Finding a Place to Thrive: How The Village Project Transformed Grace Ward’s School Experience
The Village Project at the School of Social Work offers crucial support for students like Grace Ward, who have navigated the foster care system, helping them find community and success on campus.
Grace Ward, a student in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, is one of several on campus who has found support through The Village Project. This dynamic program, led by Sharva Hampton-Cambell from the School of Social Work, is dedicated to addressing the unique needs of students who have experienced the foster care system.
For Grace, The Village Project has been a transformative part of her journey at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
“The Village Project has by far had the biggest impact on me in college,” she describes. “I have always felt like an outsider in the world and never really got to meet people that understood the struggles of the system and trauma. I remember getting the email about The Village Project and I thought about not going because while I am a very open book person, I had no idea who would be there and I remember being nervous to go as though it may be another place I did not fit into. But when I tell you that is far from the truth… I had never felt like I belonged somewhere as much as I do with The Village Project.
To this day, every time I find out we are having a meeting, I feel immense joy. The impact The Village Project had on me was that I felt like I belong and that there are no goals that are too big for me. I have always been supported by my family but to have the support I have from both Sharva and the other incredible individuals in The Village Project, it finally feels like a place where when a goal seems too big for me because of my past, there are always others to talk to and remind me of how much I have overcome and that there is no such thing as too big of a goal.
That no matter what our past, we have control of our future.”
The program, which aims to connect students with resources and support, is done through informal, family-style dinners generously funded by alumnus of the School of Social Work and peer-led meetings. “My absolute favorite part of The Village Project has been building a community in a place where you don’t feel like an outsider and where you know everyone in the room has a story,” Grace says. “Every month we have what is called Dine and Align and we have dinner and talk and talk and talk for hours. We always go over the “set” time. These meetings are where we not only get to connect with each other and laugh but some of the greatest things have come from those meetings, including the fact some of us are all in a book together and getting to tell our story. It is truly a family that has been made within The Village Project. I have been there since the very first meeting and I cannot imagine not being a part of The Village Project. The Village Project has allowed for us to spread our stories and strive for bettering not only in each other, but within the system. It has allowed for conversations that have needed to be had and makes us want to better ourselves and the system and help others who are going through a similar situation, or have been through a similar situation.”
The Village Project is a small but impactful endeavor, one that Hampton-Campbell hoped would inspire the students who had been through the foster care system. It carries now the hopes of both Hampton-Campbell and the students both. For Grace, her hope for The Village Project is to get more recognition and reach even more students. “Currently the number of students apart of the village project is low,” she says, “but Sharva and those in the group are trying to always spread awareness about the group. I hope to also see The Village Project reach other colleges. It is truly something that gives people who have been through the system a place to be their most authentic selves.
My biggest hope though for The Village Project is that no matter how large or small the project is, that it will continue for years and years to be able to impact others in the way it has impacted me.”
To learn more about The Village Project, and to support it in various ways, including by being part of the host family program, contact Hampton-Campbell at 217-300-3516 or at shamcamp@illinois.edu.