skip to content

Community Outreach

Alternative Breaks Immersion Weekends

Bridgeport, CT, Immersion Weekend April 9-11, 2010 (Spring 2010 Trip)

General Program Information
Issue Focus: Affordable Housing
Cost of Trip: $65.00
Student Trip Director(s): Lauren Young, Trip Director (uconn.co.bridgeport@gmail.com)
Acceptance of Applications: January 19, 2010
Application Deadline: February 18, 2010 at 4:30pm
Notification of Participation: February 25, 2010
Trip Leaves: April 9, 2010
Trip Returns: April 11, 2010

** Price will vary based on program expenses and fundraising efforts.

Discussion of the Issue:

With over 13 million US households paying over 50% of their total incomes on housing, America faces an often unspoken but truly unacceptable moral crisis. Compounding this is the fact that over 6 million Americans live in households which are inhabited by more people than there are rooms; further, 1 in 7 Americans lives in housing which lacks decent physical infrastructure, like flushing toilets, showers or electricity. To learn more about America’s moral housing crisis, check out some of the statistics which Habitat for Humanity has compiled: http://www.habitat.org/how/stats.aspx

There are many reasons for the unacceptable living conditions in which America’s poor live; wage suppression is one of them. Fortunately, the House of Representatives voted to increase the minimum wage substantially, after 10 years of stagnation, which eroded minimum earners’ purchasing power as inflation grew. There are, however, many things that we as college students can do to help. Getting physically involved in our communities is one of the best.

This spring, Community Outreach will work in coordination with Habitat for Humanity to help build affordable housing in the Bridgeport, CT area. This alternative break weekend will involve hands-on volunteer work, which is a crucial “on-the-ground” contribution to ameliorating our own community’s housing crisis. But because hands-on volunteering is like putting a band-aid over a wound, it is important that another component of our alternative break include education, to help put our observations into context and prepare us for confronting the housing crisis on a broader scale.

Trip Preparation

Alternative Breaks are a full immersive experience and require a large commitment during the trip as well as before and after the experience. Each trip will hold MANDATORY Pre-Trip Meetings to prepare for the trip and become educated on the social issue. Education is one of the three critical components of an alternative break and allows participants to understand the reason for their service-learning experience. Meetings are generally held once a week leading up to the trip and run on average about an hour and a half. Participants will meet to discuss educational materials, trip logistics, fundraising efforts, and to participate in group builders.

Trip Logistics

Trip planning is headed by the student trip directors and occurs in the first months of school. Trip Logistics are gone over more in depth as you are selected for the program and begin attending pre-trip meetings. This is a major part of pre-trip preparation is ensuring all participants are on the same page with trip logistics. Here are some standard trip logistics that most experiences have:

Trip Length: Weekend
Cost of Trip: $65.00
Amount of Pre-Tip Meetings: 4
Mode of Transportation: Driving: MiniVans
Amount of Participants: 12 Students, 1 Student Leader, 1 Staff
Food: All groups generally cook most of their meals themselves. However, sometimes the agencies that we work with will do the cooking for us and provide us with all of our meals for the week! Most of our meals are simple to create a full immersive experience.
Sleeping Quarters: The majority of our trips “rough-it” and generally sleep on floors of churches, on cots, and sometimes in beds. We require all students to bring sheets, blankets, and their own pillows for the most part unless the agency supplies these amenities. Sleeping quarters are separated by gender unless extenuating circumstances arise.
What to Bring: (Sample packing list COMING SOON!)
Activities (Social & Service): Each trip has a healthy balance of service and social activities and down-time. Service generally takes up 6-8 hours of each day. Each trip has one social day where the group can go out and explore around the city they are in doing agreed upon activities by the group. Nights provide time for reflection activities and rest & relaxation as well as an opportunity to get to know your group even better!
Sample Schedule: Coming Soon!

TO APPLY, PLEASE CLICK HERE!

More Questions?

« Back to top