The students will partner with government and nongovernment organizations to complete projects related to social justice, human rights, education, economic development and health improvement, among other causes. They will partner with organizations such as the Desmond Tutu Peace Center, Heifer International, Room to Read, Vital Voices Global Partnership and the World Bank.

“The international public service project is one of the truly unique experiences we offer at the Clinton School,” said Skip Rutherford, dean of the school. “These students will take what they learned related to communication, decision analysis, conflict resolution, leadership and social change in their coursework this year and apply it to helping improve peoples’ lives across the globe. We’re looking forward to seeing the results of their work.”

Six students will work in countries never before visited by Clinton School students, including Belgium, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Laos, Mexico and Turkey. One student, Laura Crosby, will have personally visited all seven continents after completing her project in Indonesia.

Four class members will become the first Clinton School students to serve as McLarty Global Engagement Fellows with the Vital Voices Global Partnership, a nonprofit promoting women’s empowerment around the world. The students will each complete a project related to empowering women entrepreneurs in Ghana.

The international project is one of three public service projects that make up 30 percent of the MPS degree program. They also perform group (Practicum) projects in Arkansas communities and final (Capstone) projects that culminate their Clinton School degree.

The students have worked this spring with faculty members to identify, plan and implement their projects. They are expected to engage in a project that builds on the knowledge and skills gained in the first two semesters of classroom work at the school.

Project locations and host organizations are vetted and approved by Clinton School faculty. Students and faculty will remain in constant contact throughout the summer.

2012 International Public Service Projects:

Mitchell Adams – Games for Change (New Delhi, India) – Adams will be evaluating the efficacy of using electronic games to relay social justice messages for Games for Change, a nonprofit that facilitates the creation and distribution of social impact games that serve as critical tools in humanitarian and educational efforts.

Todun Afolabi – Legal Resources Foundation Trust (Nairobi, Kenya) – Afolabi will partner with the Legal Resources Foundation Trust, an NGO working to promote access to justice through human rights education, research, and policy advocacy.  She will be examining traditional community justice systems and proposing strategic linkages to alternative forms of dispute resolution.

Jordan Aibel – Multimano & The World As Home (Brussels, Belgium) – Aibel will help develop revenue models for the services offered by Multimano and The World As Home, two organizations working in communication in immigration around the European Union.

Nuno Almeida – ACORN (Mexico City, Mexico) – Almedia will work with two traditionally marginalized communities in Mexico to collect data for ACORN related to the effect of U.S.-based remittances on the livelihoods of children and families.

Stephen Bailey – Canadian Urban Institute (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia) – Bailey will create a number of video productions, including a documentary, about the implementation of a project aimed to bring economic development to villages surrounding the city.

Dylan Buffalo – Grass Roots India (Ranikhet, India) – Buffalo will perform an impact assessment of a clean water intervention project led by Grass Roots India. His research will help the organization determine a best-practices strategy for future development projects.

Russell Carey – Desmond Tutu Peace Center (Cape Town, South Africa) – Carey will work with the Desmond Tutu Peace Center to develop a comprehensive web and social media plan, developing new outlets of information through social media and assessing the sustainability of the center’s digital archiving project.

Maggie Carroll – Heifer International (Rajastan, India) – Carroll will partner with Heifer International, the world hunger organization, to document the impact of a hunger project on the empowerment of women and girls.

Jake Coffey – The Centre for Health Equity Training, Research and Evaluation  (Sydney, Australia) – Coffey will examine the direct and indirect impacts of Equity Focused Health Impact Assessments conducted on service plans.

Laura Crosby – Search for Common Ground (Jakarta, Indonesia) – Crosby will develop a sustainability plan for Search for Common Ground Indonesia’s Transformational Women’s Leadership Program, which supports empowering women in Indonesian society.

Mark Eastham – Massmart (Johannesburg, South Africa) – Eastham will help develop a sustainable palm oil advocacy toolkit in collaboration with the supply chain of Massmart, the second-largest distributor of consumer goods in Africa.

Trish Flanagan – Room to Read (Cambodia, Sri Lanka) – Flanagan will create a family and community engagement framework for Room to Read’s programs in Asia and Africa. Her findings will inform Room to Read’s Global Guidelines for Family and Community Engagement, purposed to strengthen community and family engagement practices across the globe.

Kelly Ford – Accademia dell’Arte (Arezzo, Italy) – Ford will conduct a process and impact evaluation and create a sustainability plan for the Crisis Art Festival hosted by Accademia dell’Arte, a performing arts education program accredited by Hendrix College.

