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Chancellor's Community Partnership Fund Awards announced

From Government & Community Affairs | 29 July 2009

BERKELEY — Sixteen partnerships between the University of California, Berkeley, and community groups to improve the quality of life for Berkeley residents will share $232,315 in grants awarded by the UC Berkeley Chancellor's Community Partnership Fund. The fund was established in 2006 through an agreement between the campus and the city.

Sixty-one grants totaling over $835,000 have been awarded in the history of the fund, which will provide grants annually through the year 2020.

The fund awards grants to community-based organizations for projects that bring together the ideas, energy and resources of the community and of the faculty, staff and students of UC Berkeley to address community needs. This year's recipients were chosen from over 50 applicants.

“Once again, we are pleased to fund an impressive and diverse array of projects to serve the community,” said Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau. “Working on behalf of our children, the environment, the arts, and historic preservation, Berkeley community organizations and their campus partners are demonstrating what can be achieved through partnership.”

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 Berkeley residents.

The 2009-2010 community service project grants are:

  • The Dance for Parkinson's Disease Project: Offers free dance classes for people with Parkinson’s disease taught by instructors trained in the Mark Morris Dance Group’s innovative approach to movement exercise and by other visiting dance artists performing at UC Berkeley's Cal Performances.
  • The LeConte Latino Family Literacy Program: Will offer literacy training workshops in language arts, math and science to Spanish-speaking families to help parents help their children succeed in school.
  • The Youth for Justice Program: Working through the Community Builders after-school program, will promote an alternative to punitive disciplinary procedures using the McCullum Youth Court’s peer-based restorative justice model.
  • Bridge2Success Program: Will provide coaching, training, mentorship, technical assistance and legal counsel to immigrant entrepreneurs to promote their economic empowerment.
  • Mapping Environments: Kala Art Institute's Artists-in-Schools Project: Will place math coaches and teaching artists in residencies in Berkeley’s three middle schools where they will lead innovative workshops exploring the relationships between art, math and the environment.
  • The Berkeley Climate Partnership (BCAP): Will educate Berkeley residents how to reduce their carbon footprint to help meet the city’s goal to reduce carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050.
  • The Berkeley Literacy Collaborative for Equity: Will provide summer literacy skills programs to 600 low income youth in the city of Berkeley.
  • M3 Academy Math and Sports Academy: Will provide academic support, mentoring, sports, field trips and other activities to help middle school students improve their academic performance and build their confidence.

The following 2008-2009 neighborhood improvement projects were awarded to:

  • Rebuilding Together: Will repair and improve the facilities of two Berkeley non-profit organizations: Berkeley Youth Living with Disabilities and Waterside Workshops
  • The Mobile Mural-SFROW Project: Will engage the community to design and produce a mobile mural along the Santa Fe Railroad right of way in South Berkeley.
  • The Thousand Oaks Urn Project: Will create the process to restore the historic urns that originally enhanced the streetscape of the Thousand Oaks neighborhood in North Berkeley.
  • The Greening Berkeley Hands-On Coalition: Engages UC student and community volunteers in a wide variety of projects to beautify Berkeley’s open space, make it more welcoming to people, improve natural habitats, and increase enjoyment and appreciation of the outdoors.
  • The Seeking History and Improving our Neighborhood Project: Will produce a Historic Structure Report of the 1915 Ernest Coxhead building. The report will establish the requirements to restore this landmark building’s historic, structural and architectural integrity.
  • The YMCA-PG&E Teen Center Rooftop Garden Project: Will engage local youth in the design and planning of a garden and gathering place at the new Teen Center in downtown Berkeley.
  • The Willard Neighborhood Association/The Berkeley Project, ASUC Project: Brings together 2,000 student volunteers, the city of Berkeley, and the community for more than 60 one-day service projects around the city ranging from environmental clean-up to working with children and the elderly.
  • The First Church of Christ, Scientist Berkeley Landscape Project: Will restore Bernard Maybeck’s vision of a landscape and community interface at this national historic landmark.

The Chancellor's Community Partnership Fund was established in 2006 through an agreement between UC Berkeley and the city of Berkeley. Since then, 61 grants totaling over $835,000 have been awarded. The fund will award grants annually through the year 2020.