Before I head out for the weekend I wanted to do a quick update about our plans for October 1, the first day of the conference.
Stephanie, who is on the conference organizing committee, and an AmeriCorps*VISTA member at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, is organizing a community tour of Amherst.
Community tours are a way to orient students to the communities they’ll be working in. They often challenge preconceived ideas of what a certain area is like, and provide a great opportunity for discussion and reflection before students start their community projects.
For the conference we’ll use the Amherst tour as a model of how students can implement their own community tours. In addition to the actual tour we’ll give participants some great resources/tools for planning tours in their own communities.
I think these kind of tours are a powerful way to introduce people to the community, and can deepen the knowledge and commitment of those participating. It should be a great session.
Cheers,
Jeremy
Member, organizing committee
Hi,
Just wondering about Friday night lodging. Are there plans, options?
lbp
Hi Leslie,
We are offering two options for housing. You can reserve a hotel room (which costs $144) or request to stay with a student from the local area, which is free.
When you register for the conference it will ask you if you’re interested in being placed with a student. Spaces are limited, but we’ll do our best to match people up.
Cheers,
Jeremy