Project SHINE SJSU History
Project SHINE (Students Helping In the Naturalization of Elders) at San José State University is an intergenerational and intercultural community learning program. SHINE links community learning students with older immigrants and refugees seeking to learn English and navigate the complex path to U.S. citizenship. In community centers, and other selected sites in the immediate area, students tutor elders in English and computer literacy, helping them become more actively engaged in their communities, and teach the U.S. history and civics needed to pass the citizenship exam.
Project SHINE San José is a joint effort of San José City College 's Community Learning Program and San José State University 's Center for Community Learning & Leadership. It is part of a national consortium, funded by the Corporation for National Service, based at the Center for Intergenerational Learning, Temple University, Philadelphia ,PA.
(From the official Project SHINE website: www.projectshine.org):
Project SHINE San José is a joint effort of San José City College 's Community Learning Program and San José State University 's Center for Community Learning & Leadership. It is part of a national consortium, funded by the Corporation for National Service, based at the Center for Intergenerational Learning, Temple University, Philadelphia ,PA.
(From the official Project SHINE website: www.projectshine.org):
"About thirty years ago, the founder and director of the Intergenerational Center at Temple University, Nancy Henkin, learned that an Asian elderly woman had committed suicide. A high degree of social isolation was determined to be the leading factor in this tragedy.
This news challenged the perception that immigrant communities are always tight-knit and supportive of its members, with particular honor and respect bestowed on elder members of the community. Issues stemming from transplantation, such as linguistic isolation and disrupted social roles, complicate a person's healthy integration to a new culture.
SHINE’s aims to aid in the integration of immigrants and refugees into American society in order to help bridge connections and remove the isolation these populations feel."