Leslie Harris – Youth With a Mission (Budapest, Hungary) – Harris will work with YWAM Central Europe on their Five Cities: Support, Establish, Transform (SET) initiative, which focuses on expanding YWAM into Athens, Krakow, Prague, Pristina and Sarajevo. She will lead a needs assessment to determine the areas in which YWAM can provide outreach services to marginalized populations.

Francennett Herrera – Foromundial Atlernativo de los Pueblos en Movimiento  (Mexico City, Mexico) – Herrera will research and identify unmet needs of the immigrant community in Oaxaca for a nonprofit organization that is committed to assisting at-risk immigrant populations.

Burt Hicks – Vital Voices & West African Trade Hub (Accra, Ghana) – Hicks will work with two women-led businesses to help them expand their operations and positively impact their wider community. He will focus on addressing the lack of access to finance and the challenges of small business regulations.

Nathan Jesson – Ultimate Peace – (Acco, Israel) Jesson will evaluate the use of sports as a mechanism for ameliorating conflict among youth for Ultimate Peace, a youth organization that promotes nonviolence through sports.

Katie Longino – Vital Voices (Accra, Ghana) – Longino will conduct personal interviews with women entrepreneurs in order to gain a better understanding of their challenges. The data she gathers will be used to publish information about women in leadership in Ghana.

Gina Lopez – Vital Voices & School of Social Entrepreneurs – (Accra, Ghana; London, England) Lopez will train leaders for public service and provide resources to entrepreneurs to solve social problems through community and economic redevelopment.

Stanley Luker – Heifer International (Manila, Philippines) – Luker will work with Heifer International to evaluate a disaster preparedness project, which aims to protect development gains made by the organization by increasing the abilities of communities to prepare for and respond to disaster threats such as flooding, earthquakes, and political unrest.

Matt Lyon – Grass Roots India (Ranikhet, India) Lyon will conduct an impact assessment of biogas generator projects in 15 villages in the Gagas River Basin. This will help the organization more effectively implement and maintain biogas generation projects in the future.

Papy Muntumosi – World Bank (Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo) – Muntumosi will assist the World Bank in establishing an open-aid partnership with donors to develop accountability procedures and foster the empowerment of Congolese citizens and stakeholders.

Eakpot Nimkulrat – Health Leadership International (Vientianne, Laos) – Numkulrat will develop an evaluation system that can be used to examine the Medical English Program for students at the University of Health Science. The project will provide recommendations to improve the effectiveness of program management.

Dylan Perry – Soil for Life (Cape Town, South Africa) – Perry will evaluate Soil for Life’s Home Food Garden Program to determine and address attrition rates. His research will assist the organization to amend or supplement services and improve its ability to address food insecurity in Cape Town.

Andrea Price – Belize Youth Business Trust (Belize City, Belize) – Price will work in partnership with Belize Youth Business Trust, Youth for Belize and St. John’s Community College to develop and facilitate an entrepreneurship camp for students.

Veena Rangaswami – Room to Read (Katmandu, Nepal) – Rangaswami will assess the impact of Room to Read’s Girls Education Program on students in the Bardiya region of Nepal. Her work will include interviewing stakeholders and presenting recommendations to Room to Read for potential improvements to the program.

Rebecca Scissors – Building Tomorrow (Uganda) – Scissors will develop a health curriculum for a rural school system for Building Tomorrow, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting education access in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Yana-Janell Scott – Vital Voices & West African Trade Hub (Accra, Ghana) – As part of a business-advising project, Scott will work with a team of University of Arkansas students to provide critical assistance to two women-owned businesses.

Sydney Shearer – Children’s Radio Foundation – (Cape Town, South Africa) Shearer will partner with the foundation to create monitoring and evaluation tools to collect data about program impact. She will also research and develop recommendations for the organization on youth-led program evaluation strategies.

Britney Sink – HIPPY Canada (Vancouver, Canada) – Sink will design a replicable tool to evaluate the impact of participation in HIPPY Canada’s program on immigrant women’s settlement process in Canada. She will work with HIPPY Canada’s trained home visitors to implement the tool via personal and group interviews to gather oral histories of the women’s experiences.

Christine Sumner – Heifer International & Jane Goodall Institute (Hoima, Uganda) – Sumner will work on the Sustainable Livelihoods Project assessing the economic, nutritional and environmental impact of Heifer’s work in the Hoima region. This project, aimed at conserving forests and water for both people and chimpanzees, is in partnership with the Jane Goodall Institute Canada and the Canadian International Development Agency.

