CommUniverCity San José Project Progress Reports:

January 2008-August 2008

1,095 FWBT Residents● 640 SJSU Students● 3,890 Hours of Service

Civic Engagement I: Candidate Forum (II)

52 FWBT residents ● 20 SJSU student service-learners ● 88 volunteer hours 

Date: May 6^th 6-8pm

Project lead(s): Terry Christensen (SJSU), Joan Rivas-Cosby (FWBT NAC), Imelda Rodriguez (ONA), Maria Mustonen (resident), Tom Leddy (RPNA), Sergio Jimenez (SJSU student), Socorro McCord (League of Women Voters).

What happened:  Partnering with 9 neighborhood associations, CommUniverCity and SJSU organized a forum for candidates for Santa Clara County Supervisor, District 2, for the June 3 election at the Olinder School Cafeteria.  The planning committee organized logistics, solicited contributions of food and oversaw outreach efforts.  Students in PolS 103 Local Politics carried out specific tasks and staffed the event.  A team of 7 students distributed fliers publicizing the event throughout FWBT and assembled packets for distribution through the 3 elementary schools of FWBT. A total of 2,800 fliers were distributed.  Students also assembled the program and sent out press releases to 25 journalists (representatives of El Observador and the San José Mercury News editorial page attended the event and Damian Trujillo, NBC-11, was the forum moderator—at the request of a student).  A team of 9 students provided staff support for the event, including a PowerPoint presentation on “what the county does.”  Le Boulanger contributed food (valued at $315.80) for the event, the Campus Community Association paid for insurance ($100) and the Department of Political Science covered printing and other costs ($227.20)—a total cost of $643. During the event, members of the planning committee and the community asked questions related to the neighborhood priorities of FWBT.  Nearly 70 people attended the event; about 50 were residents; others were candidates, campaign staff, and SJSU student service learners.

Participant Feedback:  Candidates were impressed by the organization of the event and turnout on for a relatively low profile race.  Neighborhood leaders were pleased to have an opportunity to ask the candidate questions pertinent to their specific concerns.  Residents appreciated access to the candidates and the organization of the event.  Of 17 students who completed reflection papers on these projects, all claimed significant learning outcomes and 14 of the 17 successfully related concepts from text to their observations.

• Students who leafleted the neighborhoods said they learned about gentrification, segregation by race and class and sense of community.  Some comments:  “Overall, I came to realize how segregated we are even at the smallest levels.  When one thinks of segregation, one typically thinks of areas much larger and sometimes much farther apart than just in one small area like this one.”  “I was glad to be part of bringing out awareness to the local community.  If people decided to go to the candidate forum, it was their choice as citizens. We allowed them to make that choice for themselves by informing them.”  “I learned how areas of a city can be drastically different just ten minutes apart and not only that but the people of those areas seem to have different thoughts about politics in the city.”
• Students who assisted with the candidate forum learned “challenges of outreach.” “We learned about ‘obstacles to participation’ and tried to alleviate some of these… by making attendees feel welcome at the event by conversing with them when they arrived, offering them food, and acknowledging them as members of the community.  All the printed material was in both English and Spanish to break down possible language barriers.”

Highlights:  The FWBT candidate forum was one of the largest grassroots fora in county supervisorial District 2. Community participants noted the “ripple” effect of publicity for the event, which resulted in many conversations about the candidates and the race other than at the forum.  All costs covered at no expense to CommUniverCity.  Students achieved significant learning.  Residents of FWBT were able to ask questions relating to their concerns and neighborhood priorities, including soliciting support for the community planning process for the BART site.  All candidates committed to supporting the process and advocating for the community plan with VTA. 

Future plans:  Consider replicating the forum if the race goes to a run-off in November.  Follow up on BART site planning with victorious candidate.  Consider soliciting the county as a CommUniverCity partner through the staff of the supervisor-elect.

Civic Engagement II: Voter Registration (III)

2 FWBT residents ● 7 SJSU student service-learners ● 28 volunteer hours
 

Dates: April 25^th 9am-2pm

Project lead(s): Terry Christensen (SJSU), Socorro McCord (League of Women Voters).

What Happened:  Voter registration this spring was scaled back due to the limited availability of student service-learners.  Efforts were concentrated on the SJSU/CUC Day of Service on April 25 and limited to 7 student participants because so few sites in FWBT have proven productive for voter registration.  Students registered a total of 27 new voters, but only 2 are residents of FWBT.

