Volume 143, Issue #1
News
CITY COLLEGE RECEIVED $600,000 HEALTH JOB TRAINING GRANT
BY
ANDREW TAN AND JOHN GOINS
STAFF WRITER AND EDITOR
ALEX LUTHI / GUARDSMAN |
Health studies students discuss program benefits while waiting for class to start in Cloud Hall. They are learning skills to help them bring health-awareness to their communities. City College received a $600,000 job training and career advancement grant from the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office in September to educate students and workers in the health and services industry.
The grant was received by the Regional Health Occupation Resources Center (RHORC) and the Health Education and Community Health Studies department at City College, RHORC Director Janey Skinner said.
RHORC, which has chapters throughout the state, provides assistance to community colleges in the development of health-related job training programs.
“This program will benefit people working as frontline health and social services workers who want to improve their skills or get a promotion. The program will also help students interested in working in the health and human services industry,” Skinner said.
The $600,000 will be used to boost the department of Health Education and Community Health Studies by offering extra class sections and new courses, she added.
In addition, the grant expands access to certificate programs and helps pay for faculty time to develop and teach these programs. Some of the other uses of the money include supporting the Community Advisory Board, funding formative research and evaluation, and helping to produce marketing materials, said Skinner.
Alma Avila, the director of the Community Health Worker Certificate Program, said the new grant freed her to help build the program on a national level. There’s no standard program for community health workers in the country, she said.
“We were also able to hire another instructor whose been teaching this program five years prior to coming here and is extremely knowledgeable,” Avila said.
There were 35 to 40 students in the one -year certificate program, most of whom were older. Many of the students had overcome serious health issues themselves, she said.
“I really like this program,” said 22-year old Laura Nelgarejo, an immigrant from Mexico “I’ve been able to develop skills like interviewing people. I’ve had a great experience working with my classmates. I’m an immigrant, so I want to work with the immigrant community.”
Nelgarejo, who is also majoring in Health Education at San Francisco State, said she wanted to work for the San Francisco Public Health Department.
A concern for her own health brought 50-year old Angela Horne from Liberia Africa to the Community Health Worker Program.
“I had a stroke and was paralyzed,” Horne said. “I want to help my community, to try to get people to go to the doctor. I’ve been going from house to house to try to get people to take mammograms.”
Horne, an advocate of breast cancer awareness, said she worked at the Laguna Honda Day Care Center with elders and was completing her second semester in the Community Health Worker Certificate Program.
“This program will also benefit the employers whose staff will be trained, who’ll find it easier to hire and retain skilled workers. We also hope it will benefit the community as a whole by supporting high quality services for those who need them,” RHORC Director Skinner said.
e-mail: chiefcopy@theguardsman.com
GREEN JOBS PROGRAM OFF AND RUNNING AT CITY COLLEGE
BY JOHN SERVATIUS
EDITOR
City College inaugurates a pilot green economy program this semester at its Southeast and Downtown campuses, with plans for expansion if the initial evaluation is favorable.
BIO. 31, "Introduction to Environmental Studies," a credit course, meets on Tuesday evenings from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Southeast campus. The instructor is Peggy Lopipero-Langmo. Susan Poyneer teaches non-credit SMBU 9476, "Green and Sustainable Business," on Wednesday nights, April 11 through April 25 , 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Downtown campus. An internship will be offered this summer.
In partnership with CCSF, the Global Citizen Center, a San Francisco non-profit whose website defines it as an "economic model that is environmentally sustainable, socially just and locally based," will award a certificate to students completing the two core courses and internship.
"The green economy is the next economy," Kevin Danaher, Ph.D, executive director of the Global Citizen Center said. "It just makes sense to shift over to the nature-friendly economy. Oil is running out; it's getting more expensive."
Danaher submitted a proposal to the San Francisco Foundation on Dec. 4 requesting $22,000 for paid student internships, and City College has budgeted $25,000 for the academic program, Veronica Hunnicutt, dean of the Southeast campus and coordinator of the fledgling program said.