Jillian Underwood – Canadian Urban Institute (Manila, Philippines) – Underwood will participate in grassroots economic development initiatives in the Philippines with the Canadian Urban Institute, which works to create thriving, sustainable urban regions across the world.

Kellen Utecht – World Wildlife Fund (Istanbul, Turkey) – Utecht will conduct research on and prepare a roadmap for more efficient water stewardship policies. This will include evaluating and comparing different assessment tools on water stewardship and their implementation in Turkey.

John Vollertsen – Canadian Urban Institute (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia) – Vollersten will assist the institute in developing and organizing messaging strategies for the Eco-City Project in Addis Ababa and Bahir Dar, Ethiopia. He will design methods and manuals for engaging marginalized populations and creating community buy-in.

The graduates entered the program two years ago from across Arkansas, the country and the world. They represent 13 states and five countries including Canada, Kenya, Nepal, South Africa and Ukraine.

“This graduating class represents the diversity that is the strength of our country and the global community,” President Bill Clinton said in a recorded video address to the graduates.

“I’m so impressed, graduates, with the work you’ve done,” Clinton added. “And even more important I’m looking forward to seeing where your careers take you as public servants in the future.”

Through the school’s field service program, the graduates completed more than 22,000 hours in public service projects, Clinton School Dean Skip Rutherford said in his welcome address.

In his commencement address, the school’s founding Dean David Pryor challenged the graduates to return “civility” and “bipartisanship” to public service in America.

“We need to build those bridges that have been torn down by fear, hate, distrust and suspicion,” he said.

Through six classes the school has now graduated more than 150 students from the MPS program. Unlike traditional programs in public affairs or public policy, 30 percent of the MPS program is completed through hands-on service projects.

The Class of 2012 completed more than 70 public service projects, including international projects in 19 countries.

Clinton School founding dean and former U.S. Senator David Pryor will give the commencement address. A current member of the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees, Pryor led a distinguished political career as a State Representative (1961-1965), U.S. Congressman (1967-1973), Governor (1975-1979) and U.S. Senator (1979-1997).

The Clinton School graduates entered the program two years ago from across Arkansas, the country and the world. They represent 13 states and five countries including Canada, Kenya, Nepal, South Africa and Ukraine.

As part of the Clinton School curriculum, they each completed three public service projects in Arkansas communities and in 19 countries around the world. The projects include:

The Practicum (group) Project takes student teams into Arkansas communities, including the impoverished Mississippi River Delta, to foster community development and social change in the areas of economic development, environmental awareness, public education, youth leadership development and healthcare.

The International Public Service Project places students with organizations all over the world combating global hunger, fostering educational opportunities for children, promoting corporate responsibility and expanding healthcare in the third world.

The Capstone (final) Project challenges students to put their learned skills into action and complete an in-depth public service project to benefit a government or nonprofit agency and ultimately lead the student into a career upon graduation.

Below are capsules on each graduate including the Capstone and international projects they completed:

Ryan Adams (Toronto, Canada) – Adams earned an international baccalaureate diploma from Upper Canada College before completing his bachelor’s in English literature at Queens University. He completed his international project with the international business consulting firm McKinsey & Company in Washington D.C. For his Capstone, Adams worked in the Social Sector Office of McKinsey & Company focusing on global communication efforts around international development, health, education and social innovation.

Ashley Bachelder (Athol, Mass.) – A graduate of Southern New Hampshire University with a degree in psychology, Bechelder worked with the Women’s Resource Center of Cambodia in Siem Reap, Cambodia, for her international project. Bachelder is completing the concurrent MPS/MPH degree program with the UAMS Boozman College of Public Health and will pursue her Capstone project in the coming year.

Taylor Ballinger (Richmond, Ken.) – A graduate of Berea College with a degree in speech communication and a former Teach for America corps member in Greater New Orleans, Ballinger completed his international project with the St. Christopher House neighborhood center in Toronto, Canada. For his Capstone, Ballinger worked with Teach for America to cultivate relationships among key stakeholders in the local districts and develop a campaign to confirm potential corps members’ placement in South Louisiana.

Alana Bell (Fort Smith, Ark.) – A graduate of the University of Arkansas with a bachelor’s in education, Bell partnered with the World Organisation of the Scout Movement in Geneva, Switzerland, for her international project. Bell is currently finalizing details for her Capstone project.

