by Carolyn Preiss, IRP Member
The diverse and experienced members of the IRP have backgrounds in the sciences, arts, business, academia, law and more. They support objectives of the New School through a variety of volunteer endeavors. This energetic, committed group reaches beyond the IRP’s core of developing and participating in the 30+ Study Groups each semester. IRP members enthusiastically embrace community service and civic responsibility through intergenerational initiatives affecting university students as well as those in mid-life and beyond.
Programs include:
New School Voter Registration Project
“Let New School students’ voices be heard in the fall 2018 election,” was the rallying cry for three civic-minded IRP members to roll out a Voter Registration Project. This was done with IRP support and in collaboration with the New School Office of Student Leadership and Involvement. Additional IRP members wanting to join in to reach every student who might be eligible to vote eagerly volunteered for training by the League of Women Voters.
By the end of the spring semester, while still managing a learning curve, the volunteers registered 70 students and gave registration forms and advice to many more. They often lined up waiting for help. The students have been enthusiastic and their energy inspiring. IRP volunteers take pleasure working with them.
New School students continue to register and clearly recognize the importance of being able to participate in the mid-term election. As of the beginning of fall semester, close to 400 students were registered. Many from out-of-state were able to register in their own states. In addition to registration, the volunteers help students figure out their registration status, how to get absentee ballots, where their polling places might be, and how to deal with a system which may not have a record of their name on the rolls.
These efforts have not gone unnoticed in the academic community. Committee leaders have been contacted by other institutions inquiring about how to duplicate this program.
Plans for after the election? Stay tuned.
Conversations Partners Program
The conversation partners program pairs students enrolled in the English as a Second Language program with IRP volunteers who help students practice English and learn about American culture. Pairs meet for an hour a week following an agenda set according to mutual interests. They might visit a museum, watch a holiday parade, attend a concert, or just chat over a cup of coffee. ESL teachers meet regularly with volunteers offering suggestions for helping students and arranging for them to visit classes and participate in other ESL activities.
Conversation Partners was established at the IRP five years ago. Currently 27 pairs are meeting regularly. Many volunteers form rewarding relationships with their students, continue to meet until they graduate, and even visit them later in their home countries.
Virtual Senior Center Partnership
The IRP membership is represented by a cadre of engaged, enthusiastic, energetic volunteers who support not only the internal structure of the IRP, but also represent the New School in community volunteerism.
Since 2013, the IRP has partnered with the Virtual Senior Center, an initiative of Selfhelp Community Services, Inc., to lead classes for New York City homebound seniors with the help of user-friendly online technology. Supporting the philosophy that older people need to stay connected to the wider world to alleviate loneliness and depression, the IRP has provided 8 interactive, video-based web casts each semester to an ever-changing group of about 25. (Close to 90 sessions to date.)
The IRP volunteers develop and moderate these participant-based web casts on a variety of topics, each selected by the presenter–photography, art, literature, poetry, music, history, and more. The web casts originated from the IRP office enable participants to see, hear, and talk with other older adults in real time. The sessions last about 45 to 55 minutes, are lively and deeply appreciated by all.
Fridays@One
Fridays@One, initiated in 2004, and supported in part by the Estelle Tolkin Memorial Fund has showcased authors, documentary filmmakers, museum curators, actors, producers and other subject matter experts. Recent topics have included: “The Digital Divide: Income, Race and Broadband Access”; “Edith Windsor: An Unlikely Activist”; “How Blacklisting Set Back Civil Rights”; “U.S. Supreme Court Considers Gerrymandering”; “Jews and Palestinians: A Search for Common Ground”; “The Muslim American Experience”: and “A Tribute to Stephen Hawking.” Many presentations have been filmed and can now be found on YouTube.
Action shot/still from Hawking YouTube video.