VCU news

By Mike Porter

Each year, hundreds of VCU employees use their 16 hours of community service leave to volunteer for a number of worthwhile area organizations. But thousands of other employees don’t use the leave. Some employees want to use their community service leave but are unsure how to find suitable volunteer opportunities. “Do2withVCU” may change that.

Do2withVCU is a one-day community engagement expo on campus to connect VCU faculty, staff and administrators with volunteer opportunities available in the Richmond area. Nearly 70 community partners will be on hand to provide information about opportunities for partnerships to enhance teaching, learning, research and service.

The expo is open to all university employees and will take place onMarch 5 from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. in the Commonwealth Ballrooms at the University Student Commons.

The idea was part of a team project created by participants in The Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute’s 2013 VCU Leadership Development Program.

“This is a great opportunity for the community partners to talk with faculty and staff about their organizations and what they do,” said Mary Slade, Ph.D., a member of the team that developed the idea and executive director of ASPiRE. “And with the expo happening before spring break, the timing couldn’t be better. We heard from employees that there is less impact on their office if they volunteer during spring break.”

Later in the day, a “Do2withVCU” community engagement lecture and book signing will be held with renowned civil rights leader, author and activist Elaine Brown. Brown’s lecture, titled “Where Do We Go From Here? Social Justice in the New Millennium,” will begin at 5 p.m. at the Grace Street Theater, 934 W. Grace St. This event is free and open to the public.

A former leader of the Black Panther Party and co-founder of the National Alliance for Radical Prison Reform and Mothers Advocating Juvenile Justice, Brown has devoted her life to bringing progressive change throughout the United States. Brown lectures on realizing the vision of eliminating racism, gender oppression and class disparity toward an inclusive and egalitarian world society.

“Do2withVCU” is sponsored by the College of Humanities and Sciences, ASPiRE, the Black Education Association, the Division of Inclusive Excellence, the Humanities Research Center,
The Richard T. Robertson School of Media and Culture, the School of Social Work, the School of World Studies, the Department of African American Studies, the Department of English, the Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies, the Department of History, the Department of Political Science and the Department of Sociology.

For more information on either event, contact do2withvcu@vcu.edu.

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