The trip will be working with Reserva Los Andes . Los Andes reserve prides itself in organic and sustainable farming, preserving the natural environment for wildlife as well as involving the entire community in the business of the reserve. The three components by which the reserve is based are: Conservation, Community and Production. In such a culture rich community, we plan on spending a lot of time being engaged in the community. When working with the family to learn how they have put together this reserve we will explore questions such as: How has the organization improved over time? What were the obstacles? How did they come up with the ideas for the farm? Other community engagement activities might include: a meeting with the Solidarity Association, as well as discussions of educational methods in the school (Escuela Rural Active [Active Rural School]). There will be continuous support of the harmonious and sustainable relationship between agricultural production, human development and environmental conservation.

• Trip Price: $1300

• Trip Location: Guatemala

• Winter Trip Leaders:

Each year, millions of tourists flock to the Bahamas’ picturesque resorts, many venturing out to experience the natural beauty of the islands’ mangrove forests, coral reefs and other complex ecosystems. Although the tourism industry and its ensuing development fuel the Bahamas’ economy, it is resulting in environmental degradation throughout the islands that is threatening the well-being of native plants, animals, and the Bahamian people. Our trip will examine the relationship between tourism, environmental degradation and social welfare in the Bahamas. Combining environmental restoration work with education and community outreach opportunities, participants will gain an understanding of the Bahamian environment, how it is affected by tourism, and an appreciation of its role in Bahamian society. Planned activities include: meetings with local government officials and students, environmental service projects, and visiting an eco-lodge.

• Trip Price: $1300

• Trip Location: Bahamas

• Winter Trip Leaders:

We will be traveling to Gaston, North Carolina to learn more about our education system. Gaston is a small town near the Virginia border that has a population of only 895. We will address the specific issue of the achievement gap between students of low-income areas and those of high-income areas, identifying the root causes and discussing its impact on both the Gaston community and our local community. In Gaston, we will be working with a KIPP middle school as well as visiting regular public schools in the region. KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program) is a public charter school that serves low-income areas. KIPP schools nationwide have helped students catch up to peers and raise their test scores through unconventional means. Students at KIPP go to school from 7AM to 5PM on weekdays, two Saturdays each month, and three weeks of the summer. We will be partnering with this school to learn about what it takes to fill in the achievement gap on local, state, and federal levels.

• Trip Price: $350

• Trip Location: Gaston, NC

• Winter Trip Leaders

Domestic Violence is a serious issue facing many women and men in the U.S. Tennessee's Coalition against Domestic and Sexual Violence appears to be very active. Getting legislation passed and updated as recently as April 2009. Over the past 20 years it has been able to increase the number of programs in the state from 5 to 65. Like most states some of their problems seem to be lack of resources and staff but with a little they appear to be doing a lot. By going to TN we hope to see how their programs handle the problem of DV in the state and hopefully help them with any needed projects for the 10 days that we'll be there and make their load a little lighter.

• Trip Price: $450

• Trip Location: Knoxville, TN

• Winter Trip Leaders:

Unfortunately, the Native American Experience trip will not be traveling to the Lakota Reservation in South Dakota for AB 2010 due to high travel costs. The trip leaders are currently revising the location so that the participants will have just as a transforming experience as they would in South Dakota. Participants who select the South Dakota trip on the application will be considered for this trip. An update about the location and cost should be announced at the beginning of October.

• Trip Price: TBD by early October 2009 (will be less than the $900 announced earlier and likely will require participants to buy own plan tickets)

• TBD by early October 2009

• Spring Trip Leaders

Atlanta, Georgia was home to the premier of Gone with the Wind and the 1996 Summer Olympics. Despite the rich history of this city, Atlanta is still plagued with homelessness. During our one-week stay, we will focus primarily on the effect of homelessness on children. We will be staying at a hostel and learn about the homelessness situation from local Universities such as Georgia Tech and Emory. The organization with which we will work closely is the Atlanta Children’s Shelter, many kids dealing with the repercussions of unemployed parents stay. In addition to learning more and taking action on the cause, students will be able to enjoy the excitement of downtown Atlanta.

• Trip Price: $450

• Trip Location: Atlanta, GA

• Spring Trip Leaders

Chicago, IL is located on the southwestern shore of Michigan, which is the third most populated city in the United States. However, as of 2004 15% of the population was living below the poverty line. This trip will investigate the issues of hunger and the underlining issues that surround it. We will be working with local agencies and food distribution centers in the Chicago area. Participants will learn the causes of hunger and ways to become involved in the issue locally and nationally.

• Trip Price: $450

• Trip Location: Chicago, IL

• Spring Trip Leaders

Appalachia is one of the worst poverty stricken places in the United States and unfortunately people are oblivious to this crisis faced by thousands of people every day. In the 1960s, Appalachians had standards of living compared to third world nations. To this day, poverty there remains undefeated and in a distressed condition. Light needs to be shone not only on rural poverty, but also related issues that stem from this such as affordable housing, economic development, hunger, and healthcare. Participants will help address these problems through home construction and repairs for those affected by this plight. The biggest gains from this trip will not only be the physical labor of building a home, but the emotional rewards and life-long learning from the one-on-one interaction with residents of Appalachia.

