Campus Community
Posted: Thursday, May 14, 2009Focus on College and Community Partnerships: Louis Colca
Louis Colca, associate professor of social work, relies on support from community organizations to interact with foster children for research and service to the region. But a local resource—the College and Community Partnerships minigrant—helped him foster lasting partnerships with agencies while also helping foster youth to excel in computer and social skills.
Colca, one of the first faculty members to apply for and be awarded a CCP minigrant, received two: $500 in 2007 and $800 last year.
He used the first toward a computer literacy program he developed called “Focus on Youth,” which trains adolescents how to work with Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Together with the Center for Development of Human Services (CDHS), Child and Family Services, the Erie County Department of Social Services, and Global Village Therapeutic Foster Care, Colca provided a computer and training classes for each child.
In conjunction with Erie Community College’s Career Development Program, Colca applied his second minigrant toward a 10-month program for foster teens from the Erie County Department of Social Services and Berkshire Farm Center and Services for Youth. The teens performed teambuilding exercises, participated in an etiquette dinner at Campus House, and took part in 20 hours of career-development classes. The minigrant primarily provided funds to transport the youths to various sites for a variety of new experiences and to Buffalo State, where they gained exposure to life on campus.
Colca worked with about a dozen youths in each program. He believes the programs will have long-term benefits as well. He thinks some of the teens might eventually choose to attend Buffalo State, and that the programs help bolster the college’s image and its connections with local agencies.
The programs also allow some of Colca’s undergraduate students to participate in independent study. “The experience becomes a talking point in class,” he said. “Our students say the observation and participation is one of their best learning experiences because they get to directly see how to engage with foster children and foster families.”
Colca believes that while foster children are often at high risk for delinquent behavior, activities like those supported by the minigrants result in strong bonds of support between the youths. He said that three of the teens so far have successfully applied for paid internships as a result of skills they learned during the 10-month program.
“Foster children need a strong peer group,” he said. “Many need support to get through the perceived stigma associated with foster care. Our programs are just one of many factors that help them mature, but they make a difference.”
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