Community Briefs

Tuesday, March 2, 1999

Community Briefs

UCLA ‘Eco-Heroes’ expands program

The UCLA Advanced Policy Institute has expanded its
award-winning Eco-Heroes campaign to 10 Los Angeles high schools,
introducing more than 1,500 urban students to the wilderness.

The Eco-Heroes program – originally started by API with the Los
Angeles Unified School District, the U.S. Forest Service and the
non-profit California Environmental Project (CEP) – seeks to
educate students and provide assistance to local wilderness areas
struggling with tight budgets.

During the pilot phase, students from El Camino Real High School
in Woodland Hills and Garfield High School in East Los Angeles
planted 1,152 trees and picked up more than three tons of trash in
the Angeles National Forest while learning about natural resource
management and ecosystem dynamics.

This year the campaign has been expanded to include eight
additional high schools, which will send approximately 1,500
students to forests, beaches and other habitats throughout Los
Angeles County, said David Bloome, the campaign’s director.

"This illustrates the important leadership role the university
can play in the community, enriching students’ education," Bloome
said.

A grant from the Los Angeles Urban Resources Partnership helped
to underwrite the pilot program. This year corporate sponsors
including Airtouch Cellular, Edison International, and Laidlaw
Transportation donated thousands of dollars in cash grants or
in-kind services.

Cal program reaches inner-city schools

Schools that have incorporated a highly successful UC Berkeley
pilot program were visited by U.S. Department of Education
representatives last week to see the program in action. The program
is designed to help improve the performance of students in
low-income, inner city schools.

The outreach programs, collectively called the Berkeley Pledge,
which has been hailed a national model by U.S. Secretary of
Education Richard W. Riley, reported that students made significant
improvements in math and literacy.

Both UC Berkeley educators and students are involved in the
program, helping with curriculum development, teacher training,
mentorships, summer school, in-class support and tutoring.

"Their work proves that, when given the right resources, at the
right time, students from all backgrounds can excel," said UC
Berkeley Chancellor Robert M. Berdahl. The improvements for
African-American students were particularly significant.

The Berkeley Pledge programs, was first implemented into dozens
of Bay Area schools in 1995, vary from math and literacy tutorial
programs for young children to college preparation for high school
students.

Terrorism and drug topic of UCSD forum

Terrorism, corruption and drug trafficking in Latin America and
the Pacific Rim will be the focus of Challenges to Governance in
Latin America and the Pacific Rim, an international conference
March 5 to 6 at the University of California, San Diego.

The conference, sponsored by UCSD’s Center for Iberian and Latin
American Studies (CILAS) in collaboration with the Graduate School
of International Relations and Pacific Studies (IR/PS), is free and
open to the public. It will include some of the world’s top experts
on terrorism, corruption, drug trafficking and the global economic
crisis. All sessions will take place in the Gardener Room at
IR/PS.

The two-day conference will begin on March 5 at 9 a.m. Now in
its third year, this visiting scholars program aims to strengthen
ties between Asian and Latin American academics.

Compiled from Daily Bruin staff reports.

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