An orientation for prospective students was held at the Southeast campus on Oct. 27, Dean Hunnicutt added, and more than 40 attended and 24 students have enrolled.
"Students would work for businesses (housed) in the Global Citizen Center. Green investing, organic farming, renewable energy," she said.
An information sheet provided by Dean Hunnicutt envisions an expanded program, "from biodiesel production and labor studies to green buildings and environmental horticulture, with "Introduction to Environmental Studies" serving as the entry point into these other areas."
"We want students to work in these green career jobs and go back to their communities," she said. "Get rid of the toxic environment in which they live. We want them to be entrepreneurs. We just want the world to be sustainable."
e-mail:chiefcopy@theguardsman.com
$100,000 DONATION BOLSTERS EXISTING LIBRARY SERVICES
BY BRITTE MARSH
STAFF WRITER
ALEX LUTHI / GUARDSMAN |
Students will benefit from the $100,000 donation by using the extended hours of service at the Rosenberg Library, which is just one of the many new services that are planned. City College’s Ocean Campus library received a generous $100,000 donation from the Louise and Claude Rosenberg, Jr. Foundation November 2 to extend weekend hours, information literacy workshops, and exhibition library services for students and faculty.
December 9th marked the 11-year anniversary of the Louise and Claude Rosenberg, Jr. Library on Ocean Campus. The donation will benefit students by ensuring accessibility to information resources and services at the Louise and Claude Rosenberg, Jr. Library, Media Center, and Language Center by having open hours from 9:00 am to 4:45 pm, a two hour extension from previous open hours, said Rita W. Jones, City College Library Dean.
“When we celebrated the Rosenberg Library’s 10th anniversary last April, we brought the Rosenberg’s out and Louise saw how enthused and invigorated the students were,” Dean said. “She was so taken by how much the students enjoyed and benefited from the programs and exhibitions that she called us and asked ‘how can we enhance the library more for students?’”
Hands-on workshops that instruct students how to use to online library catalog, periodical databases, basic and advanced Internet searching techniques, and research resources will also be extended. In addition, the new funds will support City College’s award-winning exhibition programs which integrate visual presentations with contemporary issues, Jones added.
Rebecca Drake, a student studying Chinese, supported the extended library services. She said her beginning Chinese class demanded at least an hour per week listening to audio-tapes or using interactive computer programs in the Language Center.
“I would definitely use the language lab during its afternoon hours on Saturday because of its flexibility with my work schedule,” Drake said.
When Drake was asked what she would like to see the donation go towards, she expressed her concern for the crowded computer stations in the Language Center.
“I think it would be better if they had more computers because there is a lot of rewinding and fast forwarding involved with audiotapes; they’re older in technology and it’s easier to lose your spot,” she said.
“Due to the generosity of the Rosenberg’s,” Dean Jones said. “Students are going to have the chance to be enlightened, to be challenged, and to open opportunities for more learning. The library will act as a catalyst and not a deterrent. We’re here to help and support their success - this is what we want to focus on.”
“I would definitely use the language lab during its afternoon hours on Saturday because of its flexibility with my work schedule,” said Drake.
Since Drake plans on being a Chinese language student for future semesters, her vote for future money donations coincides with her academic needs.
Malissa Hicks, a 24-year old Japanese language student also stated a need for better technology.
“I haven’t used the computers yet, but it would be nice if the audiotapes were digital. The tapes sound kind of fuzzy and rewinding is very loud,” Hicks said.
Although the library, language center, and media center have extended hours on Saturdays, the facilities will no longer be open on Sundays.
The Louise And Claude Rosenberg, Jr. Library an Learning Resource Center, a $22 million and 5-floor giant, was built in 1996 and named after the Rosenberg’s due to a significant fund donation.
e-mail:bmarsh@theguardsman.com
BY
NINO BOLES-KING
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
DESMOND MILLER / GUARDSMAN |
New Health Center on the Ocean Campus is reportedly one of the most seismically fit structures in times of natural disasters. Plans are being formulated at City College to create and implement recovery procedures following a large-scale disaster.
