Penn Volunteer Network helps service groups help each other

Between space issues arising from next year's renovation of Houston Hall and funding problems caused by allegations of redundancy, community service groups at the University are riding rough waters. So the various organizations have responded in a time-tested fashion -- they have turned to each other. The result, the Penn Volunteer Network, is an umbrella organization for community service groups on campus. The goal of the network, according to Kite and Key President and PVN representative Marie Sedran, is to "get our groups together to communicate with each other." The network has been around for many years, but the creation of the Program for Student-Community Involvement about a decade ago made its original role largely unnecessary. "People didn't really know about PVN," Sedran said. That changed two years ago with the announcement of renovations to Houston Hall as part of the Perelman Quad project. Groups such as Kite and Key suddenly had to confront problems associated with "losing their office space. Kite and Key decided that "we need a student network that will be able to discuss what student [groups] need," Sedran said. And so, PVN was revitalized, becoming a "voice of the unified Penn [service] community" on issues like funding and office space, PVN Chairperson Jessica Polansky said. The body modeled itself after the Performing Arts Council, which represents the University's performing arts groups. Sedran noted that "[PAC] is always voting as a bloc" on SAC issues, a unity of purpose that PVN has tried to foster among its 33 member groups. Among the issues of concern to PVN is group funding. The issue came to the forefront earlier this year when the Student Activities Council considered cutting Circle K's funding, alleging that it served the same purpose as Kite and Key. But PVN's main focus remains the shortage of space for member organizations. One aim of the network's weekly sessions has been the drive to create a "Community Service Hub" on campus. Still in the discussion stages, the hub would be "a place to really unify all of the groups," providing activities space and other resources, according to Polansky, a Wharton and College junior. Polansky is quick to point out that PVN's purpose is more than political. "We'd like to have one or two really strong, unified events? interacting with each other and doing some sort of service activity," she said. Last Saturday, PVN members turned out for the first such activity, helping Baltimore in Bloom, a local community organization, with gardening and clean-up in Philadelphia's Clark Park area. And a workshop entitled "What Every Volunteer Should Know," held at the Castle in conjunction with Empty the Shelters this weekend, attracted more than 30 network members. Currently unfunded and relatively informal, the network has no intention of supplanting the efforts of individual groups, Polansky said. Still, PVN continues to make itself useful to member organizations. Future plans include making information on service options more accessible to students. Ideally, students could "look at just one flyer and see what all the groups do," Sedran said.