Shenan Boit (Fayetteville, Ark.) – A graduate of Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Fla., where she studied political science and environmental studies, Boit worked with Lomaloma Hospital in Lomaloma Village of the Fiji Islands for her international project. For her Capstone, she worked with the Scouts in Asenovgrad, Bulgaria on membership and supervisor recruitment, outdoor leadership training and program development.

Heath Carelock (New Carrollton, Md.) – A graduate of Edinboro University of Pennsylvania with a degree in political science, Carelock traveled to Singaore to work with the World Toilet Organization for his international project. He completed his Capstone with Central Little Rock Promise Neighborhood in Little Rock where he worked with teachers to explore the teaching strategies that support positive student achievement.

Kate Cawvey (Oxford, Ohio) – A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College with a degree in international development and race relations, Cawvey completed her international project with the Desmond Tutu Peace Centre in Cape Town, South Africa. For her Capstone, Cawvey developed a tailored National Issues Forum guide for deliberations at the Clinton Presidential Library about the conflict in Kosovo during the Clinton Presidency.

Dustin Choate (Tulsa, Okla.) – A graduate of Wheaton College (Ill.) where he majored in sociology and economics, Choate worked with Heifer International in Kampala, Uganda for his international project. For his Capstone, Choate designed a business startup competition to boost small business development in Newport, Ark. and Jackson County.

Greg Cooper (Kansas City, Mo.) – A graduate of Hendrix College with a degree in social justice, Cooper partnered with the Canadian Urban Institute to complete a watershed report in Iloilo, Philippines for his international project. For his Capstone, Cooper has worked with the Great Rivers Greenway District in St. Louis, Mo., to create a marketing framework for the transformation of an abandoned elevated rail line into a park by researching best practices for engaging perspective sponsors in greenspace development projects.

Fernando Cutz (Coral Springs, Fla.) – A graduate of Washington University in St. Louis where he majored in international studies and political science and minored in psychology, Cutz worked with Village Outreach Project in Shirati, Tanzania, for his international project. For his Capstone, he worked with the Office of U.S. Senator Mark Pryor to analyze the impact of community block grants on police and firefighter departments in the state of Arkansas.

Nicky Hamilton (Johannesburg, South Africa) – Hamilton earned a degree in psychology and was named a Bishop Tutu Scholar at Sawanee: The University of the South, Tenn. She completed her international project with the Desmond Tutu Peace Centre in Cape Town, South Africa and worked to build capacity for an early childhood education nonprofit in Conway, Ark., for her final Capstone.

Heidi Justice (Salt Lake City, Utah) – A graduate of the University of Utah where she earned her bachelor’s in art teaching, Justice worked with a youth arts program in Knysna, South Africa for her international project. For her Capstone, she partnered with Wellstone Action in St. Paul, Minn., to analyze LGBT issue campaigns to develop a training curriculum focused on passing non-discrimination ordinances based on sexual orientation and gender identity at the city level.

Tabitha Lee (Dermott, Ark.) – A kinesiology graduate from the University of Arkansas and a concurrent JD/MPS student with the UALR Bowen School of Law, Lee completed her international project with the International Center for Transitional Justice in Cape Town, South Africa. For her Capstone she worked with the UALR Institute on Race and Ethnicity to research racial disparities in the Arkansas criminal justice system and identify potential partners and funding sources for the institute.

Andy Lewis (Maitland, Fla.) – A graduate of the University of Florida with a degree in journalism, Lewis worked with Building Tomorrow in Kampala, Uganda for his international project. For his Capstone, Lewis partnered with the Public Education Foundation in Little Rock to conduct a capacity assessment and research community engagement strategies for the foundation, which supports the Little Rock public schools.

Nate Looney (Jonesboro, Ark.) – A concurrent JD/MPS student who majored in political science with a minor in economics at the University of Arkansas, Looney completed his international project with the New South Wales Business Chamber in North Sydney, Australia. For his Capstone he coordinated a conference bringing together student representatives from Arkansas higher education institutions to critically assess and offer solutions for some of the most pressing issues in Arkansas’s future.

Spencer Lucker (Little Rock, Ark.) – A graduate of the University of Arkansas where he studied international relations, European studies and Spanish, Lucker partnered with Village Life Outreach Project in Shirati, Tanzania, for his international project. For his Capstone, Lucker developed a resource guide for the NGO Ming Peru to educate visitors from around the world about its work of empowering women and educating the rural communities in the Peruvian Amazon.

