In collaboration with the Urban Scholar Program at UMass Boston, the JFK Library Corps engages high school students in research and discussion concerning issues that local neighborhoods, schools, and communities face. Students meet twice a week after school to design and conduct a research project focused on understanding urban social issues and developing solutions to local problems. They work together to create an action plan for addressing those problems and implement one of more of their proposed solutions. Service Corps High school students meet once a month at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum to discuss challenges that their communities face. Working together, they initiate and carry out service projects that address the needs of their communities.
Projects serve younger children, elders and the homeless, among others.
Past projects have included sweater drives for residents of local shelters, performances for residents of nursing homes, Census 2000 promotion, and tutoring younger children. Coupled with hours of community service, students take an in-depth look at the workings of government and the relationship between civic activism, or the lack thereof, and social problems. During school vacations, they visit government offices in Boston and in our nation s capital in hopes of better understanding the important role that they as citizens and future voters play in making a difference in our society. In partnership with the John W. McCormack Middle School, a Boston public school, the JFK Library Corps offers a school-based program for sixth and seventh grade students. The program provides opportunities for members to become better acquainted with the city in which they live, develop a greater appreciation for the diversity of Boston, and learn about the many community and cultural resources that are available to them.