Students Benefit from Civic Engagement

A new study from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) indicates that college students who put more time and energy into educational experiences that matter to them, both in and out of the classroom, acquire a more substantive education along with important life skills, such as critical thinking, thoughtful decision-making and greater awareness of the world around them.

The 2004 study is based on the latest results of an annual survey NSSE conducts to measure the effectiveness of colleges in areas such as the level of academic challenge, opportunities for active and collaborative learning, quality of student-faculty interaction, enriching educational experiences and maintaining a supportive campus environment.

This year, a “deep learning” scale was added to the survey to probe three areas: higher-order learning, involving analysis, organization and synthesis; integrative learning, connecting disparate information and ideas to a central thesis; and reflective learning, applying what’s been learned in the classroom to life experiences. Results from this new area of questioning indicate that students involved in “deep learning” activities report greater educational and personal gains and are more satisfied overall with college, and also, that students from historically black colleges and universities are far more likely to participate in a course-related community project and to report greater gains in personal, social and ethical development.

NSSE, located at the Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research in Bloomington, was launched with financial support from The Pew Charitable Trusts, with additional funding from Lumina Foundation for Education and the Center for Inquiry in the Liberal Arts at Wabash College. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Pew Forum on Undergraduate Learning co-sponsored the report.

To learn more about the Student Engagement: Pathways to Collegiate Success report, go to http://www.indiana.edu/~nsse/.

New York City Out-of-School
Programs Strengthened


The New York City-based Wallace Foundation has committed $12 million toward strengthening out-of-school programs (after-school and weekend activities) for children in New York City with the goals of building participation in these activities and improving the quality of existing programs.

The five-year grant, made to the nonprofit Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City, builds on earlier Wallace-funded research aimed at supporting the development of quality standards and improving coordination of services for the city’s out-of-school programs.

In a related step, the Wallace Foundation has released a report called All Work and No Play? Listening to What Kids and Parents Really Want from Out-of-School Time, which presents data from a national survey of 609 middle and high school students and 1,000 parents and guardians about what they want from out-of-school programs and their level of satisfaction with the programs currently available to them.

The study shows that more than half of all students participate in some kind of out-of-school program or activity nearly every day of the week. Although most youngsters agree they may have to be pushed by parents to “do things that are good for me,” students and parents alike believe organized activities counteract boredom, a condition both young and old respondents think leads to “getting into trouble.”

While everyone agrees on the benefits of out-of-school programs, striking disparities appeared when parents were asked to rate the quality, affordability and availability of programs. Minority and low-income respondents, by wide margins, were less likely than white and high-income participants to say it was easy to find affordable, high-quality programs that were conveniently located. Minority and low-income participants were also more likely to say that communities could do a lot more for elementary school children and teenagers.

For more information about the grant to New York City and the new report, go to www.wallacefoundation.org.

Public Health Preparedness and
Bioterrorism Project


After the 2001 anthrax attacks in the eastern United States, Congress passed the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act, which authorized more than $4 billion to upgrade and improve the nation’s public health system. The Century Foundation, with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, organized the Public Health Preparedness and Bioterrorism Project, part of its larger Homeland Security Project, to study how states and cities were using these new resources.

The project involved a national survey of state and local health officials, a close analysis of changes to the public health system of one state (Illinois) and a working group of public health experts that put forth recommendations based on information gathered by the project.

Data from the national survey confirm that federal funding has resulted in positive benefits to the public health system, such as technological upgrades and better coordination between local communities and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, in spite of these improvements, experts have concluded that at the current time, no state is yet capable of meeting a major public health threat that would involve coordination between states and regional areas to accommodate and treat large numbers of patients.

The project’s newest report, called Breathing Easier? Report of The Century Foundation Working Group on Bioterrorism Preparedness, offers recommendations for further improving the country’s public health infrastructure.