Molly McGowan (Little Rock, Ark.) – A graduate of Davidson College with a degree in history, McGowan also studied at Universidad Andres Bello in Santiago, Chile. She completed her international project with the Desmond Tutu Peace Centre in Cape Town, South Africa. McGowan is a concurrent JD/MPS student with the UALR Bowen School of Law and is currently finalizing her Capstone project.

Jasmine Medley (Little Rock, Ark.) – A graduate of Rhodes College in Memphis, Tenn., with a major in religious studies and minor in French, Medley completed her international project with We Love Reading in Amman, Jordan. For her Capstone, she partnered with Just Communities of Arkansas in Little Rock to develop anti-bullying programming for teachers and students in Arkansas that aligns with the recently passed anti-bullying legislation.

Andrew Morgan (Spokane, Wash.) – A graduate of Western Washington University where he studied environmental studies and geography, Morgan completed his international project with Search for Common Ground in Dili, East Timor. For his Capstone, he worked with the Clinton Foundation in Little Rock to analyze the in-house legal practices of the foundation and compare them to those of similar foundations.

Shamim Okolloh (Nairobi, Kenya) – Okolloh is a graduate of Spelman College with a degree in environmental science who has researched air pollution for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. She completed her international project with Heifer International in Mbale, Uganda. For her Capstone, she worked with Heifer Uganda to implement a pilot field trip curriculum project with Mbale Secondary School’s agriculture students and assess its impact.

Marc Peters (Laurel, Md.) – A graduate of Syracuse University with a degree in public policy and journalism, Peters completed his international project with Fremantle Headspace in Fremantle, Australia. For his Capstone, he partnered with Philander Smith College in Little Rock to examine the habits of successful male students at the college and develop strategies other students can emulate to increase their chances of graduating.

Alyssa Provencio (Derby, Kan.) – A graduate of Kansas State University where she majored in hotel and restaurant management, Provencio is a former Teach for America corps member. She completed her international project with the Clinton Guistra Sustainable Growth Initiative in Lima, Peru. For her Capstone, she worked with the Foundation for the Mid South in Jackson, Miss. to evaluate the state of the construction and infrastructure non-profit community that received grants from the Bush Clinton Katrina Fund.

Derrick Rainey (Little Rock, Ark.) – A graduate of Morehouse College with a degree in music performance and a former City Year volunteer, Rainey completed his international project with Creative Solutions Resource Systems in Zanzibar, Tanzania. For his Capstone, Rainey has helped establish an alumni network for Arkansas Commitment, an organization that helps African-Americans in Central Arkansas succeed through leadership development and access to a college education.

Jessica Rice (Little Rock, Ark.) – A graduate of the University of Arkansas with degrees in international relations and Spanish, Rice completed her international project with Fundación Cruzada Argentina, an education initiative in Buenos Aires, Argentina. For her Capstone, Rice assessed and developed promising practices for Plaza Comunitaria, a program that provides basic education and literacy training to Latino adults in Springdale, Ark.

Acadia Roher (Little Rock, Ark.) – Roher graduated with a degree in environmental policy from Barnard College of Columbia University. She completed her international project with the Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management and Murray-Darling Basin Authority in Toowoomba and Canberra, Australia. For her Capstone, she worked with the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission to map and prioritize the stakeholders involved in the Arkansas state water plan.

Jared Rowell (Hermosa Beach, Calif.) – A graduate of New York University with a degree in political science, Rowell completed his international project with CARE International in Amman, Jordan. For his Capstone, he traveled to Cairo to partner with CARE Egypt, which works in areas of extreme poverty, to gather documentation and conduct research for the organization’s strategic plan.

Anatoliy Shatkovskyy (Cherkasy, Ukraine) – A graduate of the University of Central Arkansas with a degree in international studies and a minor in French, Shatkovskyy completed his international project with the Canadian Urban Institute in Kyiv, Ukraine. For his Capstone, he worked with Heifer International to develop a resource mobilization manual and participated in the development process for new projects in the organization’s Central and Eastern Europe Area Program.

Erin Stock (Overland Park, Kan.) – A graduate of Northwestern University where she studied journalism and anthropology, Stock completed her international project with Search for Common Ground in Jakarta, Indonesia. For her Capstone, she worked with the United Nations IRIN News Service in Bangkok, Thailand to bolster coverage of humanitarian news in Timor-Leste and Papua New Guinea by developing procedures to recruit and train stringer reporters.

