CHAC aspires to ‘create community’

The Civic House Associates Coalition — the umbrella organization for community-service groups — is undergoing major restructuring, according to former CHAC co-chair Nick Eng.

This past weekend marked the transition period between the old CHAC board and the new. After a weekend retreat during which the new executive board hashed out its goals, CHAC is back at Penn and more ambitious than ever before, according to co-chair Nicole Dillard.

The group, which oversees 42 student-run community service organizations, has a wide range of goals that it wants to achieve by the end of the semester.

Some are logistical: keeping the CHAC web site up-to-date and streamlining the background check process that volunteers undergo each time they join a community service group.

Others are harder to implement.

Perhaps the biggest challenge that awaits the Civic House’s new co-chairs, Dillard and College junior Anushka Nadarajah, is one they set for themselves: making CHAC into a family.

“We want to create community around Civic House,” Nadarajah said, “and connect all the service groups and students that are involved on campus.”

The co-chairs aim to accomplish this by increasing collaboration between the student groups that CHAC mentors.

One way they plan to do this is through National Public Health Week, which is held from April 5 through April 11. During that week, all groups involved in public health will come together, according to Dillard.

“There’s always great collaboration,” she said about past events. “We just think it could be better.”

Another way in which the new chairs plan to create a community among Penn’s service groups is by helping each group become more tightly knit.

“We know college students,” Dillard said, “and we know that they have other things to do.”

The Civic House plans to work with groups from the inside out to increase morale and cohesiveness.

Though the new executive board has ambitious plans for the upcoming semester, CHAC continues to face certain obstacles.

The biggest issues are resources — or lack thereof. There are only seven professional staff members working with the Civic House and just seven student liaisons.

Still, CHAC somehow manages to give each of its groups the attention they need. Each is provided with a CHAC board advisor — a student — and a full-time staff mentor. These two people work as liaisons between the groups and other organizations on campus, especially the Student Activities Council.

In addition to helping groups with financing, CHAC is currently working the Civic and Philadelphia Engagement Committee within the Undergraduate Assembly to get the student government more involved with the community service groups on campus.

Looking long term, the CHAC Reform Committee is reviewing all current policies and procedures and adjusting them to fit the needs of its partner organizations.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.