Participant Feedback:  Students who participated in voter registration applied concepts from text  about social capital, voter registration and participation: "we encountered every reason NOT to participate mentioned in the text." Some comments: "Registering voters was like pulling teeth--we approached 55 people in 4.5 hours and registered 6 voters." "It amazed me that so many immigrants wanted to get involved but could not."

Education I:  Olinder Project (ED 157)

200 FWBT residents (elementary students) ● 16 SJSU service-learners ● 800+ hours of service
 

Date: January-May

Project lead: Carol Robledo (Olinder Staff), Agnes Lull (Olinder Staff), Michael Fallon & Todd Madigan (157 course instructors)

What happened: SanJose State University students provided in-class support, homework center support, facilitated recess activities, volunteered at Saturday School and provided general support to the staff at Olinder (ex: chaperoning field trips).

Participant Feedback:

 ·        "Lookingback on the past three and a half months, I have learned many important life lessons. One of the lessons I have learned is that I live my life entirely too much in a selfish way."

·       “This experience has changed my life, I feel as though it has opened my eyes to a different world. The one most single important live lesson I learned was I could learn from children.  At first I thought I was there to only help them. Then I realized they are helping me more than I could ever help them.”

·        "I started to become aware of the social problems that exist within our education system. Our immigration population was the first social problem that I encountered at Olinder. I noticed that most of the students are from immigrant families that are struggling to stay afloat in this very expensive valley.

·       “Another problem deals with the No Child Left Behind Act and its effects on our public school system. This Act has completely stripped creativity from our schools and students. It has standardized education to the point where teachers are forced to teach the test. It forces teachers to keep pace with prefab lesson plans that were designed by someone else; this allows for many of the students to fall behind because class is moving too quickly for them… there are not enough resources to help these students succeed.”

·       “The economic apartheid really shocked me when I saw the gap in wealth and status. I stated that it showed a downward spiral and the main victims are the children. I never truly understood the structure but now I do. These innocent children are being affected by forces that have nothing to do with them. If the concentration of wealth gap does not begin to close, we and our children will be immensely affected.”

·       “As time went on, I began to see the theories that I had been conditioned to see as supplements to the experience rather than defining that experience. I consistently saw inequality and deviance and lack through my time at the school. Nearly every journal entry recognized some issue with the system and process of education that Olinder experienced. Seeing the problem was not the usually the hard part. Finding a solution showed to be more difficult.”

·       “I had thought that the answer to almost all social issues is education. I now realize that education is only as good as it is properly applied. The teachers at Olinder do so much more than teach academics, seeing how involved (Liz) is with all aspects of her kids’ lives has shown me what true education is. . .  This experience at Olinder Elementary has taught me life lessons that will last a life time.  I learned that even the best intentions, like the education system and No Child Left Behind, can be harmful without the proper application.”

·       “Students like Frankie were my greatest encouragement. He was someone who needed positive attention and love. That is my personal goal for my life; to love other people as I would want to be loved. It sounds so simply, but with the world focusing on “I” – it can be very difficulty. Now that I know how many people are hurting in our society and need help, I realize I have an obligation to help them. This is what perplexes me about our society. How can people not be convicted to build their neighbors up? The longer I have been in college, the clearer it seems this is my generation focus. We want to help people around us. We find this desire through education and advocacy.”

Highlights: Carol Robledo improved the system for matching SJSU students with classroom teachers, and scheduling their services for lunch & recess. She also did an outstanding job furthering the scholarship of the seminars, that is, relating the course readings to the education experience at Olinder, and making connections to macro-level policies, e.g., No Child Left Behind Act. SJSU students quickly became responsive to the needs of both the children and the teachers, and became keenly aware of the parents/family background relative to ethnicity, immigration, language, social class.  A number of students far exceeded the 48 hours of service and indicated intentions to serve or visit Olinder’s children in the future.

Future plans: We expect that 157 will place the same number of students at Olinder next Fall semester. I have mentioned to Carol that our Center can possibly tap other service-learning courses for additional tutors/aides to the school. We could specifically meet to discuss more structure in sports/recreation during the lunch/recess period. Our Center is aso supporting Veggielution, a community gardening project, and my talks with Veggielution leaders includes starting a partnership with Olinder (and McKinley) School, and possibly helping create an on-site school learning garden.

Education II: McKinley Science Fair Workshops (I)

168 FWBT residents (elementary students) ● 22 SJSU service-learners ●5 Community Partners ● 97 hours of service
 

Date: February 26^th and March 8^th

Project lead: Aurora Garcia (McKinley Elementary, Principal), Hugo Mora-Torres (Dept. of Health Sciences), Megan Tracz (AmeriCorps* VISTA, CommUniverCity).

