Partnering for Economic Recovery Impact through Service
Tisch College has won a grant from the Corporation of National and Community Service to partner with Tufts faculty and Somerville organizations to develop and deliver an economic crisis recovery program over three years.
The main goals of Project PERIS are to create a new, dynamic service planning and delivery process that will:
- Engage University and high school students, faculty and community partners in collaborative community planning.
- Deliver needed services for economic recovery based on the planning process
- Establish an enduring crisis response capacity between Tufts and Somerville.
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Create a model that can be adapted by other institutions.
Starting in the fall semester of 2009, three service learning courses will be led by Tufts faculty and Somerville co-educators to identify priorities for Somerville’s economic recovery in collaboration with Somerville institutions. The following spring, three additional service learning courses and/or co-curricular initiatives will deliver the priority economic recovery responses identified in the fall courses. Some of the planning and service courses will involve Somerville high school students. During the summer of 2010 economic recovery response will continue through the Tisch College internship program, Active Citizenship Summer. Finally student and community survey data collected over the course of the year will aid in the revision of the program for the following year and track the economic impact.
A combined University/community Advisory Board will guide project development.
Over its three years, Project PERIS will engage between 350 – 525 Tufts students in collaborative planning and economic recovery services, at least 18 partners in planning and 70 partner staff as co-educators, at least 18 Tufts faculty and at least 85 Somerville youth. PERIS will also deliver priority economic recovery services to approximately 2,700 Somerville residents. Importantly, PERIS will also develop a collaborative crisis response planning and service delivery system that can be shared and adapted to other communities and other situations of rapid change.
Read more about Project PERIS.
