Visioning+a+civic+identity+for+low-income+students

**Visioning a civic identity for low-income students: The intersection of student engagement, civic engagement, and financial scholarships** Laurie Marks, Director, UW-Milwaukee Center for Volunteerism & Student Leadership, University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee lmarks@uwm.edu]



 ** Keywords: ** citizen capital, Civic Identity Development Theory, Grounded Theory methodology

 ** Track: ** Student development and learning

 ** Format: ** Research paper


 * Date & time: **Thursday 2:00-3:10


 * Location: **Salon 12

 ** Summary: ** Programs in which students do a specific number of community service hours in exchange for financial scholarships may provide universities with a way to engage low-income college students in a co-curricular activity that is more comfortable, accessible and beneficial than the traditional student involvement offerings. A qualitative study was done utilizing grounded theory methodology to examine the experiences of low-income students in community service scholarship programs; more specifically how such programs impact the rest of the curricular and co-curricular experience, as well as participants' long-term commitment to be being civically engaged. Classroom-based reflection activities, coupled with mentorship in a community service setting, can facilitate a clearer sense of one’s civic identity and it can deepen students’ commitment to service. When college students involved in community service activities are helped to understand the //complexities// of their service through experiential learning and course-based reflection, their //commitment// to civic engagement is likely to deepen and continue.

The results from this study suggest low-income students benefited from community service scholarship programs in ways that their middle and upper-income peers may not need to because of existing non-financial resources at their disposal. The research resulted in the Citizen Capital and Civic Identity Development Theory, whose core concept is "Visioning Civic Identity". The practical implications involve the way campus-based community service scholarship programs are administered and who they should target (low-income students) as opposed to casting a wider net. The research also promotes a re-examination of how scholarship funds are distributed on the federal level to those doing volunteer service.

**References:** There were no references provided with this proposal.

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 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">My presentation was in the form of a prezi, which you can access using this link: **

http://prezi.com/0l_xhaj7pfyc/iarslce-conference-presentation/