2009 ANNUAL REPORT OF PROGRAM ACTIVITIES

Please add narrative text that responds to the questions in the four categories below.

Implementation of Student Development

What was the structure and content for the implementation of the developmental model this year?  In particular, please share (no more than one page text needed):

• The Structure for training, courses, & meetings
• Cornerstone Activities including First Year Trip, Second Year Exchange, Third Year (and beyond) Leadership Roles, and Senior Capstone & Presentation of Learning
• Roles of Student Leaders in integration of the Serve 2.0 initiative (e.g., developing and using web-based tools for service)

One of the strengths of the Bonner Leader Program is that it provides the foundation for CILSA’s multiple leadership development and service programs. The attached chart (Appendix A) shows how students can enter our programs at the beginning stages of a commitment to service and justice and continue to work with CILSA as they deepen their knowledge, skills and desires.

Training, Courses and Meetings

Continuing CILSA’s annual format, in August 2008, 19 Bonner Leaders participated in a five-day Orientation.  The program included community-building activities, direct service, creative reflections, and discussions on the common commitments, charity and social justice, and the Lasallian mission of SMC.  As a culminating aspect of Orientation, the Bonner Leaders served as small group leaders for the New Student Orientation Day of Service.   

Throughout the academic year, Bonner Leaders gathered together for bi-weekly Community Night.  Topics for these training and development opportunities were generated by students, connected to the Bonner Common Commitments and Lasallian Core Principles. Community Nights were coordinated by the Senior Bonner Intern who facilitated sessions and invited students, faculty, and staff to lead discussions and activities. 

Throughout the year, each Bonner Leader had one-on-one meetings with Ryan Lamberton, CILSA Community Engagement Coordinator and BLP Coordinator. These meetings helped Ryan establish relationships with the students, keep in touch with their service and academic progress, and to support them as needed.

In addition to Bonner-specific training and development, Bonner Leaders participated in multiple campus-wide social justice speakers and events which deepened the seamlessness of their service and learning.

Cornerstone Activities

SMC students participated in a First-Year Trip in a variety of ways. First, during Orientation all Bonner Leaders experienced a service immersion to the Youth Emergency Assistance Hostel in Berkeley, CA.  Additionally, three Bonners -- DJ Bowen, Elizabeth Torres, and Francis Villaseñor – participated in a service-learning internship course in January in which they served in cities across the US. Other students participated in an ASB Habitat for Humanity project in Oregon, an immersion in Arizona that explored immigration, and individually-planned trips that will occur this summer.

Our students experienced the Second-Year Exchange through participation in Bonner SLI and the CalCorps Leadership Symposium in Berkeley. Four students attended SLI: Malena Hernandez (new Senior Bonner Intern), Elizabeth Torres, Andrew Aguilar, and Brad Parry.  Over a dozen SMC students experienced a leadership conference with fellow Cal Bonners. Both of these conferences strengthen students’ knowledge and enthusiasm for service, justice, and the Bonner Program.

Third Year and Beyond Leadership Roles continued to deepen this year – some of these roles are by design, others emerge through student initiative and interests.  Cleary, CILSA students are able to create and embody further leadership and complexity as they continue their involvement with CILSA and the Bonner program. This year’s student achievements include:

• Lupita Guerrero improved the community ESL program and secured additional funding through a partnership with student government.
• Irene Moon served as a teaching assistant for the course “Doing FaithJustice” which included a week-long immersion; she also coordinated a social justice documentary and discussion series during January term. 
• E.J. Youngblood planned and implemented the 1^st Annual Hunger Banquet and the 2^nd Annual 5K Run 4 Hunger, both of which focused on raising awareness, engagement, and resources to fight hunger.  
• Stephanie Picard-Columb and Tina Vincent served as co-chairs for the annual Carnival 4 Kids – an event which engages a leadership team of 15 students and over 250 student volunteers.
• Nina Pham, former Bonner Leader, served as CILSA’s Community Engagement Council Intern.
• Tiffany Hickey, Senior Bonner Intern, assisted in planning and implementing Orientation and all aspects of the BLP; she facilitated several training and enrichment sessions throughout the year.  Tiffany also initiated the OrangeBand initiative at SMC which strived to promote civil dialogue on campus.  Finally, through a partnership between CILSA, Alumni Relations, and DayBreak, Hickey is spending six weeks in Palmer, AK, as the Summer Service Intern.  

