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UCLA maintains community outreach programs despite budget issues

By Harold Lee

June 3, 2003 9:00 p.m.

Despite tempestuous conditions during the past academic year,
UCLA has seen growth and change in service through university
outreach programs and the establishment of new community
services.

Most notably, the 2002-2003 academic year was the inaugural year
of UCLA in L.A., an initiative designed to increase UCLA’s
involvement in the Los Angeles community.

“We have witnessed a new phase of community engagement
between UCLA and the broader L.A. community,” said Frank
Gilliam, associate vice chancellor of community partnerships.

UCLA in L.A. has established grant programs for faculty, staff
and students as well as community based programs and a UCLA in L.A.
distinguished prize, Gilliam said.

“This is a first in the university’s history,”
he said.

So far, UCLA in L.A. sponsored forums on prostate cancer, the
World Festival on Sacred Music and Adelante Mujer Latina
Conference, a program designed for young Latinas and their mothers,
Gilliam said.

UCLA in L.A. stemmed from an initiative announced two years ago
by Chancellor Albert Carnesale.

The UCLA Center for Community Partnerships opened during the
fall to establish programs for the UCLA in L.A. initiative.

In the past academic year, university-based outreach has also
managed to provide services to schools, despite prospects of
cuts.

The year began with a five percent permanent cut, but it was
rescinded, said Debra Pounds, director for the Early Academic
Outreach Program.

“Luckily for us, we’ve been able to maintain full
services,” she said. “We’ve been able to maintain
the same services to the same schools.”

This year, the EAOP has made an effort to increase awareness of
UCLA outreach.

Pounds said EAOP is providing more information about outreach to
high school teachers and counselors in order to strengthen
UCLA’s outreach program.

“If we have more support at (the district level), more
information will reach students and parents,” she said.

Though the EAOP has maintained the quality of its services for
all if its high schools, it is anticipating a proposed 20-50
percent cut to outreach, Pounds said.

A few full-time staff members have left and those positions have
not been replaced, she said.

“That should help us with the impending cuts to
come,” Pounds said. “It hasn’t affected our
service.”

Though some staff members have left, senior staff members are
visiting schools more, Pounds said.

“We will try to maintain the integrity of our
program,” she said.

“That may mean cutting back on the total number of
students in our program,” Pounds said. “The number of
new students may be lower.

“We may have to cut back on the number of Saturday
academies we provide for students,” Pounds said.

Saturday academies are academic enrichment programs at schools
in Los Angeles that help students in various subjects, she
said.

In terms of student-initiated outreach, some groups saw changes
in staff demographics this year.

“A lot of the staff is upper class and went to private
schools,” said Cheryl Singzon, director of Samahang Pilipino
Advancing Community Empowerment.

“It’s different for them because we serve Pilipino
students downtown,” Singzon said. “They didn’t
know these conditions existed.

The SPACE program is seeing how to develop the project and
change the structure of the program without affecting high school
students, Singzon said.

“We can serve at a community based organization as opposed
to going to individual schools,” she said.

SPACE is also trying to establish more self-sufficient programs
at schools served by the program.

“We’re really trying to get our high school students
to start these organizations that we do, so that if we miss a day,
they can still provide these services for each other,”
Singzon said.

Some student-initiated outreach groups have established new
programs that encourage more than academic growth.

“We provide workshops to help build skills not only in
academics, but we provide cultural activities that they
wouldn’t have in school,” said Jason Lewis, director of
the American Indian Recruitment Program.

Though outreach has grown for student-initiated groups, funding
for next year remains in question.

“We’re still unclear where we’re going to get
our funding next year, because our budget hasn’t been
allocated yet,” Singzon said. “We’re expecting
hard budget cuts.”

“(The SIOC) is committed to holding the university
accountable,” Lewis said, citing the university’s
commitment to match funds the SIOC receives from student fees.

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