Moksheda Thapa (Okhaldhunga, Nepal) – Thapa earned degrees in English and economics at People Campus in Kathmandu before landing a Fulbright Commission to complete a bachelor’s in international studies from Central College in Pella, Iowa. She completed her international project with Winrock International in Dhaka, Bangladesh. For her Capstone, she worked with the Arkansas Coalition for Obesity Prevention to create an evaluation handbook and guidelines for the Growing Health Communities project that works with Arkansas communities to systematically address healthy living.

Hilary Trudell (Knoxville, Tenn.) – A graduate of the College of Charleston with a degree in theater and French, and a former AmeriCorps volunteer, Trudell partnered with PCI Media Impact in Dennery, St. Lucia for her international project. For her Capstone she worked with the Women’s Foundation of Arkansas to research and identify the factors that contribute to the withdrawal of women from secondary and post-secondary educational institutions.

Ryan Williams (Little Rock, Ark.) – A graduate of Hendrix College with a major in psychology and a minor in Africana studies, Williams completed her international project with the World Toilet Organization in Singapore. Williams is completing her concurrent MPS/MPH degree and will be finalizing her Capstone project soon.

Bowman

Clinton School assistant professor Warigia Bowman was recently interviewed by the BBC about the ascension of Joyce Banda to the presidency of Malawi following the death former of president Bingu wa Mutharika in early April.

Bowman said Banda, who was serving as vice president, was in line to become president under the country’s constitution but faced a brief, 24-hour power struggle with the president’s brother. After gaining support from the head of the military and others, Banda became the first female president of the country.

Bowman also discussed the affect of the leadership change on the region and the challenges facing Banda as she begins her term as president. Click the play button above to hear Bowman’s BBC interview.

Banda spoke in Little Rock as part of the Clinton School Speaker Series in February 2011. She previously served as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister for Gender, Children’s Affairs and Community Services. Before entering politics, Banda was a grassroots gender rights activist. She founded the Joyce Banda Foundation, the National Association of Business Women, the Young Women Leaders Network and the Hunger Project. Click here to watch her lecture

Bowman is an assistant professor of social change at the Clinton School who has extensive experience consulting for development organizations in East Africa.

Ballinger

A Clinton School student partnered with Teach for America in South Louisiana to implement a system to evaluate relationships with local schools and create a guide for assigning teachers to specific regions.

Clinton School student Taylor Ballinger of Richmond, Ky., worked with Teach For America-South Louisiana (TFA-SLA), a branch of the national nonprofit that recruits, trains and supports some of the nation’s rising leaders to teach for a minimum of two years in under-resourced and under-performing schools, which typically serve students in high poverty.

Ballinger helped produce and implement a system for TFA-SLA staff members to evaluate their relationships with partner school districts. He also created the resource guide for all TFA-SLA staff members to utilize during “matriculation” rounds, which occur four times annually when TFA corps members are assigned to specific regions.

“I’m particularly excited about this project, because it represents a shift in the way we go about partnering with local school districts and communities, while also ensuring that our incoming corps is prepared to come into South Louisiana and make an immediate impact on their students,” said Ballinger, a 2007 Teach For America – Greater New Orleans corps member.

The project, which represents Ballinger’s final Capstone project through the Clinton School’s Master of Public Service degree program, was created specifically for TFA-SLA staff members to utilize now and in the future, and was something that the organization has desired to implement for the past few years.

“Two things we absolutely believe here at Teach For America are that great teachers make an enormous impact on students, and that community involvement is a critical lever in ensuring that young people get the education they deserve,” said Michael Tipton, executive director of TFA-SLA. “This project allows us to better gauge and ultimately improve our relationship with our local community – including them in our efforts in and out of the classroom, while also setting the foundation for our incoming corps members to make a huge difference in the classroom.”

After creating his initial framework for evaluating district relationships, Ballinger applied it to the relationships he was developing in two school districts. Over the course of the nearly three-month project, he implemented action steps to improve relationships and also refined the evaluation system.

Ballinger also created resource guides for the second of four yearly matriculation rounds, then implemented a staff survey to understand its usefulness before updating the guides for the third round. Ultimately, the TFA-SLA region finished in the top 5 among all TFA regions nationally in terms of matriculation rates.

“We can’t impact the achievement gap if we don’t have teachers in the classroom,” Tipton said. “So making sure we have the resources necessary to get them ready and excited to be in the classroom is critical.

