Community Engagement Journal and Time Sheet Entry #1

Community Engagement Project: 

• Maple Street Shelter
• LifeMoves Organization
• Day Worker Center of Mountain View
• Redwood City Library

Group: Jade Rosa, Allie Valladarez, Marco Tovar, Thalia Martinez, Babe Faalata

The community partner our group had initially chosen to volunteer for, the Maple Street Shelter, had not been able to respond to our repeated communications from Allie who had tracked down the contact information for the individual we needed to speak with. Since a week had already passed and still no response, I decided to reach out to my former supervisor who was the manager of the Redwood Family House for the same organization, LifeMoves, formerly InnVision Shelter Network. In the mean time, I had tried to meet with Katie the manager of the cafeteria food service company BonAppetit in order to secure leftover food in the event our Maple Street gig would work it self out. She had been very busy and I was given her contact information from another worker. I emailed her later that day and informed her about our group service project. It was a bummer to find out that we were unable to get food from the cafeteria as she had gotten back to me saying that the company now has a contract with someone who take the left over food to provide to needy individuals in the community. We were happy to know that the food was already being used and not wasted so it wasn't all that bad. Unfortunately, there was also no response from my former boss within a week and it seemed like we were not going to be able to complete our project at the LifeMoves Organization. It would have been a wonderful opportunity, but maybe the lack of response meant that they already had enough volunteers and there were no current spots available. Anyway, our group has been kind of stressed with all of these obstacles getting in the way of being able to start our community service project but we are staying positive and have a few alternatives in mind as we proceed. Personally, I have spent my time trying to secure these projects via communicating through email and in person, researching other CE opportunities, writing blog/journal entries, and also attended periodic group meetings to discuss our options or create presentation materials. 

- Time Sheet Status - 

Time Invested: 9 hours

Time with CP: 0 hours

Currently, Marco is in contact with a woman at the Day Worker Center of Mountain View which connects workers and employers in a safe and supportive environment and empowers them to improve their socio-economic condition through fair employment, education, and job skills training. We hope that this will be our final try and we will be able to complete our service project with this organization. Although, if this does not come through, I had mentioned that there are quite a few opportunities at the Redwood City Library. They are listed below:

           
Redwood City Library Volunteer Opportunities

Children's Homework Help

We need volunteers to help students K - 6th grade with math, spelling, writing, and other homework subjects. No formal training required.

Contact: javerill@redwoodcity.org

Friends of the Redwood City Public Library

Bookstore Volunteer
The Friends runs a resale bookstore at the Downtown Library. If you are a reader/lover of books, it is a great opportunity to browse during your shift. Volunteers work 2-3 hour shifts in the store either weekly or biweekly.

Sell Books at the Redwood City Farmers Market
The Redwood City Public Library's Friends operates a booth at the Redwood City Farmers Market that runs Saturdays, April - November in downtown Redwood City. Volunteers work either 8-10am or 10am-Noon.

Manage Book DonationsThe Friends of the Redwood City Public Library is a non-profit organization that provides financial support to the Library through the sale of donated books. Volunteers needed to evaluate and sort books.

Sign up to volunteer with The Friends through Volunteer Match or Volunteer Center or by emailing Friends at:friendsofrwclibrary@gmail.com

Collection Maintenance

Searching for Holds - pull library materials from shelves using a list of customer requests. Volunteers are asked to volunteer 1-2 days per week, and each day requires 2-3 hours. Training is provided.

Shelf Reading - keep books in proper Dewey order and/or alphabetical order on designated shelves. Keep shelves neat by aligning books and shifting books when necessary. Ability to alphabetize and work with the Dewey Decimal system. Placement test required.

Contact: volunteer@redwoodcity.org

Traveling Storytime: Read to Children

Share the love of books, reading and libraries with the children of Redwood City in preschools and home daycare settings. Training and all materials, including books, puppets and flannel board stories are provided. Volunteers must be available to read to children ages 1 to 5 years of age for thirty minutes on a weekly basis. Must provide own transportation.

Contact: jpedden@redwoodcity.org

Amending a State Constitution

Topic: Find and summarize a case study about an effort to update or challenge a state constitution.