• Trip Price: $350

• Trip Location: Appalachia (Kentucky)

• Spring Trip Leaders

In McDowell County 34.7 percent of the population lives under the poverty line – the highest percentage in all of West Virginia. Located in the Appalachian Mountains, it is estimated that McDowell has merely 51 persons per square mile (compare this number with the 1,652 people per square mile in Prince George’s County). Despite West Virginia being “in our backyard”, few students at Maryland have experienced this kind of socio-economic status or rural life style. The goal of our trip is to explore the differences, as well as the similarities, between sub/urban and rural school systems. Especially important is how these differences act on keeping the students up to date with the present (proficient performance on standardization tests and grade level criteria) and preparing them for the future (college, careers, etc.).

• Trip Price: $350

• Trip Location: McDowell County, West Virginia

• Spring Trip Leaders

We will be working with the Terrance C. Cook Health Care Center with AIDS residents as well as gaining perspectives on the lives of sex workers in New York. In the state of New York there are over 78,000 living with HIV/AIDS right now. Although these issues are separate, we will be seeing how they intersect and how other social justice issues contribute to the problems seen in New York City

• Trip Price: $450

• Trip Location: NYC

• Spring Trip Leaders

The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in North America and one of the largest in the world, with a watershed that covers over 64,000 square miles and is home to over 16 million people. Yet due to mass-production agriculture and industrial development, the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem now suffers from pollution and nutrient run-off that harms both fish and plant life. On this trip, we will visit many sites in and around the Chesapeake in order to learn more about why it is such an important resource as well as pinpoint the major problems it faces from industry, agriculture, and people. Through field programs with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and local service projects, participants will not only expand their knowledge of the Chesapeake, but will be able to actively engage in its improvement. We will also learn about how sustainable farming practices can be one of the keys to the Bay's restoration, and what we can do to support policies that enhance its biodiversity and ecological health. Trips to areas such as Clagett Farm and the Master Peace Community Garden will allow participants to get a first-hand look at sustainable agriculture, as well as a better understanding of how community-supported agriculture works. We will camp outside for part of the week.

• Trip Price: $300

• Trip Location: Chesapeake Bay

• Spring Trip Leaders

Urban Agriculture is the idea of cultivating and distributing food that is grown in a populated area such as a city. It can provide cheap, healthy and local food for low-income urban consumers. Boston is a fantastic environment to address this topic and has a few really interesting programs that target the issue of hunger and poverty through urban sustainable agriculture due to various organizations and urban farms on which to work and learn about the issue and how it relates to the local community.

• Trip Price: $450

• Trip Location: Boston, MA

• Spring Trip Leaders

This year’s San Francisco trip will take a holistic approach to the Prison-Industrial-Complex, examining the experiences and stages individuals experience in the process. The trip will look at systems such as education, poverty and racism that push people into pipelines that send them into prisons. We will visit both juvenile and adult facilities and then examine the support networks that try to prevent recidivism.

• Trip Price: $550*

• Trip Location: San Francisco

• Spring Trip Leaders

Regardless of the fact that Hurricane Katrina swept through New Orleans a full 3 years ago, residents are still dealing with the devastation that the storm caused. Our government's response time after the hurricane was atrocious and now that they have withdrawn funding from the city, residents need help more than ever. For spring break, we will be traveling down to New Orleans and working with Habitat For Humanity there to help rebuild houses and learn about the colorful history and world-renown culture of the city. We will also be learning about the social issues of racism, classism, and poverty that plague the city. NOTE: The dates for this trip are Saturday, March 13-Sunday, March 21, 2010.

• Trip Price: $450

• Trip Location: New Orleans, LA

• Spring Trip Leaders

Frequently, children in lower-income areas, usually located within big cities, do not receive an education of sufficient quality in public schools. Funding for schools is largely based on the amount of property tax an area brings to the state. Therefore, impoverished areas cannot support the funding of regular maintenance for their schools, or the resources to bring in quality teachers and supplies. This lack in quality in schools is further emphasized when nearby there are wealthy suburban neighborhoods with sufficient funds to keep their schools in good shape and have adequate resources required for learning. The children in the low-income areas are left with substandard schools and materials, but are subjected to the same testing and educational standards as everyone else. Philadelphia has many areas like this, where the education system highly favors the more wealthy suburban areas.

• Trip Price: $450

• Trip Location: Philadelphia, PA

• Spring Trip Leaders

The largest matriculation of immigrants on the eastern seaboard is New York and Miami. New York City would provide us with numerous examples to show students the large issue of immigration. New York City would allow the participants to view first-hand the lifestyles and issues facing immigrants from all over the world. We would explore how immigration first started to what it has become today.

