Community Forum: Youth As
An Untapped Resource
By Jessica Murphy ’16,
Bonner Service Leader
ACE’s annual Community Forum is a
day-long event in which members of
both the Albany and Siena
communities come together to discuss
critical issues facing today’s youth. The
purpose of the forum is to foster
conversations about better serving and supporting our youth that will
result in the creation of action plans and partnerships between Siena
College and nonprofit organizations in the Capital Region. This year, we
had a broad range of attendees including Albany Mayor, Kathy Sheehan,
and Superintendent of the City School District of Albany, Dr.
Vanden Wyngaard, as well as various nonprofit professionals, local
community members, faculty, college administrators, and high school
and college students.
The Community Forum is held at Siena College and is planned and
organized by Siena students, nonprofit professionals from the local area,
and AmeriCorps*VISTA Fellows who are currently completing a year of
service with an ACE partner organization. Dr. Ruth Kassel, Assistant
Director of ACE, led the event planning this year. She also taught a onecredit course titled “Facilitating Community Change” in which she
helped students prepare for the Community Forum. These students
facilitated the various issue-specific workshops at the forum. This year
the issues included: financial literacy, healthy relationships, Latino/a
youth, increasing youth volunteerism in hunger and homelessness,
common core, and going beyond bullying in a school climate. In pairs
and small groups, the students focused on one of these issues and spent
the semester planning their workshop while connecting with nonprofits
in the community that related to their issue.
Anyone from the Albany community interested in supporting our youth
may attend ACE’s annual community forum. Participants take away
new knowledge and perspectives on particular issues local youth face,
and steps they can take in their own lives, personally and professionally,
to address these issues. The largest result of the Community Forum has
been the many connections, collaborations, and partnerships formed
between individuals and organizations, essential developments if we
want to combat the issues our youth are facing.
Q&A with
Community Forum
Facilitator Jessica
Murphy ’16
Q: What inspired you to be a
facilitator at the Community
Forum?
When I was asked to be a student
facilitator for the Community Forum
I saw it as an opportunity to address
issues I was passionate about. I
thought it would be cool to
meet individuals and learn about
organizations focused on combating
these issues as well.
Q: What workshop did you
facilitate and why?
I facilitated the Healthy Relationships
workshop because I noticed how little
students learn about what a healthy
relationship is and how to maintain
one. Education typically focuses on
teaching students about unhealthy
relationships and signs to recognize
them if they see them or are in one. I
wanted to try and incorporate healthy
relationships into that discussion
and thought the Community Forum
would be an awesome way to do so.
Q: What did you take away
from this experience?
I took away the inspiration I received
from all of the participants in the
Community Forum. It was
empowering to join together with so
many people dedicated to supporting
our youth and passionate about
serving the community.
DEEP Service Magazine | Page 7