Volunteer and Service Center — Community Service Opportunities For Majors In: Arts

Community Service Opportunities For Majors In: Arts

“Through experiences in and out of the classroom students develop the habit of intellectual inquiry, prepare for challenging professions, strengthen relationships with their communities and contribute productively to society.”

-CSUF Mission Statement

There is no question that our faculty, staff, and students are actively involved in the Orange County community. The Volunteer and Service Center (VSC) also recognizes the wealth of volunteerism and service in the community. In order to enhance the wealth of the students, the VSC promotes additional community partnerships to build your leadership skills.

It is our civic duty to shift the focus and internal concerns from ourselves and apply our unique individual skills by exploring creatively with others. Community-based learning is a commitment on behalf of the students, faculty, academic programs and institutions to put our knowledge, skills and values to work to identify and address problems that are important to society.

Research shows that there are positive outcomes by participating in activities such as volunteerism and community service. It shows significant positive effects on academic performance (GPA, writing skills, critical thinking), values (commitment to activism and promoting multicultural understanding), self-efficacy, leadership (leadership activities, interpersonal skills), awareness of the world, career goals, and decisions to integrate service into life after college.

An excellent way to complement the academic learning process is through hands-on experience. An ideal way to get this experience is through community service and volunteerism. This involves applying your energy, skills, enthusiasm, and desire to make a difference in your world! The following are just a few examples of how you can get involved in a service project related to your major or career interests:

Music Offer instrumental lessons to shelter residents, children living in poverty, people who are elderly; provide performances in shelters, schools, hospitals, and nursing homes; donate proceeds of shows and concerts to non-profit organizations.
Theatre
Put on plays in local shelters, schools, hospitals, and nursing homes; donate proceeds of shows and concerts to non-profit organizations.
Dance
Put on free performances in shelters, schools, hospitals, and nursing homes, and drug rehabilitation clinics; offer a class in local community center; teach children cultural dances; assist with a dance therapy program at a local shelter or hospital.
Art/Art History & Graphic Design
Donate your time to non-profit organizations to design brochures, annual reports, logos, and other publications; teach classes in community centers, nursing homes, appreciation for the arts and encourage careers in the arts; volunteer with an arts council; lobby for funding for the arts.

There are many ways for you to become involved in community service and gain hands-on experience associated with your major. The following are just a few examples of agencies with service opportunities related to the majors in your college.

Contact List

READ Orange County: The Adult Literacy Program; Orange County Public Library (714) 566-3070; The mission of READ-Orange County is to create a more literate community by providing diversified services of the highest quality to all who seek them.

Casa Youth Shelter: Los Alamitos, CA (714) 995-8601; Provides crisis shelter care, professional counseling, and educational services for runaway and homeless youth and the family members.

YMCA of Orange County: Tustin (714) 549-9622; In Orange County, licensed foster homes with tutoring and mentoring programs.

Art & Creativity for Healing Inc.: Laguna Niguel (949) 367-1902; This corporation offers art and creativity for healing, free of charge, to children and adults suffering from illness, grief, or stress. Volunteers are needed to conduct workshops with art or help in the office.

Blind Children’s Learning Center: Santa Ana (714) 573-8888; Provides instruction for the blind and visually impaired children, birth to 21 years. Classroom volunteers assist the teacher in the classroom.

Project CHERISH: Community Helpers Engaged in Restoring and Improving Senior’s Homes.; Rodger’s Senior Center (714) 536-9387; Provides free home maintenance to Huntington Beach seniors who are physically unable to do the work themselves and unable to pay to have it done.

Brea’s Community Volunteer Program: Brea Gallery; Brea (714) 990-7175; Volunteers are needed in the Gallery to greet visitors, answer patron questions over the telephone, and work in Gallery gift shop. Become a children’s art assistant helping with special projects.

Stop GAP: Irvine (714) 979-7061; Provides therapeutic drama workshops using role-play for groups such as high-risk youth, battered women, seniors, youth and adults in recovery, abused children in the hospital.

The Children’s Museum at La Habra: La Habra (562) 905-9793; The mission of the Children’s Museum is to encourage enthusiasm about learning in a hands-on environment that opens the world to even the youngest child. Volunteers are needed to lead tours, maintain galleries, assist with art programs and special events, as well as carpentry, painting and building.

Orange County Therapeutic Arts Center: Santa Ana (714) 547-5468; The Orange County Children’s Therapeutic Arts Center (OCCTAC) is a local non-profit organization dedicated to education, empowerment and therapy of at-risk youth and children with limited resources. Their focus as a community-based organization is to serve children and their families, providing early start, pre-school, enrichment and after-school programs.