2009 ANNUAL REPORT OF PROGRAM ACTIVITIES

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

Implementation of Student Development Implementation of Community Partnerships Campus-Wide Culture and Infrastructure  Serve 2.0  Campus Issue Profiles

 

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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)

 

Cal Corps continued its formal assessment of student learning outcomes for the Bonner Leaders program in 2008-09, and shaped its training in an intentional manner.  Three years ago our department, Campus Life and Leadership, adopted the Social Change Model of Leadership; given this departmental assessment effort we did not adopt the Foundation’s student development model.  While we did not explicitly adopt the Bonner model, in orientations, retreats, and advising sessions Cal Corps staff did work with students to assess their development needs (and strengths) and craft an Individual Development Plan (IDP) to meet these goals/needs.  Likewise, the trainings, courses, and meetings also were explicitly linked to a rubric meant to assess the student learning outcomes:

1. Detail personal definitions of leadership, service, and justice.

2. Lead diverse groups of people.

3. Build healthy communities.

 

While the Center maintains a goal within all programs of providing a clear distinction over two years of involvement, the challenge in implementing this structure is that many students cannot commit to the program for two years.  At the same time, the current structure within many of our Bonner-led programs continue to have an explicit developmental progression.  For example, within the Cal in Local Government Internship Program students serve as an Assistant Director in their first year as a Bonner Leader before moving into a Director position.  In addition, all returning student leaders to the program become a part of our Bonner Leaders Student Leadership Team (SLT), now entering its fourth year.  Key responsibilities for SLT members include nominating our student representative to Bonner Congress and planning and conducting the Mid-year Retreat in January each year.

 

The Center maintains a  comprehensive approach to leadership development, with a well-articulated training and management structure.  In 2008-09 Cal Corps implemented an integrated leadership development plan that included: end of semester reflection papers (2); large group events (2 in fall, 2 in spring); all-Bonner meetings every Wednesday;

elective workshops based on one’s IDP; small group "cohort" workshops; and 1:1 advising sessions (3).  New this year were 3 fall issue-based "tracks" (Politics; Education Equity; and Poverty), one of which Bonners were required to attend in the fall.  Staff planned and conducted 2 orientations/retreats crafted specifically for Bonner Leaders throughout the year.  A seminar (the accumulation of all of the above) was offered for credit to those students who were interested through City and Regional Planning.  All students were provided with a journal, as well as a binder at orientation and an updated Volunteer Managers Handbook and Reflection Manual.

 

For the second time each student was required to complete a Healthy Communities Project (HCP)

as a capstone to their Bonner yearlong

experience; for the SLT members, their role on the SLT was this capstone project.  During Wednesday All-Bonner meetings in the fall the group was provided with a framework to think about social change projects, with the following steps:

*Articulate a vision for a healthy community

*Awareness that injustice exists (Check your assumptions: analyze and confirm need in community in question)

*Propose realistic solutions at individual, group, or community level (Identify and approach collaborators/allies)

*Develop clear goals of impact of HCP

*Undertake event planning (Brainstorm possible obstacles; Be creative in overcoming those obstacles)

*ACTION!  Hold event

*Critical reflection on activity

 

Finally, one student under the direction of Cal Corps staff Carrie Donovan is working to create brief video clips from some of our school sites.  In addition, we are working with graduate students from the School of Information Technology to create widgets for facebook around the area of educational inequity.

 

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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 2008-09 the Center worked intensively with 25+ community partners.  Eighteen Bonner Leaders served as “Volunteer Managers” for local schools and nonprofits, including new partners Berkeley Food and Housing Project, Building Opportunities for Self-sufficiency, and Youth Emergency Action Hostel, that all focus on homelessness and housing.  Volunteer Managers -- split into two "cohorts" and led by Cal Corps staff -- also recruited, trained and managed volunteers for tutoring and mentoring programs.  Seven Bonner Leaders directed Berkeley School Volunteers afterschool programs at school sites, recruiting and working with more than 100 Cal students with K-8 youth in Berkeley.

