Community Engagement Opportunities
Experience in the Spanish-speaking or Latino community
Students volunteer in the Spanish-speaking community and complete a reflection narrative.
Suggested possibilities:
SPAN 400 Service Learning: Learning through active service experiences in Spanish-speaking communities in the greater Charleston area, the United States, or abroad with academic analysis and reflection. It enhances what is taught by extending the learning beyond the classroom and linking the concrete to the abstract. It helps to further develop Spanish communicative competence through authentic communication and negotiation of meaning. Registration and approval of proposal must be done before conducting the service learning component.
Art Pot: Art Pot is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization whose mission is to create a space of integration, culture, and education in order to build an impact that generates opportunities and positive changes in the Latino community in its coexistence with other communities, towards a better quality of life.
Cano Law LLC is a bilingual immigration law firm dedicated exclusively to the practice of immigration and naturalization law, including all matters before the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. Our bilingual legal team understands that the immigration process is life-changing and complex, which can be intimidating for most people, which is why it is our office mission to work with clients step-by-step in a language they understand and express themselves in. Cano Law is searching for interns and volunteers to provide translation and interpretation assistance, as well as working under attorney supervision in basic client communications. If you are interested, please send an email to office@canolawoffice.com with your resume and cover letter in Spanish to include why you are interested in our office.
Círculo Hispanoamericano de Charleston: The Círculo Hispanoamericano de Charleston is a non-profit organization with the mission to preserve and promote the Hispanic American culture.
Holy City Treks: A non-profit organization which works to combat homelessness in Charleston, Dorchester and Berkeley counties, in part, through the production of quality Spanish-language translations of educational and promotional materials to raise awareness about housing opportunities and other social resources.
The Hub at Centerpoint is a non-profit organization, with a base in North Charleston, which creates collaborative spaces and relationships that enable it to share resources and knowledge--by way of outreach to the local Hispanic and Latinx communities, among others—so that cycles of poverty can be broken and pathways to self-sufficiency can be found enabling lasting community transformation. For more information, please reach out The Hub, at the link above or to Holly Kelly at hkelly@thehubatcenterpoint.com
SC Migrant Education (SCMEP) The program meets the unique needs of qualifying students and families by partnering with them to identify goals and needs while they are working in agriculture in South Carolina. A volunteer with SCMEP would have an abundance of opportunities from improving data to systems to working with small groups of students to teaching English to working families. If a volunteer wants to work directly with students and families, fluency in Spanish, and /or Haitian Creole, and/or Mayan languages, and or Nahut'l languages would be essential. A background check must also be run on any volunteer working directly with students and families. If you are creative, good at working with remote support, but limited in person guidance, volunteering with SCMEP might be a good fit! We serve in every county in SC, so you could volunteer even outside the Charleston area if that suited you.
Shifa Free Clinic of Mount Pleasant: An agency dedicated to community outreach and medical care which periodically utilizes Hispanic Studies students for Spanish language assistance in both their clinic and food-bank.
Mujeres Latinas de Carolina del Sur Latina Women of South Carolina. Protect, preserve the environment and wildlife, promote the conservation of natural ecosystems and biodiversity, working closely with local communities and other stakeholders to develop sustainable activities for our planet, creating a supportive and enriching personal and group experience, with a focus on strengthening our Latin American roots, establishing culturally and socially responsible and sustainable educational foundations towards the ecosystem and the society in which we operate.
Or an individual community service engagement (40 hrs minimum, please confirm with an advisor)
For more information on these opportunities, please contact Dr. Silvia Rodriguez Sabater, Director of SHLD, at RodriguezSabaterS@cofc.edu or Dr. Michael Gómez, Chair of Hispanic Studies, at gomezm@cofc.edu.