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.