What happened: The project was a collaborative effort by McKinley Elementary, CommUniverCity, and the Health Science Program at SJSU. The aim was to encourage students to participate in science experiments and have them enter them in the annual school district Science Fair. In the process, parents were encouraged to work on science with their children with advice and tips from volunteers. And, ultimately have the Science Fair Workshops be a sustainable, on-going project in later years. Parents who attend the “Cefecitos,” which are like a PTA meetings, were briefed on the idea and began working out themes and ways to help their children. Next, SJSU volunteers were called out to help on a Saturday workshop with children and parents of McKinley, where they were able to produce an experiment, start designing a presentation, and physical start making the presentations. About a week later, the Science Fair was displayed and judged by teachers and other volunteers.

Participant Feedback:  Parents and children came out with the desire to work on their science experiments and presentations. Volunteers were very enthusiastic, patient, and worked very hard. And, volunteers adapted and problem solved exceptionally well.

Highlights: In total, 35 posters were assembled during the workshops as a result of the project. There were shifts in some of the parents’ ways of thinking in the area of parenting and also in science and science research. Finally, it came to light that there is a lot of science talent and potential that is not being allowed expression, which could lead to irreparable deficits in science self esteem.

Future plans: Keep the project going for next years’ Science Fair. Start early and improve programming, e.g. more small parent enrichment workshops.

Education III: San José High Academy

89 FWBT residents (SJHA students)●19 SJSU student service-learners ● 6 SJSU Alumni ● 4 SJHA service-learners ● 130 hours of service  

Date: April 16^th and April 30^th

Project lead: Jer Soriano (SJHA; Assistant Principal), Lisa Oliver (SJSU, Dept. of Education), Maribel Martinez ( César Chávez Community Action Center), Ricardo Agredano (CommUniverCity AmeriCorps* VISTA).

Visit:

San José High Academy Sophomore students were bussed to SJSU early in the morning on April 16^th San José, SJSU resources, and current Graduate students. for a number of college-related activities. They all began with a Tour of the campus, given by student volunteers form the CCCAC and the Peer Mentor Program. Students then either headed off to a College-Going Workshop, facilitated by the Education Grad Students, or a MLK Library Tour, facilitated by Library Staff. Next came the much anticipated lunch hour where students ate pizza, visited Jamba Juice, and some even participated in lawn games with fraternities and sororities. After lunch, students did a switch with the College-Going Workshops and the MLK Library Tours. The day closed out with a Panel discussion at the City Council Chambers. The Panel was composed of Alumni now working with the City of

SJHA Students:

In order to fulfill required community service hours, 4 SJHA students volunteered their time during the Día del Niño Event.

Participant Feedback:

Visit:

The students responded to a survey that was given to them at the end of the day. In general, we found that they had learned a little more about SJSU and about going to college. Many of the students really appreciated the Tour of the Campus and MLK Library, College-Going Workshops, Panel discussion, and of course lunch.

Highlights: Students from SJHA had a good time checking out the campus and getting oriented on the path towards college. Many good questions arose during the Panel discussion and Q&A, which addressed many of their concerns and thoughts about college.

Future plans: CUC plans to continue working with SJHA and SJSU to get the next batch of Sophomores on the path towards college. We also plan to work off of feed back and debrief sessions to make the event more enriching.

Education IV: College-Going Culture (VI)

189 FWBT residents (students) ●14 SJSU student service-learners ●76 hours of service

Date: January-May

Project lead: Lisa Oliver (Dept. of Education, SJSU)

What happened: San Jose State University students provided in-class support, homework center support, facilitated recess activities, volunteered at Saturday school and provided general support to the staff at McKinley Elementary, Anne Darling Elementary, and San José High Academy (ex: chaperoning field trips).

Participant Feedback: There were some difficulties at McKinley Elementary, which reduced the number of student volunteers at that site. Also, students had ideas on how to improve the High School visit to SJSU.

Highlights:Despite difficulties at McKinley, a student was still able to provide much needed support in the classroom. And, the High School visit to SJSU was a success and the Education Students were able to deliver needed information about college to 90 or so High School students.

Future Plans: Plan to work through difficulties and continue placing students at various FWBT school sites. And, plan to be a part of any future High School trips to SJSU.

