Alternative Spring Break 2010
Held during the traditional spring break period, Alternative Spring Break is a program where students travel beyond Duke and Durham and participate in projects where they not only serve the community but learn about issues affecting communities with which they may not otherwise interact. Alternative Spring Break provides an in depth look at a number of social issues and gives participants the opportunity to learn, reflect, and identify ways that they can have an impact on issues facing society.
This year's Alternative Spring Break options will focus on issues surrounding hunger and homelessness.
New York City, New York- March 7-14, 2010
Cost: $150
Description: Each year 100,000 New Yorkers experience homelessness. Each night, over 38,000 homeless individuals sleep in the New York City shelter system. This includes more than 16,000 children and 8,000 single adults. Thousands more sleep on city streets and in other public places. There are over 1,000 soup kitchens & food pantries in NYC and 2,700 in NY State serving 2 million New Yorkers annually. Everyday they turn away over 2,500 people.
In this experience, students will engage in an intense immersion program that helps volunteers understand service and homelessness. Students will live in Brooklyn and volunteer at different sites around New York City serving meals at soup kitchens, providing recreation to formerly homeless children, distributing food and supplies at pantries, and bringing snacks to people at drop-in centers. By traveling to different sites each day, students will see a variety of services provided in the city and a number of different neighborhoods. One evening of the experience, students will prepare a meal for homeless people who sleep in a nearby shelter. The shelter guests and students will come together for a relaxing dinner and social time.
Washington, DC- March 7-14, 2010
Cost: $150
Description: Washington, D.C. has the 7th highest poverty rate in the country-16.4% as of 2007, and has the highest proportion of people in the U.S. with the lowest income levels. 22.7% of all D.C. children under 18 live at or below the poverty line, which is $20,650 for a family of four. At least 17,800 people are homeless in Washington, D.C. over the course of a year, one of the highest rates in the country. On an average day in 2008, approximately 6,044 persons in the District of Columbia were homeless. 47% of these individuals are “chronically homeless,” meaning they have been homeless for more than a year. Washington, DC is the second least affordable jurisdiction in the country in terms of housing costs. Families represent 30.4% of DC’s homeless population. The number of homeless families seeking shelter in DC over the course of a year is more than 2,000.
The Washington DC ASB site will have a strong focus on experiential learning. To begin the week, students will participate in the Student Homeless Challenge Project sponsored by the National Coalition for the Homeless. For 48 hours, students will live on the streets of DC dressed as homeless men and women in an effort to truly comprehend the realities of daily life for the millions of homeless Americans who experience it. Participants will spend the next few days volunteering at soup kitchens and other organizations that serve the homeless and hungry, and will conclude the week learning about lobbying, with an opportunity to lobby on Capitol Hill.
Information Sessions
*Please attend an information session for more details. Priority will be given to applicants that attend.
Wednesday, November 11, 6:00pm, GA Down Under
Thursday, November 12, 6:00pm, OSAF
Applications are due December 2 at 5:00pm. Click here to apply!
For more information email dukeasb@gmail.com.