Serve 2.0 Initiative

During the 2008-2009 academic year, students started a “CILSA @ SMC” facebook group which now has over 80 members and is used to promote campus-based events and programs.  A second group, “CILSA Alumni of SMC” was also created and now has over 60 alumni members.  CILSA updated its website during the 2008-2009.  CILSA student leaders will continue to use facebook and other social media tools to promote a culture of service and social justice education at the college. 

Implementation of Community Partnerships

Please share a summary of your work with community partners, highlighting your work regarding  (no more than one page text needed):

•  Arrangement and management of community partnerships and placements (orientation, site visits, meetings, strategic planning)
•  How partners were engaged as co-educators, including academic linkages, courses, and student advising
• Partnerships managed through site-based or issue-oriented teams, as well as other issue-based organizing undertaken
• Capacity building initiatives for community partners (such as workshops, policy research, or resource development)

In 2008-2009, CILSA collaborated with over 55 organizations and agencies to engage students in both curricular and co-curricular service experiences (Appendix B). The work of partnership development for courses is primarily done by the Coordinator of Community Partnerships. The Coordinator of Community Engagement and the Jumpstart Site Manager are responsible for deepening the partnerships for their individual programs.  

Last year, CILSA worked with 57 community partners to offer service-learning and community-based research courses and co-curricular service opportunities (including BLP and Jumpstart). We often have multiple programmatic linkages with the same organization. CILSA’s partnership with Alameda Point Collaborative is an example of the multifaceted relationships that we often have with community agencies. 

Alameda Point Collaborative:  CILSA’s partnership with Alameda Point Collaborative (APC) began several years ago when students assisted APC in developing its community gardens project. The partnership has grown to include five annual Saturdays of Service, Bonner Leaders who coordinate the service, CBR related to soil and water quality, and community assessment related to food security. APC’s Growing Youth Project has presented its work at Bonner Community Nights; and APC’s Executive Director, Doug Biggs, serves on CILSA’s new Community Partner Advisory Council. 

Student leadership is a key element in many of our partnerships. Some of our program models include a student coordinator – such as the LEO Center tutoring program which is led by a Bonner Leader. Also, this year, student Engaged Learning Facilitators (ELFs) provided linkages between faculty and community partners for service-learning and CBR courses. 

 CILSA staff plans annual site visits with agencies with which we have more complex or deeper partnerships. In these meetings we assess the successes and challenges with the course/program, review program elements and the federal work-study process, and invite ways in which the partners are co-educators with our faculty and staff.  This year, nearly a dozen community partners presented in classrooms, trainings, and reflection sessions – modeling their roles as co-educators.

In 2008-2009 the Coordinator of Community Engagement improved the community partner agreements for the Bonner Leader Program.  Community Partners complete and submit these forms electronically.  Community Partners have been very satisfied with this development. 

This past year, CILSA’s Coordinator of Community Partnerships formalized the Community Partner Advisory Council (CPAC) which is a group of nonprofit professionals from the East Bay and San Francisco. This diverse and dynamic advisory council brings community perspective to the work of CILSA and sets the agenda for large community partner gatherings. The Council met three times this year, and presented two larger gatherings (January and May) to which all CILSA community partners were invited. Approximately 15 partner organizations and 30 staff participated in these larger events which included networking and professional development. The first gathering provided professional development in the areas of fundraising and marketing. The second large gathering enabled participants to learn about a successful CBR partnership between Catholic Charities of the East Bay and SMC’s School of Education. 

Campus-Wide Culture and Infrastructure 

Please describe key activities and structures related to the development of campus-wide infrastructure and the role of the Bonner Program in enhancing (or being enhanced by) campus-wide culture and participation in service.  In particular, share  (no more than one page text needed):

• Key activities for faculty engagement and academic connections.  In particular, note any connections to curricular offerings that are linked to the Bonner Program.
• Key relationships and activities involving other departments or divisions on campus (for example for recruitment, student wellness or retention, financial aid, and so on).
• Unique initiatives (such as events, assessment, or strategic planning) that have enhanced institutionalization of service and civic engagement on campus. 

