Income inequality

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/01/wealthy-top-one-percent-economy-finance-102833.html?hp=t2_3

Schedule Weeks 4 & 5

WEEK FOUR

January 27

The importance of citizen participation within a democracy from the perspective of CST.

DUE: Reading on participation and the common good

January 29

Political parties, interest groups and campaigns.

DUE: Chapter 5 Political Parties, Interest Groups & Campaigns

Blog Topic #4: Does your CP participate in political campaigns or take public stands on campaigns or candidates? Why or why not?

January 31

Speaker: Debbie Bacigalupi, 2012 candidate running against Jackie Speier for California’s 14^th Congressional District, on running a grass roots campaign for political office. Debbie is also an alumna of NDNU. DATE IS CONFIRMED.

DUE: Read Debbie’s Congressional candidacy website at www.debbieforcongress.org

WEEK FIVE

February 3

State Legislatures.

DUE: Chapter 6 State Legislatures

Blog Topic #6: Has your CP sought or encouraged any legislative changes? What process does it use and what challenges has it encountered in doing so?

February 5

Out of class activity: Participate in one or more organized Founders’ Week events this week.

Blog Topic #5: Describe the activities in which you participated. What did you learn about our Foundresses, or about the History or Mission of Notre Dame de Namur learning institutions during this week? Discuss how the charism of the Foundresses might influence the career choices, research pursuits or other professional activities of a Political Science graduate from NDNU.

February 7

Speaker: Sister Margaret Hoffman on Peace and Justice initiatives of the SND de Namur. DATE IS TENTATIVE.

DUE: reading TBD as assigned by Guest Speaker

President Obama on Income Inequality

President Obama on Income Inequality
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-25917009

The CBO data on income inequality since 1979.
http://americainthe21stc.blogspot.com/2011_10_01_archive.html

Reading for Monday 1/27 on Participation

This reading is from a book called Living Justice by Thomas Massaro. It explores major themes of catholic social teaching. What is the role and importance of civic participation as it is described in this excerpt?

Internship Opportunity in DC

The priority deadline for the Summer 2014 LIVE. LEARN. INTERN. programs in Washington, DC is coming up on February 10. The final application deadline is March 18. Please pass the announcement below to students in your honors programs who may be interested in spending a summer interning and earning credit in the nation’s capital.

Students will earn up to 9 credits and are guaranteed an internship in the fields of public policy, international affairs, journalism, communication, business, or the nonprofit sector. More information on our programs may also be found online at www.DCinternships.org.

We greatly value the participation of honors students in our programs and students from NCHC member honors programs receive priority admissions and scholarship consideration. Over 70% of students receive scholarship awards of the basis of financial need and merit.

Thank you for your time and consideration. If you have any questions, I may be reached at admissions@tfas.org or 202.986.0384.

Sincerely,

Dana Faught

Manager, Recruitment and Admissions

U.S. Programs

The Fund for American Studies

*****************************************************

LIVE. LEARN. INTERN. in Washington, DC

www.DCinternships.org

June 7 – August 1, 2014

*Guaranteed Internships - Courses for Credit - Housing in DC

*Priority Deadline: February 10, 2014

*Final Deadline: March 18, 2014

*Scholarship Funding Available

Spend a summer interning in the nation’s capital and gain that competitive edge. Taking advantage of a Washington, DC internship is a valuable investment in your future that will set you apart after college.

The comprehensive programs sponsored by The Fund for American Studies include a guaranteed internship placement, courses for transferable credit from George Mason University, and furnished housing conveniently located in George Washington University’s downtown campus just steps from the White House and State Department. Students also benefit from networking events, exclusive briefings, and guest speakers.

THE INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCE

We’ve been creating academic internship experiences for over 40 years and guarantee all participants an internship placement. Your options are endless – we work with over 300 different federal agencies, policy groups, international affairs organizations, media outlets, public affairs firms, government relations offices, and nonprofit organizations.

Working in this powerful city will allow you to make professional connections and practice networking skills in a real-world setting. Washington, DC is the perfect place to explore a variety of career paths, and we work with each student’s unique goals and aspirations to match them with the most fitting internship site.

“My internship allowed me to attend exciting events on Capitol Hill and at various think tanks in DC. I was then able to take what I learned and compile reports on strategic operations for my supervisor.”

Audrey Sutton, Loyola University Chicago

Intern, International Stability Operations Association

APPLY TODAY

Students will be accepted on a rolling basis until the final deadline of March 18, 2014. Applicants are encouraged to apply for the priority deadline of February 10, 2014in order to receive preference in admissions and scholarship consideration, as well as internship placement. Please include your status as an honors student within your application materials in order to receive priority admissions and scholarship consideration. Over 70% of students receive scholarship awards on the basis of financial need and merit.

For more information and to be begin an online application, please visit www.DCinternships.org. Questions may be directed to admissions@tfas.org or 202.986.0384.

