More volunteer options planned, expanded Good Neighbor Center opens

Eric Zuniga, Campus Carrier news editor

Anna Gorman, Campus Carrier staff writer

The Office of Diversity and Belonging has changed its name to the Office of Belonging and Community Engagement following a merger with Volunteer Services and the Bonner Center for Community Engagement. This change was made to prioritize community service, encompass the mission of “Good Neighbor Culture” and uphold the college’s reputation for community engagement.

“Community engagement is a part of our scope as an office,” Chief Belonging and Community Engagement Officer Haley Smith said. “When we say diversity and belonging, I don’t know that people jump to thinking that community engagement is a part of that. We need to make sure we’re very clear in whatever our name is, that it shows the broad scope community engagement is as a part of the work we do.”

Smith said that the shift from “diversity” to “belonging” in the office’s name does not signal a change in Berry’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. 

“Belonging takes what’s happening with diversity and making sure that we’re not just recruiting and that we have a diverse population on campus, but that whoever those diverse populations on campus are, they feel like this is for them,” Smith said. “For us, this was about making sure that this never goes away and that it’s reinstated, and that we’re very clear that it’s going to continue to be a priority to Berry. It’s actually a part of [the college’s] mission statement.” 

The merger of the Office of Diversity and Belonging with the Bonner Center for Community Engagement took place following an external review of the Bonner Center in March 2023 that highlighted Berry’s ethos of service, according to Chandler. The reorganization was completed in December 2023.

“We’re doing strong community work,” Chandler said. “We have an Office of Diversity and Inclusion, and then the Office of Diversity and Belonging, who is promoting and uplifting Good Neighbor Culture. And those two things just seamlessly fit together.”

The Bonner Center for Community Engagement came under the Office for Diversity and Belonging and physically moved to Krannert in the spring.

Since its name change, the Office of Belonging and Community Engagement has made changes to community service efforts around campus. Volunteer Services is now known as Berry Impact, a nod to the effect Berry students have on local services.

“Berry students have a reputation of being good workers,” Chandler said. “They show up and they get the job done. I often hear from community partners, ‘it’s so nice because they don’t complain.’”

The office also started holding a volunteer service event during Viking Venture in August. According to Chandler, “First Year Service Day” used to be on the first Saturday following the start of class, and every BCC class went out to their designated service at the same time. 

“We got to a point where we realized that logistically that was really challenging – not necessarily for us, but mostly for our community partners,” Chandler said. “We were asking people who were already overworked and sometimes underpaid to give up their weekend. So how can we be more intentional in caring for our community partners?”

Since changes were already being made to Viking Venture this year, two two-hour blocks dedicated to community service were added to events on Friday and Saturday. Chandler said that the new event was successful.

“We hesitate to say this, but I think it was easier than we anticipated,” Chander said. “Every day leading up to Viking Venture, we were like, ‘When is the shoe going to drop? When is the crisis coming?’ I think our largest crisis was our T-shirts were delayed.”

A large part of the office’s time has been going towards fostering long-term partnerships with community organizations rather than episodic engagement, which involves one-time volunteer opportunities. The office wants to encourage partnerships to connect students with organizations for long-term, meaningful engagement. 

“An example could be, if we have a community partner who says, ‘one of the struggles we have is our software — our software is dated, and we need somebody to update it but we don’t have the money,’” Smith said. “It could be that we’re able to connect them to somebody in creative who can help with those kinds of things, and that person can continue to partner with that organization.”

Some of Berry’s sports teams, such as the football team, which is mentoring students at West Central Elementary School in Rome, have started to participate in these long-term service activities.

“Berry Impact is being intentional in trying to partner groups with our non-profits, so that it is more of a sustained relationship,” Chandler said. “When people connect with the mission of an organization, their commitment level and understanding of the work and the importance of the work is increased.”

The Office of Belonging and Community Engagement is also working more closely with the Year of Service program, which is officially housed under Residence Life. 

The Intercultural Center (ICC) has also been expanded and renamed the Good Neighbor Center. Students can now meet and work with community partners in new adjoining spaces.

“Quite frankly, the ICC was always busy, so we needed to expand it,” Smith said. “It’s a reflection of a lot of really good work that has been done over the last few years, and our scope has broadened and gotten deeper.”

The office is also introducing Berry Circles, a program where students, faculty and staff will practice respectful conversations. The first topic will be on religious diversity. And while Berry Circles isn’t specific to the upcoming election in November, it can be used to foster respectful conversations regarding the election.

“That is to really think about, whatever your perspective is, how do you have not just a conversation where a fight doesn’t break out,” Smith said. “How do you actually have those conversations, be able to speak your beliefs and also be in a place of understanding where you may learn from somebody else?”

All In is another program made from the rebrand, a nonpartisan voting challenge led by the Southern Athletic Association, Berry’s athletic conference.

“We kind of convene a group of people across campus to kind of push forward some initiatives that encourage and give accessibility to students, staff and faculty to vote,” Smith said. “It’s less about any kind of particular party and more about understanding the significance of voting — and that actually has a lot of power in it — and making sure that people really understand that and have every opportunity that they can to vote early, to get involved with voting, especially in a very pivotal election season.”

With a polarizing election underway and Berry about to make a critical decision with the selection of its next president, Smith affirmed that “Good Neighbor Culture” is vital to Berry’s mission.

“If we were to take any steps back from Good Neighbor culture, it would be oppositional of our mission,” she said. “I think, also, if we are looking at the scope of this generation, you’re going to continue to have students that come from different backgrounds, different racial makeups, different students who identify differently within gender and gender identity, neurodiversity. We’re going to continue to see that it would also be a complete step back if we didn’t continue to do this work for the future.”