Cleveland, OH

UPK at Your Service

Service learning usually enables students in middle and high schools to identify and solve problems in their communities and learn that their contributions are valued. Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK) leaders adapted service learning for preschool students and families. The project aimed to strengthen parents’ leadership skills and students’ confidence and self-worth, and increase everyone’s compassion and empathy for others.

At an orientation meeting for over 60 preschools’ ATPs at the start of the school year, the UPK Coordinator shared a list of potential family service-learning projects to spark ATPs thinking. Each ATP selected or designed a project to benefit a local family, group, or organization in their own community.  Some ATPs completed their good work prior to the COVID-19 closures. For example, teachers, parents, and students at various schools created and delivered Valentine’s Day cards for folks at a senior citizen’s center; collected pennies to buy supplies for a local animal shelter; donated food or clothing for families in need; and sang songs for residents at a local nursing home. Other schools revised their plans and projects after the COVID-19 closures. For example, some ATPs’ families and students collected and donated funds or obtained masks for essential health workers in the area.

The All-School UPK project was redesigned to raise the spirits of essential workers in the community.  Children and families across UPK schools contributed to a Virtual Photo Album to Show Gratitude for Essential Workers. Parents and children contributed art and photos to recognize the work of health professionals, grocery staff, trash collectors, police, firefighters, and others.  Some parents photographed their children with essential workers; other drew or painted their experiences. The online photo album and art portfolio were shared with essential workers throughout the Cleveland area.

See more about At Your Service in Promising Partnership Practices 2020.