CACC Programs » Civic Engagement - CalSAC
Developing Leadership Skills of Students
Partners in Progress : (3) Developing the leadership skills of California's higher education students and consequently, increasing civic engagement of those students
By providing student leadership workshops, and giving funds to institutions in California to help implement these workshops, CACC hopes to help the students make the connection between perceiving the needs of their community and actually doing something about it by volunteering and engaging in civic life.
California Student Action for Change (CalSAC) is one such program by CACC to develop the leadership skills of students. We organized various regional centers in California, as well as coordinated with National Campus Compact's Raise Your Voice campaign.
Grant Recipients
California State University, Fresno
Student Civic Engagement Regional Conference: Voice, Action, Chane
Contact: Chris Fiorentino, chrisf@csufresno.edu
As the regional center for Central California, Fresno State will be hosting a student civic engagement conference titled "Voice, Action, Change" in November, 2004. We are hosting this gathering as a part of an effort to empower students to address social, political, and economic issues in their local, national and global communities. Our goal is to provide current and potential student civic engagement leaders with the tools they will need to be more effective organizers on their campuses. Students will participate in brainstorming discussions, strategic planning sessions and skill building workshops in which they will identify issues that are of concern to them and then collaborate with students from all over the region to develop action plans/programs necessary to create change.
Humboldt State University
Student Civic Engagement Regional Center
Contact: Annie Bolick-Floss, amb2@humboldt.edu
In Fall 2004, Humboldt State University convened a three-day Student Civic Engagement Regional Retreat. Over fifty student leaders from public and private, two and four-year universities, throughout northern California and Oregon, came together to share strategies on student organizing and outreach. During the retreat workshops were held on skill building such as event planning and non-violent communication, and also on topics such as civic engagement and social justice. As part of the retreat, students identified issues on their home campuses and strategized on ways to change them with an action plan that included new ideas learned from the retreat. After the retreat students had the opportunity to apply for mini-grants to fund initiatives on their campuses, which were implemented in Spring 2005.
Notre Dame de Namur University
Student Civic Engagement Regional Center
Contact: Gretchen Wehrle, gwehrle@ndnu.edu
Building on our institution’s long history of civic engagement and collaboration, Notre Dame de Namur University (NDNU), in partnership with the Peninsula Conflict Resolution Center (PCRC), will serve as the regional center for the Bay Area to promote greater and more powerful student civic engagement. NDNU and PCRC will be collaborating with four institutions—College of San Mateo, Saint Mary’s College, San Francisco State University, and San Jose State University—to host a fall gathering of students focusing on community building and capacity development. Students from the different institutions will take their learnings and newly developed skills and work to promote student civic engagement on their own campuses.
University of California, Los Angeles
Greater Los Angeles Regional Center for Student Civic Engagement
Contact: Kathy O'Byrne, kobyrne@college.ucla.edu
UCLA will convene a series of collaborative activities in our 2nd year as the "Greater Los Angeles Regional Center for Student Civic Engagement"! We will host three events in 2004 for students from seven campuses in the Greater Los Angeles region. Participants include UCLA, USC, Cal State Northridge, Cal State Los Angeles, Los Angeles Trade Tech, Loyola Marymount University and Mount St. Mary's College. Two planning sessions will be held on September 18th and October 9th. A regional conference will be held on Saturday, November 6th at UCLA, with skill-building and leadership development opportunities for students.
University of California, San Diego
Student Civic Engagement Regional Center
Contact: Emily Marx, emarx@ucsd.edu
As a follow up to the first Collaborative for Service Action and Engagement (CASE), San Diego student leaders and staff supporters have developed the following plan for CASE 2004-05. A Pre-CASE overnight retreat will take place in November at UCSD. Teams of 4-5 students from each of 5 area universities and community colleges will gain leadership skills and develop a plan for how to utilize $1000 sub grants to create a civic engagement project on their campuses. CASE will take place in conjunction with the annual Social Issues conference in March at USD and will be a time of additional training, sharing, reflection and assessment. Students will share the successes and challenges and learn from the approaches of other students at the Campus Compact Western Regional Conference in April. As last year, the process will be student run and staff supported.