Volunteer opp

I'm writing with The Borgen Project, a national campaign that is focused on global poverty. We've got a volunteer Regional Director opening and would love to have students or faculty involved with our efforts. The details of the position are below. If you can forward this email to students and faculty that might be interested, I’d greatly appreciate it!  We currently have Regional Directors in over 160 U.S. cities ranging from college students and professors to news anchors and business leaders. It’s a neat group of volunteers who operate remotely and meet once a week via a national conference call. You can learn more about the program here.

Thank you,

Kris

--

Position: Regional Director

Location: Telecommute

Status: Volunteer

Duration: Minimum of 6 months.

Hours: 4-6 hours per week

Function: Advocate for the world’s poor.

The Borgen Project fights for the underdog. The innovative, national campaign is working to make poverty a focus of U.S. foreign policy. Learn more at borgenproject.org.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Attend one (30-60 minute) conference call every week with the President of The Borgen Project and Regional Directors from across the United States (5PM PDT, 6PM MDT, 7PM CDT, 8PM EDT).
• Meet with local congressional leaders and lobby for legislation that improves living conditions for those living on less than $1 per day.Mobilize people in your community to contact their congressional leaders.
• Assist with fundraising efforts.
• Build a network of people engaged in the cause.
• Develop and implement strategies for furthering the cause.

DETAILS: Regional Directors operate independently from home and maintain contact with The Borgen Project's Seattle office. Regional Directors sign a 6-month contract. The position is volunteer based and is roughly 4-6 hours per week. Directors attend a conference call every Monday evening.

HOW TO APPLY: Send your resume to hiring@borgenproject.org. The Borgen Project seeks a diverse group of backgrounds for the Regional Directors Program, but all candidates selected must go through two rounds of interviews.

-- 

Kris Fung
The Borgen Project
www.borgenproject.org

CE Project

CE Project for State & Local Government / Spring 2014 / Andrews

            Descriptive Essay due February 19               Research Project Write-Up due April 14

            Interim Presentations February 24 and 26     Presentations April 23 and April 25

            Research Project Proposal due March 19

Guidelines for Choosing a Community Partner (CP) for your Community Engagement Project

I am available to assist each student individually in finding an appropriate Community Partner for the Community Engagement component of this course. However, this is your project and as an upper division student, you should be proactive with this sort of challenge. Whatever your capabilities in managing this project, it is your responsibility to let me know promptly if you are having difficulties, falling behind or need my intervention in any way. We will discuss the assignment in detail during the first week of class.

Your CP can be any unit of government of a state (such as the State of California), a county (such as the County of San Mateo) or a city (such as the City of Belmont). This includes non governmental entities that do the work of a state or local governmental unit.

Your CP can be an interest group, providing that the group interacts with state or local governmental entities on a variety of levels and/or mounts significant efforts to enforce or challenge a law or regulation of any state or local government and/or seeks to educate about or enforce existing rights that may not be secure at the state or local level.

Ideally your CP will, on some level, give voice to an otherwise voiceless population of human or non-human beings.

It must be possible to document your activities with your CP, and a representative of your CP will, in most cases, be required to confirm and evaluate your participation.

This component of the course is worth 1 full unit. You should plan to spend a minimum of 15 hours working directly with your CP plus another 30 or more hours researching, reflecting on, or doing homework assigned by your CP. If you wish, your direct work with your CP could be in the form of an immersion experience over several days, which you can accomplish during Spring Break or over a long weekend.

I encourage you to THINK BIG!!! If you put some effort into it, this project could be the most interesting thing you do all year. If, on the other hand, you seek only to take the easiest path to satisfy a requirement, you could end up doing something less interesting and/or less personally satisfying. The choice is yours. If you are willing to put in the effort, I will do whatever is within my power to support you logistically and, if necessary, with fundraising to cover travel expenses.

The following list is by no means exhaustive. It is merely to give you plentiful examples, in no particular order, of the kinds of offices or agencies you could work with as your Community Partner. Jim McGarry of the Dorothy Stang Center may have additional ideas.

Work with Greg Scoles, City Manager for the City of Belmont, to develop constructive relationships between NDNU and one or more City agencies or departments.

(650) 595-8696

Work with John Gervais, of Belmont Park & Recreation department, to help maintain or protect a specific area, creek, trail, etc. of the city’s parks.

jgervais@belmont.gov

(650) 595-7441

Develop an activity to promote good relationships with the local senior community at Belmont Senior & Community Center… this could be companionship visits, reading to someone whose vision is deteriorating, a senior fitness program, animal therapy visits – whatever you would like to arrange as long as it is approved by Senior Center staff.

adelara@belmont.gov

(650) 595-7444

or stop by M-F 8:30-4:00

San Mateo County Harbor District

400 Oyster Point Blvd., Suite 200

South San Francisco, CA 94080

(650) 583-4400

www.smharbor.com

If you’re interested in ocean marine or bay water use issues, the harbormaster’s office could probably find a good project for you to get involved in.