CILSA’s reporting line to the Academic Vice-Provost continues to strengthen our ability to grow the presence of service-learning, community-based research and social justice across the curriculum, while also solidifying CILSA’s community service and leadership development programs. CILSA continues to have six full-time staff members (Appendix C).

Academic Connections

Service-learning, community-based research, and social justice courses continued to strengthen and deepen this past year. Overall, 27 different faculty members and 14 different departments offered over 37 courses with either service-learning or CBR. This development has been greatly supported by both external and internal grants.  Externally, SMC was awarded support for engaged curriculum development from the AAC&U Core Commitment Project, California Campus Compact, and the Bonner/Princeton Learn and Serve Grant. Internally, CILSA receives additional support from the Provost and Vice-Provost for Academics for faculty and curriculum development.

One key achievement for this past year was the formal adoption of benchmarks for engaged pedagogy (Appendix D). A faculty committee, the Engaged Teaching Advisory Council (ETAC) reviewed the benchmarks originally created by the Social Justice Coordinating Committee, and then designed a process by which courses receive official designation as social justice across the curriculum (SJ), service-learning (SL), or community-based research (CBR). This process enables these courses to be identified in the course catalog for students and sets the stage for more complex assessment of engaged courses. 

Connections Across Campus

In addition to academic departments, CILSA works closely with Student Involvement and Leadership and the Mission and Ministry Center for programmatic development. Our infrastructure is supported by strong relationships with Financial Aid and Development. We are also strengthened by our relationships with the Cummins Institute for Catholic Thought, Culture, and Action, and the Social Justice Coordinating Committee. 

Unique Initiatives & Accomplishments

Two accomplishments related to establishing and sustaining a culture of service stand out – the core curriculum revision and social justice action plan. Both create deep and wide institutional change.

First, Saint Mary’s College has spent the last three years reviewing the core curriculum. As part of this conversation, new learning goals were developed, along with the awareness that some goals are met in experiences beyond the classroom.  “Education for the common good” and “community engagement” are two of the 12 goals that encourage and guide students to be educated about others and to consider service on behalf of others. CILSA’s new benchmarks for engaged courses were consistently cited as models to help conceptualize these two new dimensions.

In May 2009, the campus-wide Social Justice Coordinating Committee (SJCC) publicly unveiled its Social Justice Action Plan (link to website) which impacts academics, student life, and administrative life of the College. The SJCC was created from the College President’s strategic plan, and is chaired by CILSA Director Marshall Welch. The Committee is now tasked to begin to enact some of its goals. 

Serve 2.0 

Please highlight your key activities related to the integration of web-based tools as they are connected to the design, management, and outreach for service.  In particular, share  (no more than one page text needed):

• Link to your campus-wide service center or Bonner Program wiki ,web-site, or Ning site. Please explain how it’s most used and by whom.
• Your integration with other social media tools (such as the Bonner Network Forum/Ning, Twitter, YouTube, the Bonner Video Project, PolicyOptions Wiki, or others)

During the 2008-2009 CILSA updated its website to become more comprehensive and interactive.  Also, this year students started a “CILSA @ SMC” facebook group which now has over 80 members and is used to promote campus-based events and programs.  A second group, “CILSA Alumni of SMC” was also created and now has over 60 alumni members.  We are using this group to promote the CILSA Alumni Dinner and Service Project during this summer’s SMC Reunion Weekend. In the coming year, CILSA student leaders will continue to use facebook and other social media tools to promote a culture of service and social justice education at the college.

CILSA owns a flip cam and will be utilizing it more during the upcoming academic year.  The SMC Bonner Leader Program will utilize Ning to stay connected to one another and to stay connected to the national Bonner network. CILSA staff and student leaders utilized the Wiki to create a Campus Issue Profile on Hunger and Homelessness; we hope to create policy issue briefs in the coming year.  Do to staffing, we were not able to create a Bonner Video during the 2008-2009 academic year.   

Campus Issue Profiles

Add links to your completed or draft campus issue profiles here:

• Homelessness & Hunger Campus Issue Profile