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Humboldt
State University
Over the course of a year and a half, the Students in Action (SIA) leadership team
at Humboldt State addressed the issue of hunger and sustainable food sources – also
known as Community Food Security.1 In their service-learning course,
“Just and Sustainable Food Systems,” students coordinated and initiated a number of
significant community and campus events including a movie night, a holiday food
drive for the local food bank, the creation of a food access survey, the design and
creation of a garden for a local night shelter, and visits to a local elementary
school and field trip for the students to the Arcata Educational farm. The group
also developed partnerships with the local food bank, the Farm to School Program, a
local shelter and community center as well as with students in other courses at
Humboldt State. Participants discovered that the ultimate goals of the projects were
to spread knowledge within the community, to provoke conversation and stimulate
interactions among farmers, consumers, elementary school students, parents, teachers,
and students of the university.
1. Community Food Security (CFS) is defined as “the
ability of all persons to have consistent access to safe, affordable, nutritious,
and culturally-appropriate food from non-emergency sources.”
San José
State University
The leadership team at San José State formed a partnership with After School All
Stars, an after school enrichment program at Burnett Academy, to provide mentoring
services to local elementary school students. To ensure sustainability of the project
the team focused on creating specific roles for each team member so that all aspects -
from recruitment, publicity, mentoring, training and development, and assessment -
were covered. The team also secured funding from SJSU’s
AmeriCorps Bridging Border
Program and
Associated Students. The focus of the team was
to target students who are underrepresented in college and lack positive role models.
The team is in the process of establishing the Cesar Chavez Community Action Center
in partnership with Associated Students.
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo has a long history of implementing projects for the homeless in the
local community. The goal of the SIA project was to raise awareness about hunger and
homelessness and to inspire students to get involved in addressing this issue in the
community. The SIA student leadership team planned, organized and carried out many
campus and community activities. The team implemented a campus “Hunger Awareness
Week” in Fall 2004 that included speakers and a number of activities and exercises
designed to heighten awareness of hunger and homelessness problems. The team also
implemented a campus “Homelessness Awareness Week” in Spring 2005 that began with a
2.5 mile walk along one of the main streets of San Luis Obispo as a means of bringing
this issue to light within the community. During the same week students also organized
a Sleep Out in the University Union, a Free Speech Hour, a Soup & Substance Discussion
at which faculty and students gave brief talks about hunger and homelessness issues,
a Community Agency Forum and Resource Fair on Homelessness, and a Day of Service
painting the homeless shelter.
Monterey Bay
The civic issue addressed by the leadership team at Monterey Bay was the treatment
and attitudes expressed toward the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, Transgender and Queer
community inspired by recent events on their campus. The SIA team developed an action
plan with goals of: a) raising awareness; b) engaging community members in dialogue,
and; c) involving participants in meaningful action. The group decided to concentrate
their efforts on campus and community projects to have the most impact. The group
designed and distributed a sticker representing the project of creating a Safe Haven
to bring awareness to the project and also created a workshop for students on campus
to facilitate discussion on the topic. The group also helped organize National Coming
Out Day Activities and created a temporary Queer community center in which they hope
to find a permanent space. The final phase of the project was the production of the
Qulture Zine, which compiled student submissions regarding sexuality and other related
issues including a self-identified out list and other resources.
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