David Garcia Project

 What is the David Garcia Project?

 The David Garcia Project, commonly referred to as DGP on CMU’s campus, is a program put on through the Mary Ellen Brandell Volunteer Center. This program works to promote and advocate for people with disabilities by educating CMU students through activities and reflection. We use activities that try to demonstrate what difficulties a person could encounter if they had a disability. This program does not aim at making students feel bad for people with disabilities; rather it aims to educate people so they have a better understanding about the differences among people.

What will I learn?

DGP educates people using four categories of disabilities. We do different activities that show what some difficulties may be if you had a disability in that category. The disabilities include:

• Physical

• Learning

• Visual

• Auditory

How do I get involved?

- Attend an Open Session.

The David Garcia Project holds open sessions once or twice a month usually in the U.C. These sessions last about an hour and a half and provide a comprehensive experience of what DGP has to offer. To find a current listing of these sessions and to sign up to attend, please visit the Brandell Volunteer Center OrgSync page or the Volunteer Center’s website. Grab a couple of friends and come to an open session to learn more about our program.

- Host a session of DGP for your organization.

The David Garcia Project can come to you! We would love to come to a meeting and present our service project for your participants. Our sessions count as volunteering hours and are great for organizations seeking volunteer hours for members.I f you are interested in having the David Garcia Project come to you fill out a request form. Click Here Requests must be made a month in advance to guarantee a session.

- Become a facilitator of DGP.

After you have participated in a session of DGP or if you have a passion for education, we would love to have you come aboard as a facilitator of the David Garcia Project. We accept applications for facilitators at the beginning of each semester and the end of the academic year. We are always looking for energetic people with a flexible scheduleto help our program grow. If you are interested in becoming a David Garcia Project facilitator please fill out our short application. Click Here

Why David Garcia?

The David Garcia Project is a living memorial to David Garcia, a computer programmer who perished in the September 11th attack on the World Trade Center. David suffered from an incurable eye disease and was a lifelong supporter of the Foundation Fighting Blindness. This living memorial was established in cooperation with the Points of Light USA Initiative, and the CMU Volunteer Center is honored to include David's memory in our programming.

If you have any other questions or comments on the David Garcia Project please email us at thedavidgarciaproject@gmail.com.