Public Service Center Annual Report 2009-10

2009-2010 Annual Report

CAL CORPS Public Service Center

n

Improving Education

n

Fighting Poverty

n

Advancing Engaged Learning

publicservice.berkeley.edu

Cal Corps ...

Fighting Poverty

Connecting Cal Students with Opportunities to Fight Poverty Cal Corps challenges students to explore the myriad symptoms and impacts of poverty – such as its impact on access to education – and how poverty intersects with race, gender, ability, and other identities.

Our strategies to engage students to take action in the fight against poverty include: direct service, policy work, community organizing, and education and awareness building. We provide institutional structures of funding and training for student groups fighting poverty and they, contribute to the organizational capacity building of local non-profits, and/or coordinate programs directly out of our Center.

Fighting Poverty 2009-2010

BY THE NUMBERS 49

Community Partners Served

214

Tax Returns Filed at 1 of the 8 VITA Site

36,886

Hours Served by Students

POVERTY FIGHTING PROGRAMS

$769,073

Alternative Breaks engages students in short-term, community-based

Poverty & Homelessness Symposium: Put Poverty in the Past

service projects over academic breaks. Students travel in and outside of California to further understand diverse communities and to learn approaches that might be brought back to the Berkeley community. Students participate in a semester-long course to prepare them for their trip.

Magnolia Project connects students with service projects, internships, and semester exchanges in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.

Student Initiated Community Projects sponsors 25-30 student groups engaged in service projects that address vital community needs.

The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program is student-run.

The provides free tax preparation to low income residents in the East Bay at eight different sites.

The Bonner Leaders AmeriCorps Program allows students to

serve as Program Managers in local schools, community based organizations and the Cal Corps Public Service Center. Their primary role is to engage Cal students in the community and to develop a sustainable partnership between their program and UC Berkeley.

Economic Impact of Student Service

In an effort to promote awareness of local poverty, the Suitcase Clinic, Cal Habitat for Humanity, and Cal Corps hosted a poverty symposium in April 2010. The goal of this event was to gain insight into the issues that cause and perpetuate poverty and to empower individuals to take action to make poverty more manageable in society.

The event was sponsored by California Campus Compact and Corporation for National Community Service, Learn and Serve.

Huapeng Qi, Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (VITA) “My first day to work as a VITA tax preparer was extremely exciting.”

In spring 2010, Huapeng Qi served as a volunteer to work with local residents as a tax preparer through East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation. After helping one resident clarify head of household status, Huapeng saw how his volunteer work and course-based preparation made a real difference in this resident’s life. “At that moment, I was just so excited and happy for him, as if I was the one getting the extra refund.”

Cal Corps ...

Making a Difference in K-12 Education Connecting Cal Students to Schools & Youth Cal Corps students tutor, mentor, teach, and counsel youth in the Bay Area and beyond. In 2009-2010 several community partners honored Cal Corps for our youth work. The Berkeley Public Education Foundation presented the Center with a distinguished partner award in recognition of the hundreds of Cal students who are helping struggling readers acquire literacy skills. They also honored Cal Community Music, a Cal Corps student-initiated community project, which offers free music lessons to youth at all Berkeley public schools. Berkeley Youth Alternatives, a communitybased organization in West Berkeley, recognized Cal Corps as “Organization of the Year” for the tutoring and mentoring services Cal Corps students provide. Cal Corps also partnered with the Berkeley Public Education Foundation and several community organizations to launch a summer program scholarship fund. Our collaborative was awarded a Chancellor’s Community Partnership grant which allowed 40 children from low-income families to participate in summer reading enrichment programs.

K-12 EDUCATION PROGRAMS Berkeley United in Literacy Development (BUILD) is a literacy and

homework tutoring program for elementary school students in Berkeley and Oakland. The BUILD Program provides individualized support to struggling readers throughout the school year and through the summer. It is one of the larger student employers on the UC Berkeley campus.

Bonner Leader Education Program Managers connects students to a variety of service and leadership opportunities within Cal Corps and the community.

Creative Residencies for Emerging Artists (CREATE) is an arts-in-

service internship program that allows student artists to contribute their skills in visual arts, dance, theater, and filmmaking to meet community needs.

1,318

K-12 Education

By The Numbers 2009-2010

Youth Benefiting from Cal Corps Literacy Programs

208

BUILD Literacy Tutors

25,800

Hours Served Tutoring Berkeley and Oakland K-12 Students

2nd Annual Education Summit Cal Corps brought 300 student leaders together at the 2nd Annual Education Summit on October 11, 2009 which included trainings led by faculty, community, and student leaders. In addition, Cal Corps organized a series of workshops in the spring of 2010 which explored educational inequities in the Bay Area.