California State Parks

www.parks.ca.gov

Activities might include a Ranger ride-along, multi-day trail maintenance project, or administrative office project. Some state parks, such as San Francisco County’s Angel Island, include significant museums and/or archives.

Collective Roots

www.collectiveroots.org

Supports a “community based process designed to clarify and raise up the environmental agenda in East Palo Alto.” Volunteer opportunities also in nutrition and adult education, cooking and food health awareness.

Workers Resource Center of San Mateo County

(operated by Samaritan House)

400 E. 5^th Avenue

San Mateo, CA

(650) 344-1651

http://samaritanhouse.com/new/programs/worker_resources.shtml

Click on the “Volunteer” tab for a list of many and diverse ways you can help Samaritan House in general or the Worker Resource Center in particular.

Immigrant Legal Resource Center

1663 Mission Street, Suite 602

San Francisco, CA 94102

www.ilrc.org

SPCA opportunites include things like walking dogs, socializing animals to make them more adoptable, working with people who are considering adopting an animal, feeding and otherwise taking care of wild animals brought to the center… you could even bring your own dog and train him / her as a therapy animal who would then be in a position to help humans who have experienced a variety of illness or emotional trauma.

http://www.peninsulahumanesociety.org/volunteer/positions.html

If you prefer the company of trees, this may be the organization for you.

http://www.canopy.org/pages/get-involved/volunteer-jobs.php

Save the Bay has many projects relating to planting and Bay ecology support.

http://www.savesfbay.org/volunteer

Acterra

3921 East Bayshore Road

Palo Alto, CA 94303

(650) 962-9876

http://www.acterra.org/

Environmental stewardship, working with local cities and businesses on energy efficiency, and many half-day park maintenance projects.

http://www.openspace.org/volunteer/volunteer.asp

Preserve Partners do trail maintenance at various times to suit your schedule

Abilities United provides education and after-school activities for people with disabilities. NDNU student Josh Aguirre is our liaison for this program. jaguirre@student.ndnu.edu.

National Voting Rights Institute and Museum

Selma, Alabama

This group puts on an amazing multi-day commemoration of the Civil Rights movement which falls mostly during our Spring Break period this year. If you could raise about $600-700, you would be able to participate in this event and meet some of the surviving Footsoldiers from the Selma march.

http://www.bcjubilee.org/#!event-hightlights

Alternative Spring Break in Matagalpa and Mulukuku, Nicaragua. With some fundraising, probably no more than $400-500, you could participate in NDNU’s Alternative Spring Break trip to Nicaragua, where you would learn about the work of our SNDs in the area of education for rural and disabled children.

Schedule 1st Three Weeks

Andrews/State & Local Government – Spring 2014

Day-by-Day Schedule of Activities & Assignments

Schedule subject to change due to speaker availability!

WEEK ONE

January 8

Introductions, syllabus, FAQ & course overview. Community engagement project.

January 10

What are state & local governments?

DUE: Chapter 1 New Directions for State & Local Government. Also, create your blog site using blogger.com or another blog service & email url to me at pandrews@ndnu.edu.

WEEK TWO

January 13

Engagement project; finding your Community Partner and creating a compelling project.

January 15

How do state and local governments differ from the Federal government? Why do we have them?

DUE: Chapter 2 Federalism & the States. Also, make final choice of CP for CBL project.

Blog Topic #1: In what sense did your CP arise from a local need or perspective? Is your CP constrained or otherwise affected by Federal policies? To whom is your CP accountable?

January 17

Conflicts between Federal, state and local authorities.

DUE: Explore in detail the website of the National Voting Rights Museum and Institute in Selma, Alabama: www.nvrmi.com

Blog Topic #2: What is the legacy of Dr. King with regard to the enforcement of voting rights at the local level for African Americans? Are these rights still in danger for African Americans and other groups in the US?

WEEK THREE

January 20

No class, MLK, Jr. Day holiday

Extra Credit Opportunity: Attend or participate in an organized MLK Day event & submit a 1-2 page written reflection on the activity. Note that NDNU’s Diversity Office may have a limited number of free or low-cost tickets for the Peninsula’s annual “Freedom Train” event. (Due 1/24.)

January 22

The importance of citizen participation within a democracy.

DUE: Chapter 4 Citizen Participation & Elections

Blog Topic #3: What is the relationship between citizens and your CP? On what level do they interact? How can citizen participation affect your CP?

January 24

Speaker: John Gervais, Belmont Park & Recreation, on the importance of citizen participation and volunteerism in keeping state and local parks open and safe during times of extreme cuts to operating budgets. DATE IS CONFIRMED.

DUE: TBA as desired by Mr. Gervais