• Trip Price: $450

• Trip Location: New York City

• Spring Trip Leaders

SC is the worst state for child's health care and well-being. As part of our country’s under-insured and often uneducated families, these children did not benefit from pre-natal and infant preventive education for parents. They also do not receive quality dental services, including basic parent/child oral health education to help prevent dental disease. Without proper attention and care, a child’s mouth can become a danger zone, giving way to bacteria and serious disease that can lead to life-long health problems. The social and economic consequences are devastating for the children and for our nation. According to the U.S. Surgeon General, millions of our nation’s children have dental problems so severe they have trouble eating, sleeping and learning. In fact, pediatric oral disease has been deemed a “silent epidemic”. For example, children in the US miss more than 51 million hours of school each year due to dental-related illness. This trip will focus on oral healthcare and prenatal healthcare in order to learn more about these underserved populations and how they are affected by the healthcare in our country.

• Trip Price: $450

• Trip Location: South Carolina

• Spring Trip Leaders

We will be traveling to the Dominican Republic to work with children living in an orphanage. The Dominican Republic, like many countries in the Global South, struggles with poverty, unequal resource distribution, and limited opportunities for many of its citizens. The children and teenagers that we will be working with are in many ways amongst the most vulnerable--they live in a poor region of a poor country and lack many of the family structure that other children rely on to get through circumstances like these. Yet these children are overcoming the obstacles and getting an education. We are going to learn about education in environments that may be quite different from the scholastic environments we grew up with. We will be learning from these ambitious and resourceful children and sharing some of our talents with them.

• Trip Price: $1300

• Trip Location: Dominican Republic

• Spring Trip Leaders

Human trafficking is viewed as an issue very far away from America and where we all live, but it occurs everywhere and the victims and survivors are throughout Washington, D.C and the United States. An estimated 17,500 foreign nationals are trafficked annually in the U.S. alone, while the number of U.S. citizens trafficked within the country is even higher (according to the Polaris Project). Being in Washington, DC at the center of U.S. politics will help us to look at the policies and laws and their implementation and results around the issue. Human trafficking is the second largest criminal industry in the world with over 12 million people being trafficked worldwide for forced labor or sexual exploitation, so being able to learn about it within our own community and the political action being taken by the United States will further allow us to see deeper into this social issue and what change we can make towards combating it.

• Trip Price: $300

• Trip Location: Washington, DC

• Spring Trip Leaders

Cumberland Island National Seashore, protected and maintained by the National Park Service, is Georgia's largest barrier island and contains forests, beaches, and marshes. With sea turtles, wild horses, and miles of shoreline, Cumberland Island is an amazing place to experience a healthy and intact island ecosystem. Through a variety of service and learning activities including trail maintenance, we will become familiar with the issues facing this sensitive ecosystem and others like it. We will be working with Cumberland Island Park Service staff throughout the week and there is a possibility that we will be camping the whole time.

• Trip Price: $400

• Trip Location: Cumberland Island, GA

• Spring Trip Leaders

The first-ever graduate-student ASB trip will focus on the intersecting issues of rural poverty and rural healthcare. Rural poverty doesn’t always get as much attention as poverty in inner city environments, but many residents of rural areas in the United States struggle with hunger, homelessness, and lack of access to basic resources such as education and healthcare. Participants on this trip will investigate and address the issue of rural healthcare by working with a free health clinic in Brevard, NC, run by the Transylvania County Volunteers in Medicine. We will be helping the Free Clinic to conduct a survey to measure their impact on the community.

Submit your application here by 4:00pm, November 9th.

• Trip Price: $400

• Trip Location: Brevard, NC

• Trip Leaders

Participants on this trip will explore sustainable, organic and community farming practices in an urban environment, while learning about the issues of food security, and hunger and homelessness. They will get to work with urban agriculture organizations in Boston, as well as working directly on the farms and with the community!

• Trip Price: TBD

• Trip Location: Boston, MA

• Trip Dates: Sat, May 22 – Sat, May 29, 2010

• Summer Trip Leaders: TBD

This program is created in conjunction with the University of Cuenca in Southern Ecuador. Participants will work with the Zhiña indigenous community outside of Cuenca. While living with host families, participants have the opportunity to work in areas such as with the local school on improvement projects, with children teaching music and sports, in the school’s orchard, and collaboratively with community members on first aid and basic hygiene. Specific details of the projects will be solidified as the trip leaders continue the planning process with contacts at the University of Cuenca.

• Trip Price: $1500

• Trip Location: Cuenca, Ecuador

• Trip Dates: Sat, May 22 – Wed, June 2, 2010

• Summer Trip Leaders: TBD

In conjunction with Hillel, AB participants will work directly with five different religious communities (Protestant, Baha’i, Jewish, Catholic and Muslim) performing service, talking with religious and community leaders, and learning more about the religious and cultural diversity that exists everywhere in the United States. The AB program seeks trip leaders who are dedicated to the issue of religious diversity and interfaith dialogue.

• Trip Price: TBD

• Trip Location: Philadelphia, PA

• Trip Dates: Sun, May 23 – Sun, May 30, 2010

• Summer Trip Leaders: TBD

This trip will be dedicated to service and education around service military families and veterans in the Baltimore/DC area. The AB program seeks trip leaders who are dedicated to this issue and willing to build a trip from scratch based on their knowledge and interest in the issue.

• Trip Price: TBD

• Trip Location: Washington, DC/Baltimore

• Trip Dates: Sat, May 22 – Sat, May 29, 2010

• Summer Trip Leaders: TBD