Northampton Community College (NCC) has been awarded a grant funded by Pennsylvania and New York Campus Compact and the Corporation for National and Community Service. The grant will enable NCC and four other community colleges to create a regional network dedicated to the advancement of service learning on their campuses.

NCC is the lead college in the regional network, which includes Raritan Valley Community College in Somerset, NJ; Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, NY; Queensborough Community College in Queens, NY; and Montgomery Community College in Bluebell, PA.

"The focus of the network’s service learning activities will be disadvantaged youth in grades kindergarten through 12, faculty development and training, and community partner relationships," according to Debra Bohr, service learning administrator for Northampton Community College. Participants will gain exposure to important issues pertaining to the needs of disadvantaged youth and how service learning can address them.

Each of the five colleges in the network will receive $3000 to implement the grant’s goals in the first year by hosting regional workshops with keynote speakers from the service learning field. NCC will host the first workshop on Monday, February 4, 2008, which will feature Robert Franco, senior fellow for community colleges at National Campus Compact.

NCC has been involved in service learning since 1999. The program has grown from three faculty members and a handful of students participating in the first year, to over 20 faculty and 400 students engaged in service learning activities during the 2006-07 academic year.

Campus Compact is a coalition of more than 1,100 college and university presidents, representing some 6 million students, who are committed to fulfilling the public purposes of higher education. Campus Compact seeks to build civic engagement into campus and academic life.

The Corporation for National and Community Service was created to connect Americans of all ages and backgrounds with opportunities to give back to their communities and their nation. Its mission is to improve lives, strengthen communities, and foster civic engagement through service and volunteering.

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