Alternative Spring Break (ASB) at the University of Illinois is a program that provides college students the opportunity to immerse themselves in an issue through volunteering, and then use their new passion to create a more engaged citizenry. ASB is sending you a proposal in hopes that you will consider us for funding in order to further our mission. ASB motivates its participants to combat apathy among the other members of our generation. ASB will promote lifelong civic participation among college students in several ways. First, sending groups of ten to thirteen students around the country to volunteer for a variety of environmental and social issues, participants form relationships with the people the issue affects, and subsequently feel permanently attached to those people and the issue. Second, ASB promotes involvement within their own community by participating in local civic outreach projects, which have included staging protests, documentary screenings followed by guided discussion, bringing in off campus speakers, and volunteering with local social service organizations. Third, ASB creates a lifelong passion for participation by building supportive student networks among those who have common civic ideals, and these friendships have proven to last well beyond the four college years. Last, ASB cultivates in students a lifelong passion for the betterment of society which will instill a sense of social responsibility that will influence their future endeavors.
ASB at the University of Illinois is the largest completely student run ASB program in the country. Our trips include over 300 students every year, which means over 300 students who become dedicated to social and environmental justice. Examples of specific issues we deal with include: youth and education, hunger and homelessness, environmental preservation, sustainable living, immigration and labor rights, rural poverty, disaster relief, Native American culture and obstacles, healthcare activism, community development, animal rights, and much more.
For more information, please check out or website at www.illinoisasb.org