Constitutions are important for the proper functioning of a government. It represents the fundamental laws of a state while distributing power and authority amongst the three branches of government and protecting citizens rights. The United States Constitution is the national constitution and separates the powers between the Federal and State levels of government. State Constitutions fill the void and differ from state to state. State constitutions are easier to change than the federal constitution. All state constitutions have been amended at some point in history and proposals for changes still show up on ballots year by year. These amendments can be initiated in a few different ways and the rules by which they  vary state by state.

In 2014, the State of Hawaii had two constitutional amendment proposals, one of which was in regards to Article X, Section 1 of the constitution which states:

ARTICLE X

EDUCATION

PUBLIC EDUCATION

Section 1.  The State shall provide for the establishment, support and control of a statewide system of public schools free from sectarian control, a state university, public libraries and such other educational institutions as may be deemed desirable, including physical facilities therefor.  There shall be no discrimination in public educational institutions because of race, religion, sex or ancestry; nor shall public funds be appropriated for the support or benefit of any sectarian or nonsectarian private educational institution, except that proceeds of special purpose revenue bonds authorized or issued under section 12 of Article VII may be appropriated to finance or assist:

1.  Not-for-profit corporations that provide early childhood education and care facilities serving the general public; and
2.  Not-for-profit private nonsectarian and sectarian elementary schools, secondary schools, colleges and universities. [Ren and am Const Con 1978 and election Nov 7, 1978; am L 1994, c 280, §4 (HB 2692-94) and election Nov 8, 1994; am HB 2848 (2002) and election Nov 5, 2002]

The Hawaii State Funding for Private Early Childhood Education Programs, Amendment 4 on the November 4, 2014 ballot in Hawaii was a legislatively referred constitutional amendment. In the state, public funds could not be used for private institutions except for the proceeds of special purpose revenue bonds in specific cases. The measure would have allowed the state to spend public funds for the “support or benefit” of private early childhood education programs but was defeated by a majority citizen vote of 52% against. Supporters and opponents of the amendment both were advocating an expansion of preschool education. Supporters felt the best route was to allocate public funds to private schools and opponents believed the state should establish fully funded preschool through the public education system. The amendment was sponsored in the Hawaii Legislature by State Senator Donna Mercado Kim as Senate Bill 1084.

In Hawaii, an amendment must win not just a majority of all votes cast on that particular proposal, but a majority of the vote of everyone voting in that election which is also known as a double majority.

http://lrbhawaii.org/con/conorg.html

https://ballotpedia.org/Hawaii_State_Funding_for_Private_Early_Childhood_Education_Programs,_Amendment_4_(2014)

Subsidiarity and The Proper Role of Government

 

Question: Define “subsidiarity” in your own words. How is the concept of subsidiarity as discussed in today’s reading related to “devolution”as described in your textbook? Google “devolution in Kenya” for an ambitious example of how governments might use devolution to achieve a desirable level of subsidiarity.

Subsidiarity, to me, means that local governments play a larger role in the administration and disbursement of services to their community. The local, lower levels of government would be more involved in the policies and procedures of programs and services that are offered to the community. The important thing to remember is that when advocating for the devolution of certain programs and powers, one must be aware of the capacity of each particular level of government. As we know, each community is different and there are specific issues related to their location, demographics, size, funding, etc... making it difficult to promote a cookie cutter solution to each city, county, and state in our country. The best part of the American government is that there is a division between the responsibilities of the Federal and State levels, but sometimes this division can be blurred. For local governments to have more control and power over the way programs and services are to be administered, they have to be able to handle the processes and prove their solutions viable to their particular concerns or difficulties. Subsidiarity is a great way to increase innovation and flexibility when providing services to the population which allows the U.S. to experiment with different policies that can transform government institutions into more effective and economical systems.

Devolution is defined as the delegating of power and programs from the federal to state and local governments. The terms Devolution and Subsidiarity are related because devolution requires the exchange of power from a higher level of government to a lower level which in fact is what subsidiarity means.

It is interesting to read about Kenya's constitutional devolution process which seeks to build county institutions from scratch and promote development of all areas in Kenya, not just certain jurisdictions and industries. If you want to read about Kenya's devolution process, click the links below!

http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/kenya/brief/kenyas-devolution

http://sidint.net/docs/WP4.pdf