Records of Radcliffe College Education for Action, 1966-2000

Education for Action was initiated in 1966 with a grant from the Ford Foundation. Originally begun as an experimental joint venture between Radcliffe College, the Radcliffe Government Association, and Phillips Brooks House, Education for Action grew to become an integral part of the Harvard/Radcliffe student experience for 30 years. The program was initiated by students who wanted to engage in community service and social action work in communities from Cambridge to Kenya, and needed funding in order to do this work in the summer between academic years at Harvard/Radcliffe. Education for Action was initially envisioned to have three components: a domestic community service experience ("Unit I"); a seminar component in which participants formally learned from each other and connected their experiences to their schoolwork ("Unit II"), and then an international component, where students could work and learn together or in conjunction with other nonprofits or service learning organizations ("Unit III"). The program was also envisioned as a way to provide adequate training for Peace Corps volunteers, but this idea was dropped after the first few years.

Education for Action, or "E4A" as it was also known, raised money, primarily from foundations, to support Harvard/Radcliffe students in their social justice experiential learning endeavors. Funding and grants were administered by Radcliffe College, and Radcliffe staff served as administrators for the program, but the decisions about which students and projects to fund were made by a cooperatively-run student board. The student board was intentional about its need to be ethnically and racially diverse. An Advisory Board, of faculty, staff, and experts on experiential and international learning, was also formed. Program directors were: Judith Newman (1966-1972), Shepherd Bliss (1973-1979), and Suzanne Motheral (1979-1990). Faith Adiele (a former student board member) was appointed Program Coordinator in 1990.

In the late 1960s and through the 1970s, student projects were often focused on doing international teaching, relief, or other aid work. By the 1980s, Education for Action began to include campus issues and events within its focus on social justice issues. Funds were also directed toward education of Harvard/Radcliffe students in situ: money was frequently allocated to bring noted speakers to campus, to fund conferences on social justice topics, to provide education to Harvard/Radcliffe students about privilege, race, and other issues. By the 1990s, Education for Action also functioned as a resource center and social space on campus. International and nationwide projects were still funded, but fewer summer grants for that work were given than in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Throughout the years Education for Action existed, students were interested in working with young people in the local Cambridge and Boston communities. Particular projects varied, but the interest in Harvard's surrounding communities continued. Funded projects were always a mix of local and international ventures. In the 1980s and 1990s, students proposed an increasing number of arts-focused projects: publishing magazines, producing films, etc. Projects in the early 1990s often included AIDS education, both on campus and in cities both local and international.