Group Members: Melanie Markus, Monet Puerta, Harmoni Jackson, Liam Stroh.
When doing our research for our Small Wins project, we wanted to make a difference in areas we knew a handful of people struggled with on a daily basis within our communities, so we picked more than one topic. The topics we focused on were: Food scarcity, homelessness, addiction, mental health, domestic violence, and how to get the community the resources they need to help with these areas.
As we were researching our choices, we ran across numerous articles that showed how the 5 areas we chose also affected a significant amount of college students within our communities. Addiction (Mosel, 2024), homelessness (Torres, 2023), food scarcity (Wickline, 2025), mental health (Shapiro, 2025), and domestic violence (HAWC, 2026) had a large impact on students academic success, health and wellness, social impact, and future success. All 5 of these areas have had a significant increase in the number of students dealing with them in the last several years.
The solution criteria for the Small Wins group project is that it must be the achievement of a goal or task consistent with the definition of a group from our text. That is, the project includes three or more persons interacting who both influence and are influenced by one another (Rothwell, 2019, p. 24). The Small Wins project must include a community service component,with our group determining what is both our “community” and who is being “served.”However, the project must have an actionable activity that is conducted by all the members. Further, the project must be accomplished within the provided timeline of four weeks, along with required documentation and support as described in the assignment. Lastly, the project needs to be consistent with Green River College’s guidelines for the safety and security of students during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The solution our group decided on was to make a brochure with 7 current resources for each of the 5 topics we had chosen. We then placed the resource brochure into a little positive affirmation bag, and included a couple positive affirmation gifts. We chose this method because it is a quick way to get the community the resources they need and keep a little positivity going. Too often when someone is seeking help, they will have a handful of resources just spewed at them, and then they struggle to remember what was said, or to get them written down. A lot of
times a handful of the resources will be outdated too, leaving the individual feeling overwhelmed and helpless.
In conclusion, our team worked really well together despite losing 3 members. We handed the Resource Brochure and gift bags out at a booth we reserved in the Student Union Hall at Green River Community College. We also dropped boxes filled with the Resource Brochures and gift bags to Trio, Open Doors, and the CTW office on campus, and the Advocates Office at the Regional Justice Center in Kent. The offices we dropped the boxes off to were quite impressed and grateful. We also had a few students who received the Resource Brochure state that they also had some friends who could really use the information we had provided, and they took some extra brochures to give out to them. So, all in all, we received a lot of positive feedback and believe the project was a success, and we hope that it continues to help others in our community for quite some time.
HAWC, 2026, The Truth About Domestic Violence on College Campuses – HAWC Mosel, S. (2024). Substance Abuse in College Students: Statistics & Rehab Treatments.
American Addiction Center. Substance Abuse In College Students: Statistics & Rehab Treatment
Rothwell, J. D. (2021). In Mixed Company 11e: Communicating in Small Groups and Teams. United States: Oxford University Press, Incorporated
Shapiro, S. (2025). College Mental Health Crisis Demands Preventative Approaches. Psychology Today. College Mental Health Crisis Demands Preventative Approaches | Psychology Today
Torres, F. (2023). Housing Insecurity and Homelessness Among College Students. Bipartisan Policy Center. Housing Insecurity and Homelessness Among College Students
Wickline, V. PhD… Herrington, J. PhD. (2025). Hungry for Knowledge: Food Insecurity and How it Affects College Students. American Psychological Association. Hungry for knowledge: Food insecurity and how it affects college
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