“engage” Civic engagement conference

By Melissa Dittmar
Students for Community Service

With grant support from California Campus Compact (CACC) and Learn & Serve: Higher Education, Fresno State is helping provide students with the training and support necessary to make them more effective leaders in civic engagement and service efforts. As the Civic Engagement Regional Center for Central California, Fresno State is continuing our leadership role in addressing community needs and higher education enrichment through service.

Students for Community Service hosted a civic engagement conference for students on Nov. 12- 13 entitled “Voice, Action, Change.” Thirty-five students from throughout Central California attended. Universities represented at the conference included CSU Monterey Bay, West Hills Community College in Lemoore, CSU Bakersfield, Bakersfield Community College and CSU Stanislaus.

The students participated in workshops focusing on various skills such as petitioning, lobbying, collaboration and strategic planning. Participants then worked in groups to identify various social, political and economic issues that were important to them and to develop plans for addressing these issues in their own communities. Students were engaged in a substantial amount of open dialogue in which they had the opportunity to share concerns, knowledge, opinions and ideas about civic engagement and service.

As follow up to the gathering, Fresno State, via CACC funding, will be awarding $4,000 in mini-grants to further support civic engagement efforts throughout the Central California region. Our hope is that students will use the insight, skills and inspiration obtained throughout the conference, as well as mini-grant funding, to more effectively address issues within their campus, local and global communities.