The project, which utilized past information and knowledge of district relationships, will continue to be implemented over the course of the next year, to continue strengthening partnerships. The resource guide for matriculation will also be utilized throughout the year to train and support new staff members, and to continue improving the rates at which individuals accept their offer to TFA-SLA; while also cultivating strong mindsets in the incoming teachers to prepare them for excellence in the classroom.

The school encourages Arkansas high school juniors and seniors who have been involved in outstanding community service projects to apply for the award. The winner will receive a $1,000 scholarship. Students must apply by Tuesday, May 7 to be eligible for the award.

Applicants must submit a completed application form, a summary of their community service activities and an essay of no more than 500 words on one of the provided topics. Click here to download an application form.

Students may also send letters of recommendation, newspaper articles, or any other material that would help the committee make their decision.

The award was established in 2005 and named after inaugural recipient Daniel Cayce of Bearden who worked for 14 years helping needy families in Southeast Arkansas. Last year’s winner was Brady Hogg from Poyen High School who gathered food, money and gifts to benefit the families of heart transplant patients in memory of his brother Jake, who died after complications from a heart transplant in 2007.

Completed applications should be emailed to Nikolai DiPippa at ndipippa@clintonschool.uasys.edu or snail mailed to:

Daniel Cayce Award
Att: Nikolai DiPippa
1200 President Clinton Ave.
Little Rock, AR 72201

For questions regarding the award, email DiPippa or call him at 501-683-5206.

Arkansas 2032 attendees with state legislators who spoke at the conference.

Extending legislative term limits, encouraging regional collaboration in economic development, passing a sales tax increase for higher education and expanding the “Natural State” branding campaign to promote healthy lifestyles are among the state policy recommendations issued today by student leaders from roughly 40 Arkansas colleges and universities.

The students released their recommendations for state policymakers today at the “Arkansas 2032″ conference hosted by the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service. The recommendations covered several topics including economic development, public health, race relations, the aging population, K-12 public education and higher education. They will be forwarded to state elected officials and community leaders. Click here for a full list of the recommendations.

Among the recommendations are:

-    Extend state legislative term limits to 20 years collectively between both the House of Representatives and the Senate
-    Pass a half-cent sales tax increase designated specifically to higher education to supplement, not supplant, existing revenues
-    Develop a uniform distance-learning model that incorporates all Arkansas higher education institutions
-    Ensure entrepreneurs are able to obtain financing, including development of more micro-finance opportunities
-    Reduce dependence on standardized testing scores for learning assessment
-    Identify coalitions to help bridge regional gaps that currently exist within the state and adapt strategies to encourage more regional collaboration
-    Implement financial literacy curricula in the public school system (K-12)
-    Expand the Natural State advertising brand to include health promotion to increase awareness of existing natural resources for active living
-    Develop a multimedia public advertising campaign to every generational market featuring cultural icons addressing racism
-    Mandate K-12 and higher education campuses to have on-campus diversity professionals and/or department that provide preventative and responsive race relations programming.
-    Better utilize and promote the home health care system to facilitate independent living
-    Create a third party oversight entity that will identify and expose racial disparities in public systems addressing disparities in sentencing in our judicial system, governmental contracts and racial profiling by individuals of authority

The conference brought together student leaders from the state’s two- and four-year, public and private colleges and universities, as well as student representatives from UAMS, the University of Arkansas Law School and the UALR William H. Bowen School of Law. The presidents and chancellors of each campus nominated the students to attend the conference.

“This whole process has been in the hands of the students,” said Clinton School student Nate Looney, organizer of the event. “Based on their input, the topics of discussion were chosen for each day. This is important because the students are not only charged with talking through these issues, but we want them to collectively come up with recommendations that will positively impact the direction of our state. For this to work, the students had to be in complete control of the process.”

The Clinton School provided background research on each issue to prepare students to discuss these topics. In addition, experts from across the state participated in panel discussions for the students. The panelists included current elected officials, community and business leaders, and leaders in higher education.

Arkansas 2032 is supported in part by a grant from the Arkansas Humanities Council and the Department of Heritage. In addition, private gifts were made by Verizon Wireless, the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau, the McLarty family and the Entergy Charitable Foundation.

Todun Afolabi of Osun State, Nigeria, Dylan Buffalo of Las Vegas, Nev., Russell Carey of Jacksonville, Ark., and Leslie Miller Harris of Clarksville, Ark., partnered with the Arkansas Department of Human Services Division of Children and Family Services to complete the study.

