Gannon’s Center for Social Concerns has turned 30, and you’re invited to their year-long 30th birthday party! Alumni - check your email for information.
Through our Alternative Break Service Trip (ABST) program,
student leaders design and facilitate experiences for their peers
based on four pillars of service, simplicity, community and
reflection. These immersions focus on broadening participants'
worldviews and fostering global citizenship, through service and
relationship-building with neighbors across our human family.
Rooted in Catholic Social Teaching, all ABSTs seek to create
intentionally inclusive, diverse community through their group
formation and trip experiences. ABSTs are co-curricular,
student-led, and accompanied by trained faculty and staff from all
divisions of the Gannon University family.
In 2019-20, The Center for Social Concerns is sponsoring 14 ABSTs, which will send 120+ students and 28+ faculty/staff across
our neighborhood, country, and global communities. This year's
domestic locations and programs include:
- Detroit, MI with Earthworks Urban Farm and the Capuchin Soup
Kitchen, focusing on food security, sustainable food systems, urban
agriculture, racial and economic justice. Read more about their
trip here.
- Erie, PA with the Our West Bayfront neighborhoods, focusing on
exploring history, current revitalization, and future promise in
our own neighborhood surrounding Gannon's campus.
- Habitat for Humanity Collegiate Challenge trip, at a site in
the United States that student leaders choose on a yearly basis.
Read more about their trip here.
- Ruskin, FL, focusing on working with victims and survivors of
human trafficking, domestic violence, and/or other types of abuse
or trafficking. Read more about their trip here.
- Washington, D.C., with the Father McKenna Center, focusing on
charity, justice, and advocacy in response to homelessness.
Read more about their trip here.
- Kino, Arizona and
Nogales, Mexico with Catholic Community Services, focusing on caring for
migrants and the communities in which they find themselves.
International locations and programs include:
- Merida, Mexico at the Misión de Amistad, focusing on community
and economic development and access to health care and education
for youth and girls. Read more about their trip here.
- Queretaro, Mexico with L'Arche Mexico,
focusing on sharing life and supporting human dignity with people
who have disabilities. Read more about their trip here.
- San Lucas, Guatemala at the San Lucas Mission, focusing on
community and economic development, and cross-cultural exchange
with indigenous communities. Read more about their trip here.
- Fond Tortue, Haiti, exploring economic and environmental
impacts of fair trade coffee production in partnership with Just
Haiti and Catholic Relief Services. Read more about their
trip here. Please note that recent unrest means that this group will instead be travelling to Guatemala, but still learning about coffee growing. We will be continuing our relationship with our Haitian community partner and ask that you keep the country in your prayers.
- Ontario, Canada with L'Arche communities, focusing on dignity
for and community-building with individuals with and without
disabilities. Read more about their trip here.
- Quito, Ecuador, with
Nido de Vidas, focusing on sustainable farming, economic change, and
reforestation.