Making its debut on campus this fall, the Community Alliance Network aims to foster community engagement and cultural diversity through cross-cultural activities.
Brenna Burke, a junior nursing major from Jackson, Miss., is the president and founder of the Community Alliance Network. Burke came up with the idea after listening to “How to Know Your Neighbors,” a podcast about the decline in neighborly connections. She realized that people, including herself, no longer make an effort to know their neighbors and wanted to change that status quo.
“Oxford has this stereotype that it’s a very rich, white, straight and Greek dominated space, but that’s not true,” Burke said. “There are so many diverse voices and cultures in Oxford. The idea is to get people to be more aware of the community at large.”
In addition to providing service opportunities, the club plans to host monthly “Spotlight Nights” in which one member or guest speaker will have the chance to speak about their unique background and culture.
“I feel it’s important to amplify those voices because having that exposure is sometimes the only way people can understand where someone comes from. Having someone speak from their own perspective is important and encourages others to share their perspectives,” Burke said. “We all come from different places, areas and walks of life, but we’re more similar than we are different.”
Burke hopes CAN addresses the isolation many students — particularly those not involved in Greek organizations — can experience.
“I was noticing a lot of freshmen who aren’t in Greek (life) have a harder time finding their footing, so I wanted to make a club that combined community service with a diverse space,” Burke said.
Members of the organization are required to dedicate 10 hours of service to the community each semester in addition to attending both a cultural and a volunteering meeting each semester. The meetings will be bimonthly on the first and last Monday of each month.
Dawn Denham, faculty sponsor and instructor for the Department of Writing and Rhetoric, shared what the organization, which is open to all students, seeks to accomplish.
“I hope students in this club experience building useful and effective connections and learn from listening to others’ experiences, hopes and problems,” Denham said. “I hope students create projects that give them agency to act in the wider world beyond the four walls of a classroom.”
The Community Alliance Network plans to hold its first meeting on Sept.16 at 7 p.m. in Bryant Hall room 111, however this is pending approval by the ForUM committee and Bryant Hall Administration.