Their research focused on foster youth between the ages of 14 and 21 with special placement considerations, such as those with a mental and behavioral disabilities; teen parents; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or questioning teens; previously incarcerated youth; sex offenders; and runaways or homeless youth.

The goal of the seven-month study was to find model programs from other states that Arkansas could implement to benefit members of these target populations. Emphasis was placed on finding programs that have undergone rigorous evaluations and demonstrate a clear link between the key elements of the program and the improved outcomes for foster youth.

“I want older youth in foster care to have access to the best possible programs that will meet their unique needs and prepare them for living independently,” said Jonathan Dunkley, state independent living coordinator for Transitional Youth Services. “The research done by the Clinton School students will be used as a guidebook by Arkansas providers that want to create programs to service older youth in foster care.”

For the Clinton School students who worked on the report, knowing that their research will improve the lives of youth in foster care was very motivating.

“People often hear negative statistics about foster care, but our research shows that some programs are having successful outcomes with foster youth,” Buffalo said. “I have no doubt that youth in Arkansas can also benefit from these programs.”

The report will be finalized and presented to the Department of Human Services executive board and key stakeholders in April.

Afolabi, Buffalo, Carey and Harris are first-year students in the Master of Public Service program at the Clinton School.  Theirs is one of ten projects completed this year by 36 Clinton School students across the state of Arkansas.

“Hungry children have a tougher time learning than other students, which means that hunger threatens their ability to succeed in school,” Beebe said. “The campaign to feed our children and end childhood hunger is an investment in the future of Arkansas.”

In order to determine where children currently receive food on nights and weekends, the Clinton School team interviewed food banks and surveyed over 1,000 feeding programs. They collected basic information on these programs’ operations and impact, and produced a set of tools that will help the campaign connect with, learn from and support these efforts.

Many children are unsure where their next meal will come from when not in school. For this reason, the campaign is giving attention to a number of programs that feed children on nights and weekends, when their access to food may be limited.

These tools consist of a directory of all identified non-congregate programs, a set of complimentary maps produced in collaboration with Anthony Davis at the Arkansas Geographic Information Office and an analysis of survey results.

“The outcomes of the students’ work will be instrumental in carrying out the next phase of our efforts to end childhood hunger in Arkansas,” said Joyce Hardy, director of the campaign.

The Clinton School team consists of Jordan Aibel of Miami, Fla., Katie Longino of Lufkin, Texas, Dylan Perry of Memphis, Tenn., and Andrea Price of Monticello, Ark. The team presented the results of their efforts at the general campaign meeting on March 14.

The students completed the project as part of the Clinton School’s Practicum program, the first of three field service projects in the Master of Public Service degree program.

The Clinton School students interviewed key stakeholders associated with priority issue areas identified by Arkansas Advocates, including early childhood education, juvenile justice, out-of-school programs and children’s health. After collecting videos, photos and written stories from these stakeholders, the students organized these resources within secure accounts, easily accessible to Arkansas Advocates staff members.

The presentation included specific recommendations for how officials with Arkansas Advocates can best use these stories when connecting with young professionals, a demographic they hope to further engage. Recommendations for sustaining and expanding the project were also included.

The students completed the project as part of the Clinton School’s Practicum program, one of three for-credit public service projects in the Master of Public Service degree program.

“Over the past two semesters, we’ve been very impressed by the magnitude of support Arkansas Advocates provides to at-risk families,” said Yana-Janell Scott, Clinton School Practicum team member. “Their work has a profound effect on people’s daily lives across the state and this project has given us practical insight into what it means to be a public servant.”

The students collected a total of 109 videos, 96 photos and seven written stories from public service providers and recipients in the four core issue areas. The final video content contains 450 minutes of footage from 35 interviewees. The students traveled 760 miles to eight cities in order to obtain the material.

“We’re really impressed with the work these students have done,” said Brett Kincaid, outreach director for Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families. “We started out with some pretty big ideas for what we ultimately wanted out of this project. To take such a huge task, focus in on some key issues and produce this level of work was not only really helpful to us but a major accomplishment in and of itself.”

This presentation marks the culmination of a yearlong project for Clinton School students Mitchell Adams of Morrilton, Ark., Rebecca Scissors of Ellicott City, Md., Yana-Janell Scott of Little Rock and Sydney Shearer of Nashville, Tenn.

The project is one of 10 completed by 36 Clinton School students across the state of Arkansas.