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Printable Service-Learning Overview    MCC-BirdCOR Service-Learning Partnership
(printable flyer)   

Project Description & Sharing Expertise Forms

If you have a project in mind that might be suitable for a Service Project or your organization would like to share expertise with school or youth groups, please download the Project/Sharing Expertise Forms, fill out one or both of the forms, and submit them to the address shown on the document.

Please use a separate form for each project or area of expertise.


Service Project Guidelines & Requirements

Service projects can take many forms. They may be as simple as having a scout troop haul gravel for improving trails or assisting a school class as they improve their school grounds as habitat for birds. Other ideas are provided below:

BirdCOR organization participants can share their expertise by:

  • Helping older students be mentors to younger kids so they can learn about birds and nature.
  • Helping youth create a web page and use it to spread the word about conservation.
  • Working with local youth to hold an art contest and show that features activities to benefit wildlife and our community resources.
  • Helping students improve schoolyard or campus habitats by planting food and nesting trees and shrubs.
  • Serving as an advisor so that a youth group can write a newsletter on an environmental topic and distribute it each month, or so that students can create and educate their fellow students with other works such as poems or plays about birds.

Local Youth — from small children to young adults and college students — can help BirdCOR participating organizations by:

  • Helping design and carry out a membership campaign.
  • Redesigning newsletters or websites.
  • Helping with mailings and promotions.
  • Participating in bird surveys and other research projects.
  • Planting trees and shrubs in local parks or on other public lands.
  • Producing education programs and displays on bird and habitat conservation.
  • Working on trail construction or construction of trailside exhibits.

QUALITY REQUIREMENTS

Service projects done with the assistance of BirdCOR must have three things in common:

  • First, the project must rest on a sound scientific basis and respond to a real need. Whether it is library research on the nesting needs of birds or discussions with a landscape architect on the best way to include food and cover for birds in a planting design, BirdCOR organizations will need to help the youth involved build a solid foundation before the project begins;
  • Second, projects must be well planned. Partnerships between youth groups and BirdCOR organizations must be well defined in advance, and steps such as forming partnerships to help find resources and to do needed work must be well defined;
  • Third, projects must be safe and well supervised. Construction projects in particular require adequate oversight and consideration of hazards.

PUBLICITY and RECOGNITION

We ask all youth groups and organizations involved in Service Projects to document their projects so that others may learn from their efforts. We would like to receive a description of each project and pictures as the projects progress. Information from certain projects will be posted on this site.

BirdCOR will feature Service Projects at the IMBD festival.


About this Clearinghouse

OVERVIEW

BirdCOR acts as a broker to match school classes and youth groups with service projects in their communities. This is a good way for BirdCOR participating organizations to get some needed work done and/or share their expertise with the next generation of conservationists.

OBJECTIVE

This Clearinghouse exists to expand Service-Learning activity and raise funds for seed money to cover project expenses. BirdCOR participating organizations submit projects that they need done and which they think might be suitable for a Service Project. Alternatively, participating organizations may submit areas where they have particular expertise they are willing to share.

We then work to match these needs and areas of expertise. Conversely, groups can post projects they would like to participate in on the clearinghouse and BirdCOR participating organizations may then respond with suggestions and assistance.

BirdCOR will not supervise the projects. We will assist so that potential partners may work out the details themselves. We may also be able to provide small project grants depending on our current level of funding.

     
     
 
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