a normal life but help them flourish in it." -- Cassie Tenney, HNR 101 student

 

"Through my participation in the Mayerson Student Philanthropy Project, I have learned a lot about the inner workings of philanthropic organizations. Throughout high school, I only completed the necessary service hours required by my school, which did not allow me to enrich my understanding of service and the organizations that truly helped those less fortunate in my community. However, this project forced me to involve myself in the process of philanthropy and to advocate for an organization that could use the grant award to help my community. My group interviewed Kelly Rose, Director of Development and Marketing, at Welcome House, and we asked her questions about leadership in Philanthropy. Throughout the interview, my group began to see what made Philanthropic Leadership special. Kelly seemed like a normal person who was easy to talk to and passionate about her work. However, she was very different than many in the business sector of leadership because she had an inner motivation to help her community improve. Furthermore, this applies to all Philanthropic leaders. Instead of making more money in the For-profit sector, non-profit leaders dedicate their lives to helping the community and making the lives of the next generation better. Non-profit leaders are not driven by increasing profit margins, but by helping as many people as possible out of negative life situations and into a positive, bright future with the knowledge to continue down that path. Through this interview, I discovered that this was an important factor differentiating philanthropic leaders from others in Leadership positions. I also learned about how hard it is to receive funding for non-profit projects .... [and] that philanthropic work was not as easy as I thought, but it required funding and an actual need in the community for philanthropic work to be done. n conclusion, this project enabled me to see how philanthropic work is done as well as how need in the community is assessed. By advocating for the Welcome House, I was forced to find information that convinced my classmates that there was a legitimate need for the grant within this organization, which required confidence and public speaking skills that will help me in my academic and career endeavors in the future." -- Brady Cline, HNR 101 student

A word from Welcome House Director of Marketing and Development, Kelly Rose:

"This is such AMAZING news! We are so honored to be selected. I must say that the student group I worked with were smart, insightful, and just lovely to work with. They are going to do good things in their future, I can just tell!"

Adapted from Welcome House's NPO grant application:

Welcome House first opened its doors in the early 1980s as an Emergency Assistance Center. Since then, our programs and support services have grown to meet community need. Welcome House continues this  mission of providing a continuum of services that will end homelessness and promote stability for each person we serve. Our vision is to be a leader in guiding clients from housing uncertainty to housing stability. We accomplish this through the service areas we provide: Housing, Service Coordination, and Income & Benefits.

Welcome House primarily serves men, women, and families from Boone, Kenton and Campbell Counties. However, we do serve clients from Hamilton County, OH and some from the lower five Northern Kentucky Counties. With these greatly appreciated grant funds, Welcome House is responding to the continuing need to provide dedicated veteran beds to the Northern Kentucky Region for the first time ever. Currently, no beds are available for veterans in our 8-county region in Kentucky and the Cincinnati VA Medical Center strongly encouraged us to apply for funding to be able to bring transitional beds to Northern Kentucky under this grant opportunity. The 8 Kentucky counties include Boone, Campbell, Kenton, Grant, Pendleton, Carroll, Gallatin, and Owen. Having transitional housing beds available and dedicated to homeless veterans will help to reduce the difficulty faced by veterans when working to get out of homelessness and into stable housing. Without beds available in our region, veterans who are currently homeless often remain
living in places not meant for human habitation longer than they should or are residing in general population homeless shelters, often on a night-by-night basis. When appropriate, we attempt to connect homeless veterans to housing across the Ohio River in Cincinnati but veterans may be reluctant to relocate and if they do, the relocation, whether on a temporary or permanent basis, creates a significant burden on the veteran. Being able to remain in Northern Kentucky in transitional housing allows for Welcome House to more easily engage veterans in other homeless services provided through the Continuum of Care, ensuring better outcomes like the attainment of permanent housing. Over the past 3 years

Welcome House has served 218 homeless veterans. We have successfully placed several veterans into housing programs through the VA, but we have had many that have rejected moving into Ohio and chosen to remain on the streets instead. In 2018, one of the veterans that we were working with in Campbell County refused to move into a program in Ohio and remained sleeping in a tent in Newport while he waited to get into permanent housing. Unfortunately, he passed away in the winter, and we believe that if our program existed then he would've been safe in our shelter and not passed away.