Destination College Americorps is a campus collaborative that places Cal students in tutoring, mentoring, and pre-college advising positions to promote higher education to low-income, first-generation college students.

Student-Initiated Tutoring & Mentoring Projects are student-led

programs that provide support to Bay Area youth.

Martin Perez: BUILD Director & Student Advisory Committee Member “I feel incredibly lucky to have the chance to work with local youth.”

Martin Perez worked with the BUILD Literacy tutoring program at Think College Now in Oakland.

Martin started tutoring through BUILD his first year at Cal. “As a child, I frequently struggled in school and never even thought about going to college until late high school when a counselor raised the possibility.” Martin now plays a similar role as a college mentor. “Recently, I began leading workshops in Spanish for the parents and families of my students to talk to them about the college process, admissions, and financial aid. I have found that if parents can hear from college students who share the same background, they can see possibility, and that can make all the difference.”

Cal Corps ...

Advancing Engaged Learning Connecting Academics & Social Issues As a Center, Cal Corps creates spaces to convene students, faculty, and community members so that they can connect academics to complex social issues. The methods vary - internships, fellowships, leadership positions, courses, conferences, research projects, and direct service - but the goal is the same: to connect people, ideas, and resources to act for social justice, build healthy communities, and foster life-long commitments to public service.

Engaged Scholarship Support Programs n n n n n

American Cultures Engaged Scholarship Service-Learning Mini-Grants Chancellor’s Awards for Public Service Engaged Scholarship Video Project Community-Based Participatory Action Research Network

Campus Compact Colloquium Cal Corps hosted a Campus Compact Colloquium in November 2009 on “Appraising Community in Engaged Scholarship.” This event brought together several hundred faculty, students, and servicelearning and non-profit staff from institutions and organizations across Northern California.

Faculty supported by Cal Corps in 2009-2010

American Cultures Engaged Scholarship Program In January 2010, Cal Corps launched the American Cultures Engaged Scholarship Program in partnership with the American Cultures Program. A signature project of a generous campus gift from the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Foundation, ACES supports faculty in developing community-engaged research and service-learning opportunities in undergraduate AC courses.

Over the next five years, 30 new or revised AC courses will be developed through ACES, and implemented with engaged scholarship components. Faculty are selected as Chancellor’s Public Scholars and assisted by students chosen as Chancellor’s Public Fellows. The first cohort of Scholars and Fellows were chosen in March 2010, comprising of six faculty from various disciplines and thirteen undergraduate and graduate students. By providing funding and professional development, the year-long program will culminate in the implementation of the courses in Spring 2011. It is hoped that this initiative will transform how UC Berkeley engages its community partners, how students understand societal issues, and how faculty community-engaged scholarship is valued.

n

Jill Berrick, Social Welfare

n

Thomas Gold, Sociology

n

John Hurst, Graduate School of Education

n

Leora Lawton, Sociology

n

Joe McBride, Environmental Planning

n

Minoo Moallem, Gender & Women’s Studies

n

Lisa Pruitt, Mechanical Engineering

n

Melissa Rogers, School of Law

Faculty Profile: Professor Thomas Gold, Sociology Professor Gold is a strong advocate of public sociology, and has served on the boards of many civic organizations. One of his current board positions is with the East Bay College Fund, which provides scholarships and mentors for graduates of Oakland public high schools who attend four-year colleges or universities. Professor Gold received support from Cal Corps staff to connect his personal interest in East Bay low-income youth to teaching a sociology course that explored the needs of local youth development organizations through service-learning experiences at local non-profits, including the East Bay College Fund. The following semester, in April 2010, Professor Gold was recognized at the annual Chancellor’s Awards for Public Service with the “Faculty Award for Civic Engagement.”

Cal Corps ...

Exploring Careers in Public Service Cal in the Capital Cal in the Capital (CITC) is a student-managed internship program which supports 70 students in summer internships in Washington DC. Since the summer of 1965, Cal students have interned on Capitol Hill, in federal agencies, think tanks, nonprofits, and other organizations. This summer, continuing a long tradition, CITC founder Dr. Michael McGinnis hosted intern Neha Agarwal at the Institute of Medicine, and held the annual CITC welcome barbecue at his home. Another longtime Cal in the Capital supporter, Cal alum Elizabeth Keenan, hosted intern Adam Black at the Department of Justice. Students also reveled in exploring DC, taking in 4th of July celebrations on the National Mall, enjoying Jazz in the Garden at the National Gallery of Art, and attending events sponsored by Cal’s DC Alumni Club and the UC Washington Center.

