Take NCP to School!

The New Community Project is very interested in engaging young people with its message of fairness among people and sustainable lifestyles towards the Earth. Director David Radcliff or other staff are available for all-school assemblies and meeting with individual classes. Depending on the setting, presentations may include photography from trips to Central America, Africa, Iraq , North and South Korea , the Amazon, and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Take-home hand-outs may also be provided.

"I had David Radcliff speak to all of our freshman biology classes at the beginning of our ecology unit.  He provided a fast paced, interactive presentation jam packed with interesting facts.  Did you know that 40 million plastic water bottles are thrown away daily?  He was able to make the ecological issues facing our world relevant to the students' lives by showing them how the choices they make on a daily basis are felt around the world.  His slide show of his Amazon trip and stories of the indigenous people made the destruction of the rainforest "real" to our students.  Since his visit, I've noticed my students are more interested in our study of ecology and are making more of an effort to remember to recycle paper, plastic bottles and cans at school."
Amy Hollenberg, biology teacher, South Side High School, Fort Wayne, IN

See what they said in a Pennsylvania high school and an Indiana middle school!

Presentations are geared to the interests of teachers or administrators. Samples of possible presentation topics include:

One Earth, One Chance
What are the challenges facing the earth and its living systems, as well as humankind as we depend on the earth for life? Discussion of global warming, deforestation, air and water pollution, and other concerns, while considering how we can make a difference by our everyday choices related to consumption, energy use, etc.

Together We Stand
We are linked with people all around the world by the clothes we wear, the sports equipment we buy, the air we breathe. Living in a globalized world presents many opportunities and challenges—how can we live responsibly in this new world? A discussion of the variety and diversity of the world’s people, along with the ways our lives impact—sometimes negatively—their lives, and how we can live in this world with respect toward our neighbors.

Hunger 101
In a world where there is more than enough food to go around, why are nearly 1 billion people hungry? A discussion of the causes, effects, and possible solutions to hunger, and what we can do to make life better for our neighbors.

Global Neighborhood - getting specific
Presentations are available on specific areas of the world such as Nepal, Burma, Sudan, Central America, the Arctic, the Amazon, North and South Korea, or on specific issues such as child labor, challenges facing women and girls, global warming, etc.

Even though the New Community Project is a faith-based nonprofit, this would not be a religiously-oriented presentation. Fees are flexible, but would hopefully cover travel costs and a modest contribution to New Community Project. Travel costs would be off-set if staff are already in the area for other assignments.

Fourth, Eighth and Elders in Indiana
(From 4th grade teacher Roger Cox)

In our interdisciplinary intergenerational Grand Buddies program, community elders team up with our fourth grade students for a year-long project designed to increase awareness of and action  involvement in "community' concerns.  For 2006-2007 our focus  was the environment.  As part of their preparation, we invited David Radcliff to come to our school to  conduct environmental workshops for our assembled group and for our  eighth grade students.

David spent several class periods with the eighth grade students  talking about water resources, their use and misuse, as well as other  related topics.  With our Grand Buddy group, he spent an entire  morning presenting material and media that pertained to the areas of  study: rain forests, endangered animals, ocean resources, global  warming, and pollution.  David's presentations were well organized,  informative, and provocative.  His teaching style is very  interactive.  He uses the knowledge and experience of his audience  and the experience of his own life to build the body of knowledge and  the ideas about which he is talking.  His active style energizes the  audience to contribute and facilitates an active and relevant  exchange of ideas.  He has a unique ability to weave the  contributions of his audience into the text of his presentation.  The  eighth graders and their teachers, the fourth grade students and  their Grand Buddies all felt that their time with David was very  worthwhile.  The authenticity with which David presents his ideas  profoundly impacted both audiences in terms of their thinking about  the Earth and it challenges.

Roger K. Cox has been a fourth grade teacher for the past 15 years at the Stanley Clark  School in South Bend, Indiana.

Rhea Cotillo was instrumental in having David Radcliff speak at her high school in Pennsylvania . Here's what she reported some of the students had to say after his visit.

"David's stories were eye-opening, I can't believe we are spending hundreds of dollars on purses when thousands of children don't have clean water."  

"Amazing speaker, he cared about what he was doing which is more inspirational than any statistic."   

"Out of all the presenters this year I learned the most from his story."  

"David Radcliff came to a public school and told of the world. He didn't rose-color the stories he told from different cultures. We learned what was going on in real communities across the globe and how we could do something to help. He didn't press his opinion on us, we were inspired by the passion he brought to his stories."

"Nowhere in high school has someone told us that our ways of living affect the environment. He told it how it is and how we could do something about it. He is an amazing person with amazing stories who really touched the kids in the room.

"No other speaker had quite an affect on the students as David did, and no other speaker had left students with such a newfound interest in their topic. The statistics David wrote down were frantically being copied. Questions streamed in, students wanted to know more about the culture of countries that they have never been to.

"We all also wanted to know how we could make a difference, and David offered his help."

 

Contact:

David Radcliff, director at dradcliff@newcommunityproject.org; 888-800-2985
Kim Chaffin, creation stewardship specialist at kchaffin@newcommunityproject.org; 540-366-6389