UC Berkeley Press Release

Recipients announced for Chancellor's Community Partnership Awards

By Glenda Rubin, Community Relations | 06 August 2008

BERKELEY – Eighteen projects designed to enhance the quality of life for residents of the city of Berkeley will share $212,700 in grants awarded by the University of California, Berkeley Chancellor's Community Partnership Fund, campus officials announced today (Wednesday, Aug. 6).

The fund annually grants awards to Berkeley-based organizations for projects addressing community needs that bring together the ideas, energy and resources of both the community and the faculty, staff and students of UC Berkeley. This year's recipients were chosen from over 40 applicants.

"We are delighted to support these creative programs in the arts, educational enrichment, neighborhood improvement and social welfare," said UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau. "These projects illustrate what can be accomplished when community groups and the university work together to make a difference in our community."

Grants are awarded in two categories - neighborhood improvement projects that enhance the city's physical environment and community support and service projects that improve the economic, social, and cultural well-being of its residents.

The 2008-2009 community service project grants were awarded to:

• Vision 20/20: A Total Community Approach to Educational Achievement and Equity Project. Convenes a community-wide conference and establishes a task force to develop a comprehensive approach to addressing the achievement/equity gap in the Berkeley schools.
• The Dance for Parkinson's Disease Project: Offers classes and teacher-training by Mark Morris Dance Group members in their innovative approach to movement exercise for people with Parkinson's disease.
• Yellowjackets Performance Lab at Berkeley High School: Workshop will be held in conjunction with the Berkeley Repertory Theatre's world premiere production of "Yellowjackets," a play about race relations at Berkeley High School that was written by Berkeley High graduate Itamar Moses.
• WriterCoach Connection Literacy Support for Berkeley Middle Schools 2008-2009: Trained writers work with 7th and 8th grade students to help them master writing and critical thinking skills.
• The Bay Area Student Collaboration to Assist the Homeless: Engages students from across academic fields and professional programs to provide direct legal services, health advocacy and policy work on behalf of homeless people.
• Coaching Corps Berkeley: Recruits, trains and places UC Berkeley students as volunteer coaches and mentors for after-school sports programs at seven sites, serving hundreds of Berkeley youth.
• The Affirmative Asylum Program: Offers free or low-cost immigration legal services to refugees and immigrants and provides them with tools and legal knowledge to advocate for themselves and their community.
• The Watershed Environmental Poetry Festival: A national environmental arts project initiated by UC Berkeley English professor and former U.S. poet laureate Robert Hass, the festival brings together poets, nature writers, musicians, visual artists and environmentalists to inspire concern for the natural world.
• Community in the Classroom: Places more than 75 UC Berkeley science graduate students in Berkeley elementary schools to do 150 hour-long, hands-on presentations.
• M3 Academy: Recruits and places UC Berkeley students as tutors and role models for Berkeley 5th and 6th graders in early morning, after-school and Saturday classes in math, sports and life skills.
• Berkeley Youth Collective: Connects UC Berkeley students with continuation high school youth to develop literacy, writing, math, research and technology skills that expand their access to college preparatory programs and educational opportunities.
• Poetry in the Community: Brings the Poetry for the People program to the Berkeley community through such activities as community performances by nationally acclaimed artists performing at UC Berkeley, community and school workshops, and multigenerational performances featuring national and local artists and students.

The 2008-2009 neighborhood improvement project grants were awarded to:

• The Atheon: A Temple to Science Project. Commissions an art installation at the Magnes Museum's new downtown Berkeley location that depicts NASA-generated imagery of the universe's early years as well as a synod to discuss the relationship between science and religion.
• Berkeley Teen Eco-Service Days & Related Trainings: Involves local teens in hands-on habitat restoration days at Berkeley Aquatic Park.
• Greening Berkeley Hands-On: Marshals community and UC Berkeley volunteers, and provides them with materials to create people-friendly, biodiverse green spaces in their neighborhoods.
• The South Berkeley Neighborhood Renewal Project: Brings together volunteers and residents to revitalize their neighborhoods through community cleanups, landscaping and creation of green space, and an art installation.
• The Willard Neighborhood Association/ The Berkeley Project: Brings together over 2,000 student volunteers, the city of Berkeley and community members for one-day environmental, cleanup and beautification projects around the city.
• The Youth at Hope Community Arts Project: Engages West Berkeley youth in a community public arts project.

The Chancellor's Community Partnership Fund was established in 2006 through an agreement between UC Berkeley and the city of Berkeley. Since then, 46 grants totaling almost $620,000 have been awarded. The fund will award grants annually through the year 2020.

More information on the fund is available at UC Berkeley Chancellor's Community Partnership Fund.