Students in the George Warren Brown School of Social Work usually spend their days in class or off campus at practicum sites.
Now the social work theory learned in the classroom and the field is being put into practice inside the school itself, through a new project called Grounds for Change (GFC).
Established in September by Lisa Harper Chang and Sarah Hunter, both master of social work students, GFC is a community space on the main level of Goldfarb Hall.
“During our ‘Social Work Practice With Organizations and Communities’ class, Sarah and I realized that there really wasn’t a space in the school that fostered dialogue between students, staff and faculty,” Harper Chang said.
“Using what we learned in class, we proposed GFC as a community building project and received a great amount of support from the administration.”
Besides serving as a gathering place, GFC offers coffee and snacks for a donation. All profits go to the school’s Student Coordinating Council.
“Coffee is a great vehicle for bringing people together, and it’s been wonderful to get to know faculty, staff and other students we normally wouldn’t see in the building,” Harper Chang said. “GFC facilitates learning from peers outside of the classroom.”
GFC organizers also hope to promote ecological and green living. The coffee served is fair-trade and the snacks are organic or locally produced. Visitors are encouraged to bring their own mug, or they can purchase a cup.
“We hope GFC helps people start to think about making a conscious consumer choice,” Hunter said. “It goes beyond the environment. Thinking about individual choices can impact how we work with our social work clients in the future.”
According to Hunter, GFC has changed how people interact within the school.
“It seems like there’s more interaction between student groups, and it’s nice to see people coming back to campus to hang out and network,” she said.
Gautam Yadama, Ph.D., director of international programs and associate professor in the school, has great hopes for GFC.
“It is, after all, an organization about change, and finding those vital grounds for change should be their driving force,” he said. “As GFC grows, the students will continually look for newer arenas of social change through this wonderful enterprise they have begun.”
GFC organizers plan to expand programming to include lunch discussion groups, open mic nights and art exhibits.
“We hope that GFC becomes a place where members of the Brown community can express their creative selves,” Harper Chang said.