When Adam Rubin first traveled to Tanzania in 2009 to volunteer for an HIV/AIDS organization, he said he had no idea his trip would cause him to pursue a much larger purpose. Rubin, who is now a master's student studying nonprofit leadership and management, has since begun a nonprofit and international organization that focuses on youth leadership.
Rubin said he and his co-founder saw a huge gap in the education system that needed to be fixed and transformed.
“We had been running an after school program, working with students in a traditional academic setting and what we realized is that students were learning about academics, but personal growth was being ignored,” he said. “The key to education should be helping people learn who they are and how to develop themselves-not just how to become better students and better learners but better people.”
Founded in 2013, RENEW combines personal growth and service learning to help 14 to 24-year-olds use a three-phase program.
The program begins with a discovery phase which focuses on breaking down beliefs that youth often have about themselves. Rubin said this phase allows them to discover their goals, dreams and purpose in life.
Next, the participants learn about emotional intelligence, communication and decision-making skills, getting them closer to their goals.
Finally, the program rounds up with a change phase where students come together to identify a need in their community. Based on that need, they create, develop and implement a service project.
Rubin said RENEW has been run in four schools in Tanzania and reached more than 700 students there. RENEW was piloted in Arizona this summer with 17 foster teens from local group homes. This was RENEW’s first workshop in the U.S.
Rubin also started a club at ASU as an extension of the organization. Last year, RENEW won the Changemaker Challenge and the Woodside Community Action Grant which helped members develop the program in Tanzania and then launch it in Arizona. RENEW has focused on high school students for the most part, but is now transitioning to reach college students as well.
“Our aim is not to focus on particular demographic of people,” Rubin said. “Instead we’re really trying to transform education. Our belief as an organization is that if you want to develop a community you have to develop the person first.”
He said the program is not only about personal growth for youth, but also how they can help in their community. Rubin said he believes that by helping other people grow it allows him to grow as well.
He added that RENEW increases confidence, self esteem, and develops better communication skills.
“I think it’s a powerful thing to spend all of your time thinking about creating curriculum for and running workshops where you’re helping other people become the best version of themselves,” Rubin said. “We’re at the center of something really special.”
Rubin said RENEW members often hear back from students who have gone through the program and receive feedback about the changes they’ve seen in their lives since then.
“(They talk about) their ability to tackle problems since the program ended and take leadership roles at school and in the community,” he said. “We see a lot of direct impact through some of the community service projects, but the longer term impact is on the students personally. That might show up in their life, it might show up at work, it might show up at school.”
Instructional design and technology graduate student Jennifer Arellano is the curriculum development intern for RENEW. Arellano said she was looking to volunteer somewhere last summer and found RENEW online.
“It just sounded like they were making such a difference in the community,” she said. “We’re located here in Arizona and we’re making such a difference in the lives of people in Tanzania which is so far away. I wanted to become a part of that.”
Arellano said she came into the program from her position as a special needs teacher and saw how focused her students were on academics, but didn’t necessarily know how to deal with their own challenges. She said she plans to teach again to bring the skills that RENEW teaches to her students.
Mark Hager, associate professor of philanthropic studies in the School of Community Resources & Development and a RENEW adviser, said the club gives students a real-world laboratory for programming aimed at leadership training for low-income kids in the Valley.
“So many student clubs give students an opportunity to spend time together on common interests and I think that's important,” he said. “But RENEW is more than that. RENEW was first established as a real community program before Adam Rubin created the club at ASU. That club is one more way for people – especially ASU students – to get involved in real community issues."
Reach the reporter at bridget.dowd@asu.edu or follow @bridgetbernice on Twitter.
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