Office: F-21-Room L

Email Link

Phone: 408-864-8535

Nicky's Home Page

 

GRD: Movts Syllabus

GRD: Movts Calendar

How to find a service learning placement?

Civic Engagement/Service Learning in Grassroots Social Movement Organizing:

Assignment Description

Grassroots Democracy:
Social Movements Since the 1960s
(POLI/SOSC/WMST 16)

Nicky González Yuen, Instructor

As part of the field research for this class, you are expected to have ongoing participation in some community or school based project engaged in popular mobilization to bring about social change. We expect that you might dedicate an average of 1 to 2 hours a week to this civic engagement/field work. The idea here is that you are active as a participant-observer.  This is part of a standard social science methodology known as "participant observation" research. In addition, however, this kind of academic work is great for students who sometimes have a wealth of community-based experience and knowledge even if they are lacking in some other more "traditional" academic skills.

There are four main criteria for this work:

  1. First, it should be aimed toward affecting the underlying social conditions which lead to inequality. While "service work" may be part of the work of the project in which you are involved, this project should also be aimed at transforming the structural conditions, the institutional rules or habits, which lead to inequality of resource distribution in our society. That is, it should entail helping to build a more just and democratic society, not just ameliorating the immediate material conditions in which people live. It should also be "political" in some meaningful and substantial way. By "political" we mean: "the way that humans are systematically organized in ways that affect who gets what and how they get it."
  2. Second, the activity you participate in should have a strong local component to it. The project in which you participate should also have an activist, community, non-profit, educational or government base and in most cases should NOT be a for-profit business enterprise. You may, however, receive compensation for your participation.
  3. Third, the activity should involve grassroots organizing. This means that the project should be aimed at increasing the numbers of people carrying out social justice work in the world. It should be aimed at mobilizing people to action.

Points: You will receive 10 points for each hour of VERIFIED service learning participation in one of the designated service learning groups we have already set up. We expect that you might dedicate up to 19 hours over the quarter to this service learning/field work. You may earn up to 250 points of combined service learning points and "Practicing Democracy" points but no more than 190 points in from either one of these activities.

Service Learning Placements:  Click here for a list of  service learning placements.

Alternative Placements: You may also set up an alternate service learning placement IF YOU HAVE MY APPROVAL IN ADVANCE. You can apply for approval for an alternative placement by copying and responding to the "Service Learning Description Questions for Alternative Placements" below.  To set up an alternative placement is should meet the criteria set out above. 

Reporting: EACH TIME YOU WORK in your placement, you should write up a short journal entry about your work. Turn in these journal entries along with your Daily Journal packets for separate civic engagement/service learning credit. When you turn in your report in class, you should also have your hours signed off by your "supervisor" to verify your participation with the group. 

In your journal entries, you should indicate where you worked, what you did, and respond to ONE of the following prompts. You should NOT respond to all of these questions in each entry. Respond only to one and then respond to another in a subsequent report, etc. Your total journal entry should be NO MORE THAN ONE PAGE. Keep it short and to the point.

1) Compare what you have learned about organizing from our readings on the civil rights movements and other movements. How is your civic engagement placement like or unlike what we have been reading about? 

2) Looking at the age, class, gender, language abilities, race, etc of the people in the setting you were in, in what ways did these factors play a role in who participated? Who made decisions? Who spoke? Who was listened to? In other words, how did social standing/social role affect the distribution of power, resources or the making of decisions? What is one thing that could be done to create more democracy and equality in this setting? 

3) Apply what you have learned from our readings about HOW to organize, especially from Politics the Wellstone Way. What could have been done better to improve the political organizing of this group? What were the organizing goals of this group, how well were they met and what did you learn about what makes effective political organizing? 

You may POST your journal entry on the class list serve for "posting" credit.

At the bottom of this page, you will find the  verification form you should turn  to document your service learning participation. Final Report Form

IF YOU ARE DOING A PLACEMENT FOR AT LEAST 3 HOURS A WEEK you might be able to get additional college course credit for your placement either through a course in Social Sciences (SOSC 64, Internships in the Social Sciences) or through Co-op Education. Please see Nicky about this.

IF YOU HAVE IDEAS ABOUT NEW PLACEMENTS...Please see Nicky about this. You may earn extra credit for successfully establishing an ongoing new civic engagement placement.

 

 Top of page

 

 Grassroots Democracy: Social Movements Since the 1960s
 CIVIC ENGAGEMENT/SERVICE LEARNING PROJECT
DESCRIPTION QUESTIONS FOR ALTERNATIVE PLACEMENTS

Please copy these questions and type your responses!!!

Your Name:
Your Class #:
Your Email Address (if you don't have one, please enter "none"):
Your Phone Number: 

Name of organization/placement::

Name of Contact Person/Volunteer Coordinator/Supervisor : 

Area Code and Phone Number of Organization:

Email Address of Organization or Contact :

Mailing Address of Organization
Street Address:
City :
State:
Zip :

1. Please give a brief one sentence description of the organization or placement:

2. How does this organization or group attempt: 1) to understand the origins and ongoing legacy of social injustice (especially, but not necessarily, relating to race and racism) in the United States and/or 2) to bring about greater social justice in the United States?

3. How is this group a) "political" and b) "local"?

4. Please give one to three sentences describing the actual work that you think you will be doing and explaining how at least 50% of your participation hours will involve actually carrying out some organizing, service providing, or public movement building/policy influencing activity that is not simply meeting as a group to talk or plan.

 

 Top of page

Grassroots Democracy: Social Movements Since the 1960s
 CIVIC ENGAGEMENT/SERVICE LEARNING PROJECT
FINAL REPORT QUESTIONS

Please copy these questions and type your responses!!!

Your Name:
Your Class #:
Your Email Address (if you don't have one, please enter "none"):
Your Phone Number: 

Name of organization/placement::

Name of Contact Person/Volunteer Coordinator/Supervisor : 

Area Code and Phone Number of Organization:

Email Address of Organization or Contact :

Mailing Address of Organization
Street Address:
City :
State:
Zip :

 

1) What is the total number of hours you worked in this service learning placement?:

1A) Please list the dates and times you worked.

1B) PLEASE ALSO ATTACH a signed copy of the Service Learning Verification Form for this report which can be accessed through the link here.

2) Would you recommend this service learning placement to another student? (circle one) Yes or No

If not, why not? If yes, why?

3) Please write a paragraph explaining what work you actually did; what worked well; what could have gone better.

4) Please write an essay of at least 2 pages describing:

  • a) how the main political issue or problem you have learned about or witnessed in this service learning was or was not connected to the legacy of social movements among people of color studied in this class;
  • b) how the grassroots organizing efforts in your service learning compared and contrasted with at least one other social justice movement among people of color studied in the class. (In what ways are the legacies of these groups similar or different?);
  • c) what you have learned about social justice organizing in contemporary society;
  • d) what you have learned about your own racial, cultural and ethnic identity/history/experience as a result of your field work;
  • e) what this particular service learning project could do to improve its efficacy as a social change/organizing project.

 

Top of page