Unity through Community Service Activities

August John Hoffman is a professor of psychology at California State University Northridge and El Camino College-Compton Center. His research interests include community service work and student mentoring as effective methods to reduce ethnic conflict and improve self-efficacy among community college students. Born in Havana, the late Norma Espinosa Parker was a developer of the CCC Cultural and Fine Arts Academy, whose more than 300 students from different backgrounds, cultures, and races were enrolled in a summer and after school music program. Eduardo Sanchez is a psychology student at California State University Northridge. He collaborates with Hoffman on various research projects involving community relations. His research interests include interracial interaction through community service work. Julie Wallach is a graduate of California State University Northridge. She has co-authored more than a dozen articles with Hoffman.

• Table of ContentsIntroduction      1. Community Service Work in Compton College: Bringing People Together via Gardening Work      2. Group Work as a Necessary Factor of Human Evolution: Work Cooperatively Together or Perish      3. The Establishment of Roles within the Group      4. The Dynamic Relationship between Collaborative Learning and Community Service Work: Working Together for a Common Purpose      5. The Relationship between Community Service Learning and Interdependency: Our “External” DifferencesHelp Us to Realize Our “Internal” Similarities      6. Community Service Work: Improving Communication and Reducing Student Ethnocentrism      7. Teaching Principles of Group Development vs. Individual Gain      8. Reducing Prejudice and Discrimination via Interdependency      9. Keeping It Real: The Influence of Technology on the Quality of Interpersonal and Group Relationships      10. The Paradox of Maintaining Ethnic and Cultural Identity and Assimilating in the Dominant Group      11. Reducing Hate Crimes via Community Service Work in Multiethnic Student Populations      12. The Critical Periods for Incorporating Community Service Work Principles      Appendix A Understanding Immigration Reform and Ethnocentrism from the Cuban Perspective (by Dr. Norma Espinosa Parker)      Appendix B Directly from the People: How Community Service Work Has Changed the Lives of Individuals within the Community      Bibliography      Index