Key among the recommendations is that government should define “public health preparedness” and develop minimum national standards. Other suggestions include enlarging the public health workforce, sustaining federal and state funding priorities and maintaining and expanding the vital functions of the public health system, such as developing and administering vaccinations.

The report is available online at http://www.tcf.org/.

W.K. Kellogg Foundation Marks 75th Anniversary


This year, the Kellogg Foundation is celebrating its 75th anniversary through a series of special programs that will spotlight its grantees, encourage innovative practices and promote the vision of founder W.K. Kellogg “to help people help themselves through the practical application of knowledge and resources to improve their quality of life and that of future generations.”

The activities include special grants targeting the Kellogg Foundation’s hometown of Battle Creek and home state of Michigan as well as national and international projects. The anniversary grants focus on key Kellogg program areas—health, food systems and rural development, youth and education, and philanthropy and volunteerism.

The special awards include grants to U.S. organizations to strengthen the nursing profession and to build rural entrepreneurship. International grantmaking will support programs for AIDS orphans in Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa, and reward effective practices that counteract poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Plans also call for a series of global seminars that will be held in the United States, Brazil and South Africa. Late in the summer, the foundation will sponsor the Battle Creek PeaceJam, an international education program for young people, featuring Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

For more information about the foundation’s anniversary plans, go to www.wkkf.org.

The Future of the Internet


The Pew Internet & American Life Project has completed a survey of technology stakeholders about the future of the Internet in the coming decade.

Key among the findings is that most experts foresee the Internet becoming so important to profit, nonprofit and public organizations that it will become a prime target for attack. In fact, two-thirds of respondents expect at least one devastating attack to be directed at either the Internet infrastructure or the country’s power grid in the next ten years.

Experts also predict that the number of users will multiply as computing devices proliferate and broadband usage increases, user information is routinely embedded in appliances, cars, phones and even clothes, and online business and personal transactions become more commonplace. At the same time, increased online activity may well result in a corresponding rise in Internet vulnerability; as more and more personal information is transmitted via the Web, opportunities for security breaches will also intensify.

Asked to rate the amount of change the Internet will make to various institutions, a majority predict the greatest transformation will be seen in the news and publishing industries, primarily because of the expanding popularity of blogging.

The experts also expect that Internet developments will affect the structure of formal education, with virtual classes becoming widespread and organized by interests and skills rather
than age. They also anticipate changes in family dynamics as advancements in telecommuting will blur work and leisure boundaries.

The Future of the Internet is available online at http://www.pewinternet.org.

South Asia Tsunami Relief


Although fundraising for tsunami relief efforts continues, it is already clear that charitable giving in the wake of this disaster will reach unprecedented levels. The Foundation Center’s Philanthropy News Digest has been compiling data about the philanthropic response from news media and other sources. Its archive of abstracted stories and lists of foundation and corporate pledges provides strong evidence of an overwhelming outpouring of gifts across the board.

While there can be no doubt that the enormity of the tragedy has been responsible for the tremendous influx of donations, there are indications that changes in the way individuals are making donations are also part of the story. Nearly $500 million in individual donations were made online within a month of the tragedy, an indication of just how much the Internet has
revolutionized charitable giving.

The foundation sector has also been quick to respond, with millions of dollars pledged by grantmaking organizations within a few weeks of the calamity. This support has been designated for both short-term emergency operations on the ground and long-term programs to rebuild infrastructure and community services.

Within the business sector, it has been reported that corporate support for disaster relief will ultimately generate about $750 million in cash and in-kind gifts, which would outpace the sector’s donations for disaster relief following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Some businesses have also launched matching-gift programs to augment employee donations to relief programs.

While there is speculation that the overwhelming response to the tsunami disaster will result in fewer donations to unrelated nonprofits, experts who have examined giving patterns for 9/11 relief say this was not the case for that tragedy. In fact, a short-term dip in nonprofit donations immediately after the attacks was followed by an increase in charitable contributions overall as new donors developed regular giving patterns.

For more information, go to www.fdncenter.org.

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