A leader – regardless of formal position – is anyone who serves as an effective change agent. The leadership challenge for higher education is to empower students, to help them realize that they can make a difference, and to develop those special talents and attitudes that will enable them to become effective change agents.

Alexander Astin (Leadership Reconsidered:
Engaging Higher Education in Social Change)

What's New

SPEAKFIRST 
The mission of SpeakFirst is to enrich the academic experience of gifted students from Birmingham’s public high schools through participation on a multi-disciplinary debate team. Participation in SpeakFirst augments participating students’ education by providing them with additional learning opportunities outside of the classroom, facilitates dialogue central to current events, and fosters debate.

In the 2004-05 academic year, our students won 30% of debate rounds, which then increased to a cumulative 51% in 2005-06, and currently, our students have won 53% of the Alabama debate rounds in which they have participated. Success for the participants in the program is also seen in improved grades and attendance at school, improved literacy and vocabulary skills, improved critical thinking    skills, and improved public speaking skills.

The SpeakFirst Photo Gallery is now up!  Click here to take a look.

SAVEFIRST
The goal of the SaveFirst Initiative is to train college and graduate students to (a) offer free tax preparation services and access to checking and savings accounts and Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) to low-income individuals who are eligible for an Earned Income Tax Credit refund and (b) plan, organize, and administer a series of educational seminars for low-income individuals on savings and investments.

SaveFirst has had incredible support and student involvement with colleges in Birmingham and Tuscaloosa. Thus far, approximately 115 students from four colleges spanning several disciplines, including business and law, have committed to being involved with the program.  This includes 50 students enrolled in a University of Alabama spring service-learning course and 15 students from a Birmingham-Southern Interim course, both taught by Stephen Black and Sarah Louise Smith.  We also have 50 additional volunteers from UA, BSC, Samford, and UAB.

FOCUSFIRST 
FocusFirst aims to provide a cost-effective direct response to the vision care problems of children who live in urban and rural poverty in Alabama. In keeping with this mission, undergraduate and graduate students strive to ensure that children, ages six months to five years, in Head Starts and lower-income daycares are screened for vision problems and receive appropriate examination, diagnosis, and treatment.

In coordination with approximately 550 college students at 13 colleges and universities across Alabama, FocusFirst has screened over 16,400 children in 45 counties across the state of Alabama. (4,400 children screened in 2004-05, 8,000 children screened in 2005-06, approximately 4,000 children screened in the first half of this school year). Approximately 10.6% of children have failed the vision screenings and have been referred to Sight Savers of Alabama for follow-up care.

ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS:  Impact is accepting applications for staff positions.  Please email Stephen Black or Neeta Kirpalani for more information.

NBC 13 FocusFirst Commercial is on the air!


View the PSA
(Windows Media)

© 2006 Impact Alabama