 

For both Volunteer Managers cohorts community partners completed an RFP in late winter 200.  The lens through which the Center continues to view long-term planning is its East Bay Neighborhood Initiative (EBNI); preference was given to programs that focused their work on one of our EBNI communities, Southwest Berkeley or Lower San Antonio-Fruitvale in Oakland.  In both cases the Cal Corps staff member that led that Bonner cohort led an information session for site supervisors.  Both parties also signed a formal MOU.  Staff stayed in contact with supervisors through regular emails, and conducted at least one site visit to each site in the course of the year.  Site supervisors completed performance-based appraisals of Bonner Leaders and managed their day-to-day work.

Several of these sites have served as partners for several years; direct supervisors or points of contact, these community members served as co-educators on a day-to-day basis.  During the spring and fall – both for the Bonner Leaders program itself and for participants in Bonner-led programs – community members served as workshop presenters, panelists, and speakers.

 

While last year we did not have a method of assessing the developmental nature of placements, in August 2008 we held a forerunner to a Community Advisory Committee (CAC) to provide us with feedback on (among other things) how we can best measure community impact.  Since then we have selected 10 community members to serve on our CAC, and have held two formal meetings.

 

Finally, we took steps toward developing a "development continuum" of service partners, by which we hope work with partners to sustain their partnerships on the Cal campus without a Bonner Leader, thus freeing up future Bonners (and the program s a whole) to work with different agencies.  In our 2009-10 RFP we asked agencies if they would be willing to develop a mulit-year partnershipplan with Cal Corps, and all replied in the affirmative. 

 

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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.

 

 The Cal Corps Public Service Center at UC, Berkeley is primarily responsible for sustaining a culture of service on the UC Berkeley campus.  Founded in 1967, the Cal Corps Public Service Center’s mission is to engage the University and the community in reciprocal partnerships to create educational programs for students, to promote leadership through service, and to foster social justice and civic engagement.

 

The most important development this year has been the Center Director’s continued involvement with the launch of the Berkeley Engaged Scholars Initiative (BESI).  One project of this initiative, the Engaged Scholars Program, which selected 12 faculty members with whom to partner graduate student leaders to assist them in incorporating community need and social action into their course offerings.  In this effort a key relationship has been built with the campus American Cultures office.  With support from the Vice-Chancellor for Student Affairs and the Vice-Provist for Undergraduate Education, and with Cal Corps as a main element, the Center is moving closer to the creation of a true public service center that will support faculty and serve as the main portal for civic engagement.

 

Service-learning takes many forms at UC Berkeley.  The academic co-curricular programs led by Bonner Leaders tap into the "DECal" (Democratic Education at Cal) program at UC Berkeley.  This program allows students to facilitate courses for units for their peers.  In 2008-09, Bonner Leaders designed and facilitated 9 DECal co-curricualr service-learning courses, all of which were sponsored and supported by a faculty member.  In total, 143 students enrolled in these DECal courses, the overwhelming majority of whom received passing grades.  The service learning courses that emanated from the Cal Corps office had a social action component to them, either a policy-focused internship (Cal in Local Government), hands on direct service with a local community action agency (Social Issues, Social Action), or week-long immersion project (Alternative Breaks).  Cal in the Capital, whose DECal took place in the spring term, prepared students for summer internships in the nation’s capital.

 

This past year Cal Corps successfully built on community-based research (CBR) model by incorporating CBR  projects into the Magnolia Project summer internship program.  Through a third-year Learn and Serve grant from Princeton University the Center further integrated this pedagogy into its Cal in Local Government and Magnolia Project programs.  The Center’s involvement in this initiative has led us to further explore our own service paradigm and offer recourse sheets for students considering integrating their service pursuits into their academic work.

 

 

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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)

 

While we anxiously await the launch of our Center's new website, our current website does contain useful links and resources.  This past year we loaded many of our student training materials to a special webpage for current Bonners, and also created a webpage that lists our program partners which includes a google map.

 

In our 2009-10 Bonner application we asked students if they would like to maintain their own wiki website, and many responded in the affirmative.  Bonners from 2008-09 already utilized the wiki format, with Cal in Local Government and Magnolia Project student interns uploading policy briefs to teh policyoptions site.

 

We are utilizing other forms of social media, especially Facebook and videos.  Our Bonner Video Project is focusing on student testimonials that will be uploaded to our website.  At the same time, we are working with graduate students from our IT school to create Facebook widgets round educational inequity to make it easier for students confronting this issue to communicate using this platform. 

 

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Campus Issue Profiles

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

• As of now we have one policy brief through CLG, though I plan to have more by mid-summer.