Education V: Inquiry in Action McKinley

205 FWBT residents (students) ●41 SJSU student service-learners ●82 hours of service
 

Date: April 22^nd, 24^th, 29^th

Project lead: Resa M. Kelly (Dept. of Chemistry, SJSU), Maureen Scharberg (Dept. of Chemistry, SJSU), Raul Tornel (CORAL After School Program, McKinley).

What happened: Students from Resa Kelly’s chemistry class facilitated science activities for McKinley Elementary school students at the CORAL After School Program. The activities were about one-hour long and reached out to curious students in the FWBT neighborhood.

Participant Feedback: Raul Tornel (CORAL) observed: “The students really enjoyed doing the hands-on stuff and it was a great thing that they were in small groups where they each got a chance to do something hands-on. They learn math, English, and science at school, but this is different because they see it happen.”

SJSU students were excited to be there and had a good time teaching and doing the experiments with the children.

Highlights: Great opportunity for the children to experience science in a fun way with college students. It was also a great learning experience for the SJSU students to interact with young people from a different background than theirs, while teaching things they had been learning all semester.

Future Plans: The program will continue in Spring 2009.

Education VI : bulbo: DIY Media Strategies from the Border

9 FWBT residents ● 0 SJSU service-learners ● 4 SJSU ● 7 City Agencies ●  60 hours of service
 

Date: March 24^th-28^th

Project Lead: Kuniko Vroman (FUSE/CADRE, SJSU), Omar Foglio (bulbo, Los Angeles), Sebastian Díaz (bulbo, Tijuana, MX), Raul Perez (Striving Towards Achievement in a New Direction (S.T.A.N.D.), City of San José), Fernando Lopez (Safe School Campus Initiative (S.S.C.I.), City of San José), Ricardo Agredano (AmeriCorps*VISTA, CommUniverCity).

What Happened:Kuniko Vroman from FUSE/CADRE, an artist residency program, was able to get bulbo, a media collective based out of Tijuana, MEXICO and Los Angeles, to come to San José and create an exhibit. Given bulbo’s collaborative and engaging manner of work, they decided they would do something different and work with Spanish-speaking youth to tell their story of San José. They began working with CommUniverCity and the McKinley Late Night Teen Program to solicit participation. Once a group was established, bulbo began to share their media skills to the teens who later turned around and used what they learned to record and edit their stories. The result was 5 full videos, each telling a different story, and equipment that the teens get to keep and use for the future. 

Participant Feedback: The participating teens reflected on their experience and have identified it as a positive and fun workshop. They also learned a lot about media skills and new possibilities for themselves they may have not considered they could do. Pancho, one of the teens in the workshop, had this to say:

“…the stuff that bulbo taught us could help us in the future by doing a lot of stuff like being a movie producer or doing commercials for your favorite things or even start your own show…”

Highlights: The work was a feature presentation at the Thompson Gallery on the SJSU Campus and was also one of the draws of the ZERO1 and SubZERO Festivities, which is a Biennial global arts festival that happens in Downtown San José. There was also quite a bit of media coverage, which makes the project and teens known around town and elsewhere.

Future Plans: The S.T.A.N.D. and SSCI City of San José agencies, along with CommUniverCity support, will continue to encourage the teens to continue recording, editing, and publishing videos.

Health I:  Intimate Violence Prevention Workshops

70 FWBT residents· 34 SJSU service-learners · 165 hours of service
 

Date: January-May

Project Lead:  Dr. Elena Klaw (Dept. of Psychology, Executive Director of CCLL), Serena del Mundo (Teaching Assistant Psych 190, VP SAVE), and Ricardo Agredano (AmeriCorps*VISTA CommUniverCity San Jose).

Participant Feedback: 

Resident participants filled out an evaluation form. Below is information taken from those forms:

            11/14 = 79% of teens would recommend the workshop to others.

12/14 = 86% of teens served somewhat agreed or strongly agreed that the information provided was useful.

Adult Residents Living by McKinley Elementary

Principal Garcia thought the workshop was successful in effectively providing culturally competent information and resources on intimate partner violence.  She is interested in future intimate partner violence prevention workshops for the parents of McKinley School. 

Adult Residents Living by Anne Darling Elementary School

            15/15 = 100% of adults would recommend the workshop to others.

15/15 = 100% of adults somewhat agreed or strongly agreed that the information provided was useful.

Adult Residents Living by Horace Mann School

            13/13 = 100% of adults would recommend the workshop to others.     

13/13 = 100% of adults somewhatagreed or strongly agreed that the information provided was useful. 

