Signing an partnership agreement between Tusculum College and the Homeless Coalition in Johnson City are Robin Fife, left, director of Tusculum's Service-Learning Center, and Bob Merritt, chairman of the Homeless Coalition.

Tusculum College's Service-Learning Center enters partnership with Homeless Coalition in Johnson City

Strengthening the services provided to the homeless population in the Johnson City area through collaborative projects and research is the focus of a new partnership between Tusculum College and the Homeless Coalition.

Psychology classes are currently engaged in a community-based research project addressing homeless issues as part of the partnership agreement, signed recently by representatives from Tusculum's Service-Learning Center and the Homeless Coalition, a group of service providers working proactively together, in order to dramatically reduce the suffering of the homeless population in the greater Johnson City area.

"We are pleased to have this partnership formalize a relationship we have shared for the past several years," explained Robin Fife, director of the Service-Learning Center. "It will provide a strong framework , both for increasing student learning and addressing community interests."

The shared goal of the partnership is to identify potential needs of the Homeless Coalition agencies or areas that can be addressed through service-learning projects across the academic disciplines on campus.

In addition to the research by the psychology courses, the college is developing a service-learning course focused on meeting identified coalition needs either through research and/or direct service. In the course, students may conduct a community-based research project for use in obtaining potential grants as well as to collect valuable data for all the agencies involved in the Homeless Coalition.

The students will then develop a method of sharing that information that will help build a more comprehensive and consistent community-wide effort to address homeless issues. They will also engage in research involving the complexity of delivery of services to the homeless population.

Other activities in the partnership include holding a summer workshop to promote joint service and service-learning projects; communicating with Homeless Coalition agencies to identify additional service-learning opportunities; and providing information about grant opportunities to coalition members as well as educational presentations by college students, faculty and staff.

The partnership also supports Tusculum's commitment to developing strong citizenship qualities in its students. Activities are designed to give the students a deeper understanding of the issues of homelessness, such as mental illness and substance abuse, as well as an avenue to develop communication skills, critical thinking, and use of the imagination to seek solutions to problems affecting the community at large.