Community Service Scholarship Program

Marjorie and Marc Radin

By Paul DeRuosi and Chris Fiorentino

Since 1990, Fresno State has been home to one of the most innovative and productive community service programs in the nation.   The Community Service Scholarship (CSS) program, developed by Student Affairs, has engaged over 800 students in in-depth, career related service experiences with local nonprofits.   CSS students have contributed over 145,000 hours of service and earned nearly $1 Million in program scholarships, all while helping to address some of the region’s most pressing social issues.

Each CSS student must complete 150 hours of service with a designated nonprofit.   Students must also enroll in an academic course related to their service.   After completing the required service and writing a reflective paper, students are awarded a $1,200 scholarship from the CSS fund.   Money for the program comes from individual donors, nonprofits, and through the generous and visionary contributions of the program founders, Marc and Marjorie Radin.

CSS students have served dozens of nonprofits, including such organizations as all three major hospitals, Marjaree Mason Center, Fresno Philharmonic, Break the Barriers, Chaffee Zoo, Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), Fresno Philharmonic, Leukemia Society, Fresno Metropolitan Museum and Valley Public Television.

Sadly, Marc and Marjorie Radin passed away within a few weeks of each other in December of 2002.   The Radin Foundation funded many community based initiatives under their leadership, but none was more close to their hearts than this program.   Before their deaths, the Radins promised to complete a $1 million endowment to ensure that Community Services Scholarships will be available to Fresno State students for decades to come.

That promise has since been fulfilled and the $1 million CSS endowment provides a foundation from which many local programs will benefit. We lost very good friends when the Radins died, but their vision lives on throughout the community and for hundreds of students yet to come who will learn a lifelong value for and benefits of service through the Community Service Scholarship program.

For more information on the Community Service Scholarship program, contact Aleta Wolfe at (559)278-2381 or via email at aletaw@csufresno.edu.

Mao Yang

Mao Monica Yang

By Aleta Wolfe
Career Services

Fresno State sophomore Mao Monica Yang is among the more than 800 students who have participated in the CSS program since its inception.

Since the eighth grade, Monica has been performing traditional Hmong dance routines. She enjoys this art so much that she volunteers as a Hmong dance instructor choreographing and instructing Hmong children at Stone Soup Fresno, an ongoing and diverse program for the Southeast Asian community in El Dorado Park . After practicing and learning the routines, the children perform during various community events in full customary Hmong dress.

For more than a decade, Stone Soup Fresno has been helping vulnerable youngsters find friends, mentors and knowledge to prep them for a strong start in school. Teens who contemplate self-worth are building confidence and stepping into roles of leadership. Families are bridging generations with an appreciation of old traditions and new opportunities. Cultures are coming together with greater consensus.

Monica’s role has become integral to Stone Soup’s goals.

“Spotlight on Service” is a monthly Journal feature that highlights the good works of the campus community. Faculty and staff members are encouraged to submit information (up to 150 words) about community service-learning projects in which they and their students are involved. Include name, major (if student), department (if faculty or staff member), what the service involves, where and what the impact to the community is. Digital photographs are welcome. Send information to journal@csufresno.edu.