Highlights:Workshops were successfully delivered to FWBT residents by student service-learners in a number of community venues. The information intended to be delivered was delivered, along with a number of further resources.

Health II: Soccer Silicon Valley

13 FWBT residents ● 0 SJSU service-learners ● 2 City Agencies ● 8 hours of service
 

Date: March-May

Project Lead: Terry Christensen (Dept. of Political Science, SJSU), Don Gagliardi (Soccer Silicon Valley), Darryl Tapaha (Parks & Recreation, City of San José), Mayra Valdivia (Parks & Recreation, City of San José).

What Happened: Soccer Silicon Valley (SSV) hopes to build a future Soccer-Going culture in the Silicon Valley. As a result, they have revived the Historic Earthquakes Soccer Team local to San José. Part of their push for a successful soccer enterprise is to fill seats at games. Terry Christiansen was contacted by Don Gagliardi from SSV with an opportunity for young teens to attend games for free and participate as the new generation of die hard Earthquake fans. CommUniverCity immediately put SSV and the McKinley-Roosevelt Teen Center (MRYAC) in contact with one another and soon enough tickets, fan gear, and good times at games rolled on through the Spring.

Participant Feedback: After giving the participating teens an evaluation form, most said that the games are fun, they may not have gone if it were not for the tickets being available, and that they are worth going to in the future. Many also said that their favorite part of the trip was cheering and watching the game. Some said they had learned about the 1906 earthquake, for which the team is named after.

Highlights: The teens were pretty happy about being able to get out and watch soccer games along with being encouraged to be rowdy and act as hardcore fans.

Neighborhood Environment I: 3^rd Annual Day of Service

4 FWBT residents ● 450 SJSU student service-learners ● 1,816 hours of service
 

Date: April 25^th

Project lead:Imelda Rodriguez (FWBT Resident), Jaime Angulo- House Captain (Neighborhood Housing Services Silicon Valley), Leif Christiansen (Center for Community Learning and Leadership, City of San José & Bridging Borders), Kevin Heuer- Project Site Coordinator (Rebuilding Together), Sarah Payne (City Year San José), Maribel Martinez ( César Chávez Community Action Center), Ricardo Agredano (CommUniverCity San Jose).

What happened:CommUniverCity and partnering non-profit organizations planned physical and educational service-projects focused on the Five Wounds/ Brookwood Terrace and other downtown neighborhoods.  1,100 student volunteers came out that day and restored homes, beautified local parks and schools, read to students in classrooms, hosted a Health Fair at Anne Darling Elementary, picked-up litter, and removed graffiti.

Participant Feedback:There was much attention drawn to the efforts in the schools. Parents noticed a difference in appearance with painting rails and a planter box at McKinley. Many of the students who helped with the Health Fair at Anne Darling had a great time interacting with the students, parents, and school staff. Residents who were involved with the clean up efforts at various parks were excited and pleased with the clean up efforts and attention given to their parks. And, many of the students engaged in the clean up efforts were eager to work and had a great time working with their crews.

Highlights:McKinley Elementary got some noticeable cosmetic touch ups. Anne Darling Elementary had a successful first try at a Health Fair. Parks and streets in the FWBT area got much needed attention and we managed to fill two large dumpsters with trash and debris. Trees that were damaged at Bernal Park were replanted and in good shape.

Future plans: CUC will continue our relationship with City, University, and non-profit agencies. We will continue to collaborate and plan for next years’ Day of Service.

Neighborhood Environment II:  Community Planning Workshop VI

50+ FWBT residents · 5 SJSU service-learners · 400 hours of service
 

Date: January-May

Project leads: Daniel Krause (Principal at Public Vision Research & Teaching Assistant at SJSU), Allen Green (Dept. of Urban Planning, SJSU), Paul Pereira (SNI Manager, City of San José).

What happened: During the Spring Semester, preliminary urban design work and policy recommendations were done by students on the East Santa Clara / Alum Rock corridor and the Rail-to-Trail corridor.  This work was then fed into final designs and presentation material for two mini-workshops with the FWBT Neighborhood Advisory Committee (NAC) scheduled for May 2008 and June NAC 2008 meeting. 

The May NAC mini-workshop has been completed.  In addition to presenting designs and policy recommendations for the East Santa Clara / Alum Rock corridor, a final working draft of the San Jose Steel site plan was presented. 

Final preparations for the June NAC mini-workshops are currently underway.   Designs for the Rail-to-Trail will be review along a confirmation of urban design precepts for all future development in the project area and a brainstorming of preliminary implementation strategies.