Shinnyo Fellowship Shinnyo Fellowships offer students a ten-month internship to design and implement service projects in peace-building and sustainable social change. As part of their work, 2009-2010 Fellows, Farrah Moos and Sara Mizner, planned “Soul Food for the Activist”, a retreat for student leaders to learn self-care and reflection skills.

WT Chan Fellowship The WT Chan Fellowship Program hosts six students from China in six month service internships with community based organizations throughout the Bay area. The Fellows learn about social theory in a weekly academic seminar, and gain experience and skills needed to address community needs upon their return to China. In addition, the Fellows learn about American culture through their homestays with local East Bay families. This year, Yanping Guo learned about using film and social media in service of the greater good at the Bay Area Video Coalition, and Junbao Li gained insight in community organizing and environmental justice at the Asian Pacific Environmental Network.

Magnolia Project Magnolia Project links students with service projects, internships, and a semester exchange program in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.

The summer 2010 internship program placed eight students with Rethink, Neighborhood Empowerment Network Association (NENA), the Office of the Mayor, YAYA, and Neighborhoods Partnership Network. One participant, Rafael Rangell, interned with NENA, assisting with developing sustainable design standards on home construction in the Lower Ninth Ward by interviewing residents and business owners, and by attending neighborhood association meetings.

Alumni Perspective: Magnolia Project Dominique Donette I first started my work in New Orleans sleeping on the benches of the historic St. Augustine’s church, risking arrest on behalf of a cause we believed in. From that experience forward, I knew New Orleans was a place I wanted to understand better and spend more time as a community member. I was given that opportunity through Cal Corps when I began as a summer volunteer with Magnolia Project, working with different community based organizations and came back the following summer as an intern with Kids Rethink New Orleans Schools. In my work, I realized that I wouldn’t truly understand what it would take to make change unless I were an actual, community member who was living every aspect of the city. After I graduated I moved to New Orleans and have been working with Kids Rethink New Orleans Schools full-time. From riding the streetcar and buses, shopping at the farmer’s market, attending community meetings, and working in New Orleans public schools, I now have a greater understanding of what community building means and how change happens at this level. Cal Corps and the Magnolia Project provided me with an unparalleled life transforming opportunity.

Cal Corps ...

Making a Difference

By The Numbers 2009-2010 156 Student Leaders 200 Agencies and Schools Served 2,771 Participants in Workshops, Trainings, & Special Events 8,091 Students Involved in Cal Corps Programs 309,129 Hours Served by Students $6.4 million Service Hours Economic Impact

Program Sponsors

Chancellor’s Awards for Public Service Cal Corps has the pleasure of coordinating the annual Chancellor’s Awards for Public Service, which recognize faculty, staff and undergraduate and graduate students for engaged scholarship and service to community. This year Professor Thomas Gold was awarded the “Faculty Award for Civic Engagement”. Other recognitions included several student organizations, undergraduates, and staff:

Professor Meredith Minkler

Faculty Award for Research in the Public Interest Organizes the Participatory Action Research Network on campus, recognized for her decades of community-based research in public health

Professor Minoo Moallem Service-Learning Leadership

Supported by Cal Corps in developing a community-based component in her Gender & Women’s Studies course, and has taught service-learning courses for several semesters at the University.

Laura Stachel

Graduate Student Award for Civic Engagement Thank you to the generous support of individual contributors, alumni, & community partners.

Recognized for co-developing a “solar suitcase” that is a simple, affordable source of reliable electricity and has enabled hospitals and clinics in eight developing countries to reduce maternal mortality as a result.

Contact Information Phone: 510-642-3916 | Fax: 510-643-0326 | Email: publicservice@berkeley.edu Mailing Address: 102 Sproul Hall #2430 | Berkeley, CA 94720-2430 Director of Cal Corps, Assistant Dean of Students UC Berkeley: Megan Voorhees Dear Cal Corps Friends, 2009-2010 was an exciting year for our Center. We broadened our work with faculty though the creation of the American Cultures Engaged Scholarship Program which will fund the development of 30 new community-based courses. We launched a local poverty initiative that is educating the campus about the impact of poverty and engaging hundreds of students in serving low-income communities. We brought on two new staff to help us deepen the quality of our work and we launched a new website (publicservice.berkeley. edu). We also refined our mission to connect people, ideas, and resources to act for social justice, build healthy communities, and foster life-long commitments to public service. We are grateful for all the ways that each of you helps us to achieve this mission.