Bonner Foundation  •  10 Mercer Street, Princeton, NJ 08540  •  609-924-6663 office  •  609-683-4626 fax  • info@bonner.org

In the third decade of the Bonner Program we must recommit to a movement of transformation through intentional recruitment, applied research, and expanded participation. Bonner’s living legacy is not increasing service. Bonner’s legacy lies in transformation.

Intentional recruitment moving forward should involve more strategic efforts to build pathways between disadvantaged populations of young people and the family of Bonner institutions. We have important untapped resources in programs and networks connected to youth from child welfare, runaway and homeless youth centers, and disadvantaged communities.

Bonner programs are ideal for giving young people from difficult circumstances the financial means to receive a great education, supportive peer groups for strengthening retention, and empowering opportunities to make a difference in the lives of others. We must be more intentionally and more strategically.

Secondly, transformational service cannot be seen as distinct from academic pursuits. Scholarship should fuel service, and service should fuel scholarship. Bonner has been an important leader in the conversation concerning community-based research, policy discourse, and service-learning. In the coming decade, Bonner should be a leader in the revolution.

We must work together to build ongoing ‘communities of practice’ around common themes or challenges. In doing so, we must conduct high-quality research drawing from multiple sources of expertise. Research should have specific focus on increasing the evidence-base for what works and what doesn’t in achieving social impacts, and it should be linked directly to action and advocacy.

Finally, I suggest that we can extend the impact of Bonner over the next decade by deepening and expanding participation in our movement. We must strengthen the role of faculty and community partners who have yet to find their place in Bonner.

We must continue to identify and develop best practices for empowering students to stand at the helm of social action in their universities and communities. Bonner has long strived to be an example for student voice and empowerment. We cannot afford to lower our standards on this; we must continue to give students the support and the opportunity they need to lead the Bonner movement through 20 more years of transformation.

As we develop participation, we must also work creatively to engaging the vast network of Bonner alumni, and we as alumni must engage. If Bonner serves its purpose, transformational service means that, while a Bonner scholarship may end after 2 years or 4 years, a Bonner way of life never does. As we develop participation among alumni, we fortify the cross-generational impacts that are possible through Bonner’s extraordinary movement.

These ingredients lead us beyond volunteering. Classic volunteering might entail tutoring an at-risk child. Transformation involves grappling intellectually, spiritually, and emotionally with why the child is at-risk in the first place. It requires us to rigorously pursue the questions as to whether our efforts are really making long-term social impacts, and how we can do better. Transformation summons us into advocacy with our peers and partners for the policies and systems that change the future for other children. Transformation means that we become radically different through our relationship with the child and his or her community.

The last 20 years are building blocks for what remains to be done. Let us celebrate joyfully. Let us reflect thoughtfully. Let us advance passionately.