Some goals we hope to achieve are:

• 75% exit to permanent housing
• 100% of individuals housed will be homeless veterans
• 100% of active participants will work with a Case Manager on a service plan along with a VA staff member
• 100% will have access to basic needs (food, clothing, and shelter)
  

Although this is an ongoing project, grant funds will be spent in 2021. We are grateful for this $1,000 grant and will apply the funds toward these important initiatives to meet the needs of the Veterans we serve:

• building a pantry for the veterans including small appliances, food, and
  hygiene items 
  
• bus passes so veterans can have access to transportation for appointments, health visits, and job interviews/jobs.
  
• access to critical documents such as birth certificates and identification cards to gain employment and other services.
  

A word from Women's Crisis Center's Kristy Dangel:

"We are excited to have the student's support for our project to provide some of the most needed, yet often forgotten, everyday items to victims of power based personal violence.

Also, I wanted to share I had a wonderful conversation with Cassie Tenney about Women's Crisis Center and the work we do. She was very engaging and genuinely interested in helping make our community a better place, even as she was sitting in Northern Ohio!

Please share our sincere gratitude with your class!"

Adapted from Women's Crisis Center's NPO grant application:

Women’s Crisis Center (WCC) was founded in 1976 as the Northern Kentucky Rape Crisis Center. By 1979 our name was changed to Women’s Crisis Center to reflect services being provided to victims of domestic violence. Currently Women’s Crisis Center operates two Emergency Shelters (Campbell and Mason County), two Walk In locations (Covington and Maysville), two 24/7 crisis hotlines, and covers 13 counties in Northern Kentucky providing services to victims of domestic violence, rape, sexual abuse, and stalking.
 
Women’s Crisis Center is requesting funds to support our Northern Kentucky Non-Residential and Residential programs. Our Non-Residential program provides walk-in services for victims of power based personal violence, including domestic violence and sexual assault. Services include crisis intervention, counseling, legal/medical advocacy and accompaniment, and case management. Our Residential shelter is for victims and their families fleeing domestic violence.

Women’s Crisis Center is seeking to create Survivor packs for victims who may present for any of our services. The packs would include tangible items such as phone chargers, grocery and gas gift cards, and personal care and hygiene products, along with any other identified needed items in a reusable drawstring bag. The packs would be standard with the ability to add customized items for individuals. Providing everyday essentials in a trauma informed way will provide survivors with daily essentials without asking. Our expected outcome is that Survivors will increase activity with WCC and return for ongoing services at all our locations. WCC is hoping to increase services for victims who we first encounter in the Hospital Emergency Departments. Survivor Pack items we plan to purchase with these funds include:

• Dual Phone Chargers (Android and iPhone)
  
• Drawstring Bags - $140
• $10 Gas/Grocery Gift Cards
  
• Any remaining would be used to purchase specific items for individual needs. Personal and hygiene care products would be filled by donations received by WCC.
  

Professor Downing: In lieu of "face to face" (F2F) class meetings, this class met "live" via synchronous Zoom sessions twice a week. As a class of first year freshman, they were new to NKU and many lived on campus. The typical "stop by and see me" option to build their sense of comfort in seeking faculty support and connection to the university was not possible. To work around this limitation, open office hours were provided immediately following class each Tuesday and Thursday where students could 'pop by' without and appointment. Zoom breakout rooms for small group interaction were used to build student-to-student connections. Although new to NKU, this group of students had experienced and successfully navigated the switch to virtual learning at the conclusion of their high school senior year in Spring 2020, and were very open in adjusting as needed as we explored the most effective way to engage in classroom discussion. About half the class was comfortable contributing to the class discussion. The other half was all too often quiet. To encourage open participation in class conversations, voice questions, express concerns, or engage in general discussion on the topic at hand, we integrated the use of a virtual whiteboard (Google Jamboard), a tool that I'd found very effective for engaging students in another class. This allowed students and small groups to anonymously contribute to the discussion topic, often encouraging deeper reflection and discussion within the class.