- Loading...
- No images or files uploaded yet.
|
|
Pilot Project Profile - University of California - BerkeleyLead Contacts | Issue Focus | Pilot Project Plan | Timeline | Progress Reports Lead Contacts
Issue Focus
Progress Reports
Pilot Project PlanProject Overview
The Cal Corps Public Service Center at the University of California, Berkeley proposes to continue its partnership with Learn and Serve on the LocalPolicyOptions.org Initiative in two ways:
BackgroundThe Center is primarily responsible for sustaining a culture of service on the UC Berkeley campus. Founded in 1967, the Cal Corps Public Service Center’s mission is to engage the University and the community in reciprocal partnerships to create educational programs for students, to promote leadership through service, and to foster social justice and civic engagement. Since the storm and flood in August 2005 Cal Corps has explored ways to work in solidarity with the people of New Orleans while support rebuilding efforts there and across the Gulf Coast. The rebuilding challenges facing the Gulf Coast are enormous. The Magnolia Project is made up of 1) a three-week summer service trip; 2) 8-week summer internship program; and a planned semester-long internship program with the University of New Orleans which includes a 20 hour/week internship with a community-based organization. The Center partners with community-based organizations providing services to or working for justice with the people of the Gulf Coast. The Local PolicyOptions.org Initiative fits into the Center’s current and proposed community-campus partnership efforts in several ways:
Education
The Center’s Cal in Local Government (CLG) Internship Program, with a renewed focus on matching students with internships in Oakland and Berkeley city government departments and school districts, has incorporated a CBR policy project for the past two academic years. CLG is a student-facilitated course for units with a faculty sponsor, and this year will have 15 student intern participants as well as 5-7 graduate student readers.
The Center is currently developing a Community Advisory Committee, with an anticipated first meeting in early December. One of the projects that committee members can be offered is an opportunity to work on this initiative.
The Center has been focusing on the improvement of all its services to youth and K-12 schools. Cal Corps just held a first Education Summit, which drew more than 275 participants and which offered more than 15 different workshops. More than half of our 30 sponsored Community Projects, comprising more than 800 student volunteers, are focused on education or mentoring. BUILD (Berkeley United in Literacy Development) is our most intensive educational program. It sends 80 undergraduate tutors to 12 schools. The program has a summer component, thus offering year-round literacy tutoring to more than 1,200 students annually in the area.
In the past two months, the City of Berkeley, the Berkeley Unified School District, and United in Action (a collaboration of community organizations, community leaders and parents) have created and passed a citywide resolution called Vision 2020. This resolution commits these partners to focusing resources to eradicate the educational achievement gap by the year 2020. Megan Voorhees, Director of Cal Corps, is representing the University on the Leadership Committee for this district-wide project.
Rebuilding New Orleans
Based on the Center’s CLG policy brief project model, interns in the summer and semester-long exchange program will develop community based research projects of their own. Proposed funding for this activity will go toward summer internship stipends only.
Since January 2008 the Center has had a Gulf Coast Community Advisory Committee (CAC). One of the projects that committee members can be offered is an opportunity to work on this initiative.
We have established relationships with the Office of Recovery Management and Administration (two Cal interns worked under “Recovery Czar” Ed Blakeley in summer 2008) and 30-40 nonprofit organizations that more than 250 Cal student volunteers have partnered with in the past 3 years.
Student Engagement
Our plans for recruiting, training, and supporting students engaged in our Local PolicyOptions.org Initiative would focus on our current staffing and leadership structure, and incorporate existing programs.
Education
Based on our student leadership model, we will recruit a graduate student who will report to the Cal Corps Assistant Director to lead this activity. We will recruit both undergraduate interns and graduate policy brief readers from our CLG program or from research centers such as the Center for City and Schools currently engaged with aforementioned district-wide stakeholders. Within the CLG program in spring 2009 and 2010 we already plan to train student interns in the template that will be used to populate the PolicyOptions.org website. Potentially, we could offer summer internship placements to CLG spring interns who demonstrate exceptional commitment and skill. We also will retain graduate students to serve as policy brief readers and who can provide more expertise in both “polishing” briefs that emerge from CLG and in creating new briefs over the summer.
Rebuilding New Orleans
We will recruit from Magnolia Project past participants, both the 200+ volunteers and 10 interns who have served the Gulf Coast. In mid-October our weeklong spring Alternative Breaks program received 60 applications for 12 spaces. Prior to departure for the summer internship program we will train students in the template that will be used to populate the PolicyOptions.org website. Because Cal Corps is providing a stipend for these interns we will ask that they complete this project in the summer. We already have made a CBR project a central element of the semester-long exchange program.
Faculty Engagement
Education
We will engage faculty both engaged in the University’s new Berkeley Engaged Scholarship Initiative (a project to develop more faculty-taught service-learning and community-based research courses), as well as faculty within Goldman School of Public Policy (including Professor David Kirp and Professor Robert Reich) and the Department of City and Regional Planning. These and other faculty members would be in addition to the CLG faculty course sponsor.
Rebuilding New Orleans
We will work with 5 faculty members who have been working with the Magnolia Project over the past two years, including Bob Bea, Professor of Civil Engineering, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering and Glynda Hull, Professor of Education in Language, Literacy, and Culture, Graduate School of Education. Magnolia Project student leaders have compiled a thorough list of faculty interest in sponsoring students in their semester-long internship placements, so these can be approved as “field studies” coursework for credit. In addition, one of our Gulf Coast CAC members is a faculty member at University of New Orleans who will be teaching the one “core” curse that all UC Berkeley exchange students will take during the fall or spring semester.
Deliberative Democracy Forum
Cal Corps will disseminate the findings from this project in a variety of ways, including:
Education
Directly to the Vision 20/20 Leadership Group, including the Mayor and School Superintendent.
At our second annual Education Summit, the first just held October 26, 2008 and which drew more than 250 students and community members. Through our newly created Community Advisory Committee, first meeting scheduled for January 2009.
Rebuilding New Orleans
At regularly scheduled CAC meetings, alumni events, and student gatherings. Members of our Gulf Coast CAC include staff and faculty from Loyola, Tufts, and Dillard universities, where we could potentially find venues on all of these campuses for work to be disseminated. On the UC, Berkeley campus in the semester following the student’s involvement; and
At spring conferences such as the Gulf Coast Summit on Service-Learning and Civic Engagement through Higher Education, which Mike Bishop (Cal Corps Assistant Director) attended in the past and where he will present a workshop in March 2009.
Editorial/Advisory Board
Education
As noted above, the Center is currently developing a Community Advisory Committee, with an anticipated first meeting in early December. One of the projects that committee members can be offered is an opportunity to work on this initiative.
Rebuilding New Orleans
Since January 2008 the Center has had a Gulf Coast Community Advisory Committee (CAC). One of the projects that committee members can be offered is an opportunity to work on this initiative. University of California, Berkeley’s Cal Corps Public Service Center
Timeline
Fall 2008
Spring 2009
Summer 2009
Fall 2009
Spring 2010
Summer 2010
|
Anonymous
Create an account or Log in
Comments (0)
You don't have permission to comment on this page.