City College Health Clinic Director Sunny Clark is making arrangements for members of constituent groups throughout the community to collaborate in bringing a plan to fruition.
She spoke before the City College Associated Students during their Oct. 25 meeting.
“We could have fabulous protocols, but they have to be useful, cost effective, clear and run properly,” Clark said. Her primary concern, she added, is to be able to balance cost versus effectiveness.
Clark has already contacted a number of departmental chairs about the possibility of using campus buildings as temporary housing during a catastrophic event.
“Whether it be fire, flood or any other disaster, AS is committed to helping all aspects of the community,” Ben Schaeffer, associated students vice president of administration said.
AS has a long history of assistance, Schaeffer continued, and if a disaster were to occur, collaboration beforehand would be beneficial.
Buildings are being evaluated for their seismic fitness, Schaeffer said, with the cafeteria, Smith Hall, student union, and new wellness center as the best options at present.
e-mail:chiefcopy@theguardsman.com
BY CHRIS MCCOY AND DESMOND MILLER
CONTRIBUTING WRITER AND EDITOR
MICHELLE STROMBERG/ GUARDSMAN |
Students pay tuition fees at the Admissions and Records office. If proposition 98 passes, fees will come down $5 more. The petition drive to pass the Community College Initiative, a measure to lower tuition to $15 per unit on the 2008 state ballot was successful.
“The Office of the California Secretary of State is still counting the signatures,” Ed Murray, president of Local 2121 of the American Federation of Teachers said. “They did a signature analysis and estimated that we received over 900,000 signatures”
Signatures must be checked against voter registration rolls and verified by the to be counted as valid, Murray said. For the initiative to qualify, 598,105 valid signatures were needed, he added.
According to Murray, the campaign has received widespread support with very little opposition. “A few people really don’t believe in public education; they’re cynical about it.”
Community college enrollment is estimated to grow 2-3 percent annually through the next ten years, while K-12 enrollment growth is slowing, state department of finance statistics show.
When the new rate of $20 per unit went into effect January 1, a full-time student enrolled in 12 units will pay $240 per semester. If the Community College Initiative is passed by voters on the 2008 state ballot, student fees would drop to $15 per unit, costing students $180 per semester for the same number of units.
“I get some financial aid, but not a lot,” said Reym Chavez, a City College student. “This will definitely help.”
The Community College Initiative (CCI), also known as the Community College Governance, Funding Stabilization and Student Fee Reduction Act, is aimed at creating more autonomy for California community colleges, lowering student fees and limiting future fee increases.
Proposition 98 guarantees funding to grades K-14 based solely on K-12 enrollment. The CCI would change Prop 98, creating two separate pots for both K-12 and community colleges to receive funds based on their individual enrollment the initiative fact sheet explains.
Californians for Community Colleges wrote the CCI as a joint advocacy effortof the Faculty Association of Community Colleges, the Community College League of California, the Los Angeles Colleges Faculty Guild, and the California Federation of Teachers.
Community colleges would have a level of autonomy closer to that of the UC and CSU systems, according to Californians for Community Colleges.
The initiative would amend the state constitution, establishing an independent system of community colleges and a board of governors.
“We don’t currently exist as a segment of higher education in the constitution,” Leslie Smith, associate vice chancellor of governmental relations at City College said. “Lowering fees provides greater access to students and will not affect district resources.”
Smith appreciates the student involvement and enthusiasm for this campaign. About 90 percent of the signature gatherers are paid, but the other 10 percent is made up of around 60,000 volunteers, many of them students.
Unfortunately at City College, the support for the Community College Initiative was less effective than it could have been.
“The petition campaign at city didn’t work out that well, “Murray said. “The clubs and the faculty only got about 100 signatures. It’s no ones fault that it didn’t work out.”
Murray’s next step is a huge voter registration campaign at City College that is aimed at informing the students about the Community College Initiative, as well as urging students and the community to get out and vote.
“I know the ballot is along way off,” Murray said. “But with this lead time we can get the students more involved sooner.”
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