Profiles in Engagement
Literacy Campaign Trains Family and Friends to Teach Reading and Writing in Spanish
June 2008–For
Centro Latino’s students, among the approximately 202,000 people in Los
Angeles County who are non-literate in Spanish and English, the inability
to read and write can turn a 2-hour bus ride into a 6-hour ordeal, Read
the article
Putting a Human Face on Hunger
May 2008–The Who’s Hungry? theater project aims to raise our awareness
of the lives of people who, on a daily basis, must choose between food and
rent, food and medicine, food and bus fare—the range of life’s basic necessities. But
don’t expect a sobering play performed by live actors. Read
the article
Tackling Employment Discrimination Against Former Prisoners
April 2008–UCLA law students and the community organization A New
Way of Life join forces on the Prisoner Re-entry Initiative, supporting
former prisoners in restoring their lives and, in turn, stimulating economic
development in South Los Angeles. Read
the article
Public Markets as Engines for Urban Revitalization
March 2008–Public Markets as Engines for Urban Revitalization
November 2, 2007 Thai Community Development Center and UCLA School of Public
Affairs partner to study public markets as a tool for immigrant entrepreneurship
and social integration in East Hollywood. Read
the article
Transcending AIDS in South Africa
June 2007–A monumental artwork created by 130 women from South Africa's Eastern Cape province commemorates the lives of individuals who have died of the disease and celebrates the community's determination to prevail in the face of AIDS. download brochure and/or download sermon.
UCLA’s Virtual Pioneers: Remapping Los Angeles
MAY 2007–A bold new experiment in community-based computing is currently underway in downtown Los Angeles. Read the article
She Motivates Troubled Teens to Change
MAY 2007–Psychologist Marguerita Lightfoot has a formidable task — she develops intervention programs designed to change the behavior of troubled young people who have committed crimes or live on the streets. Many have mental health problems; some are prostitutes and drug users.
Exposing Locals to LA's Secret Cultural Enclaves
MAY 2007–UCLA and the nonprofit organization LA Commons took Angelenos on a daylong exploration of some of the city’s best-kept secrets. The event, “Trekking Los Angeles: Local Adventures in a Global City,” was designed to promote Los Angeles’ cultural diversity by introducing people to neighborhoods they may have driven past but never gotten to know. Read the article
The Other Side of LISTOS!
APRIL 2007–Spanish Professor Susan Plann tells how a partnership introducing Spanish to African-American second and third graders in Leimert Park is also providing UCLA students with a once-in-a-lifetime learning experience.
Engaged Scholarship at Work at Centro Latino
FEBRUARY 2007–Helping her students to sound out a word, write their name, or just convince them that they could still learn after so many years reminded UCLA student Michelle Smith Meza of a promise she had made to herself as a child. "I told myself that if I ever was in the position to help other people, I would," she said. Read the article
UCLA Dr. Timothy Fong Talks about Asian Gambling
FEBRUARY 2007– "Very clearly, without the UCLA in LA award we would not have pursued this partnership further. We had been talking, but we didn’t have the time and the resources to donate to them."
