Every year, the local community becomes an experiential classroom for students digging deeper than the textbook.

Twelve students have just begun their year-long commitment to the Psychological Services Center’s Family Advocacy Project at the University. Through the project, they will gain an insider’s perspective on socioeconomics outside the campus by working with poor families.

“It’ll be awesome to work with different people, not just class stuff,” said Alyssa Cardenas, junior in LAS.

Students will first complete a course about the history, needs and challenges of Champaign-Urbana families in need. They will then be partnered with community members, such as pastors or teachers, who are already active in social projects. The student, the community leader and the family will work together as a team to outline and achieve the family’s personal and economic goals, said Gladys Hunt, director of the Family Advocacy Project.

The families in the project are limited by their lack of access to information about legal, social and economic institutions. Striving for basic economic goals without a car, regular access to the Internet and a certain level of education, families often feel trapped in the poverty cycle, Hunt added.

As students get to know these socioeconomic realities, they begin to see how their skills in research and writing as well as emotional support can help the families progress toward their goals, she said.

Champaign resident Tyrina Kelloup enlisted in the Family Advocacy Project four years ago when she was living in a shelter with her children.

As she began to work with Pastor Travonda Davenport of New Covenant Worship Center in Urbana and David Caracho, a 2007 alumnus, Kelloup’s long-time dream of starting a day care business emerged.

“I had an idea of how to build my business, but David motivated me to do it better,” Kelloup said. “He showed me proper channels of doing it, how to put out fliers, how to advertise. Some people aren’t positive thinkers, and if you are, you’re the one to help them.”

After three years of running her day care, she is now providing services for 70 families that have enlisted in the Family Advocacy Project.

At the same time, the students involved will experience a reality check and gain key practical skills, Hunt said.

“I’m interacting with people that are not from my cultural subset, collaborating with people that I would never have a chance to work with otherwise,” said Kim Vogler, senior in LAS and second-year participant. “I can see and accept differences a lot quicker. Part of this too is to find the strengths of your client and to play on those strengths. It’s team work.”

Hunt said the project is a small step to solve a bigger problem: If the future leaders from the University never gain a first-hand experience of poverty that exists in Champaign-Urbana, they may not have the insight to create policies and institutions that will curb rather than perpetuate poverty.

“These students are gonna be in powerful positions,” Hunt said. “My hope is that this experience will impact their actions in these positions.”