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Civic & Community
Engagement
at Gavilan College
Debbie Klein, Ph.D.
Professor of Anthropology
Gavilan College Board of Trustees
June 13, 2023
We cannot seek
achievement for
ourselves and
forget about
progress and
prosperity for our
community.
Cesar Chavez
Civic & Community Engagement at Gavilan
❏Language
❏What is Civic Engagement?
❏Student Outcomes
❏Why Civic Engagement?
❏How to Build Civic Engagement?
❏Where Does Civic Engagement Live?
❏Equity
❏California Community Colleges
❏Gavilan’s Strong Foundation
❏Recommendations
What Language for
“Civic Engagement”
Resonates with Our College?
Language Matters: Some Possibilities
●Civic & Community Engagement
●Civic Engagement
●Community Engagement
●Campus Empowerment
●Social Justice
●Civic Engagement for Social Justice
●Civic engagement for Social Justice,
Healing, and Change
●Democracy in Action
●Equity in Action
●What else?
What is Civic & Community
Engagement?
What is Civic & Community Engagement?
●Working to make a difference in the civic life of our communities and developing the
knowledge, skills, values, and motivation to make that difference (Ehrlich, 2000)
●Promoting the quality of life in a community through political and non-political
processes (Ehrlich, 2000)
●Developing responsibility and tools for public participation among students (De Anza
College Task Force on Community and Civic Engagement, 2006)
●Collaboration between colleges and communities for the exchange of knowledge and
resources in a context of partnership and reciprocity (Carnegie Foundation, 2022)
Civic & Community Engagement Outcomes:
Civic Agency, Civic Capacity,
Civic Knowledge & Civic Behavior
Civic Engagement Outcomes for Students
Civic Agency
I view myself as someone who is or will be able to
●Be part of campus and the larger community
●Have an impact on what happens in the United States
●Have something to offer the world
●Speak out for myself and others
●Work with others to promote social justice
●Demonstrate leadership in the community or workplace
●Help others in need
Civic Engagement Outcomes for Students
Civic Capacity
I am able to
●Have a conversation about controversial issues
●Work with others
●Understand people from other cultures, races, and ethnicities
●Be part of something bigger than myself to effect change
●Apply necessary tools to develop an informed position on a social or political issue
●Apply necessary tools to communicate with someone whose beliefs are different
from my own
Civic Engagement Outcomes for Students
Civic Knowledge
Students are able to
●Demonstrate an understanding of global, national, and community issues
●Demonstrate general civic knowledge
○Ex. How much of a majority is required for the US Senate and House of
Representatives to override a presidential veto?
Civic Engagement Outcomes for Students
Civic Behavior
While in college, I have done the following:
●Discussed social, political, or
community issues
●Participated in a campaign
●Raised awareness about an issue,
party, or group
●Signed a petition
●Joined an organization
●Held leadership roles
●Made speeches or presentations
●Volunteered
●Recruited others to participate in a
community activity
●Registered to vote
●Voted in a student, local, state, or
federal election
●Taken a political science, social justice
studies, or ethnic studies course
●Taken a course dealing with social,
political, or economic inequality
●Engaged in service learning
Civic Engagement Outcomes:
Essential for Every Career Path
●Civic agency, capacity,
knowledge, and behavior are
necessary and desirable for
all successful leaders and
employees
●What would it take to
implement a civic &
community engagement
requirement for each career
and academic pathway?
Why Civic & Community
Engagement?
Why Civic & Community Engagement?
●Empowers students to be change agents in their lives, their communities, and beyond.
(De Anza College Task Force on Community and Civic Engagement, 2006)
●Empowers students of color, first-generation, and low-income students who are
underrepresented in our democratic and educational systems. (Kahne & Sporte, 2008)
●Operationalizes Gavilan’s commitments to diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism.
●Civic engagement programs have proven to increase student success and completion
across race, ethnicity, and class. (Kisker, Weintraub & Newell, 2016)
●Provides a missing and key component to the guided pathways vision.
Nancy Thomas, Institute for Democracy & Higher Education, 2022
Nancy Thomas, Institute for Democracy & Higher Education, 2022
Why Civic & Community Engagement?
●Engages students with democracy’s future in a diverse United States, in communities
struggling to reverse inherited disparities, and in a globally interdependent world where
authoritarianism is on the rise. (Civic Learning for an Engaged Democracy, 2022)
●Prepares students to work on critical social problems—problems in racial healing, health,
education, housing, climate, digital access, human rights, justice systems, interfaith
cooperation, and more. (Civic Learning for an Engaged Democracy, 2022)
●The community college mission is to both democratize opportunity and practice the work
of democracy. (Kisker, Weintraub & Newell, 2016)
How to Build Civic & Community
Engagement?
How to Weave Civic & Community Engagement into
Students’ Experience In & Out of the Classroom
●Setting the vision at the top
○Campus can work to embed civic & community engagement into mission, vision
& values, across disciplines, and work to integrate them within other campus-
wide initiatives, such as equity and transfer.
●Create a civic & community engagement center with designated staff and budget
○Centralizes the work and ensures that it remains a focus of the campus
○Civic and democratic leadership should be a value of all disciplines
●Incorporate civic & community engagement into the hiring process
●Professional development
○Faculty learning communities, for ex.
How to Weave Civic & Community Engagement into
Students’ Experience In & Out of the Classroom
Create an Academic Focus Around Civic & Community Engagement
●List civic & community engagement designated courses in the catalog & student transcripts
●Require students to take a certain number of these courses
●Create certificate or degree programs in areas like civic leadership, community engagement,
conflict resolution, social justice, peace studies, community organizing, etc.
●Host deliberative dialogues where small groups of students, with a moderator, discuss a
topic and share their opinions on an issue in a respectful manner
●Integrate into guided pathways structure
How to Weave Civic & Community Engagement into
Students’ Experience In & Out of the Classroom
Co-Curricular Opportunities
●Student clubs and organizations
●Student government
●Groups (like athletes) engage in civic- or community-engaged activities
●Campus-sponsored candidate forums
●Voter registration & get-out-the-vote activities
●Democracy walls in which students write or draw their response to a provocative statement
Where Does Civic & Community
Engagement Live?
Where Civic & Community Engagement Lives:
Setting the Vision at the Top
Gavilan College Mission
Gavilan College actively engages, empowers and enriches students of all
backgrounds and abilities to build their full academic, social, and economic
potential.
Gavilan College Institutional Learning Outcome C: Develop Ethical, Social and Civic
Awareness
Practice Social Responsibility
●Demonstrate personal and civic responsibility
●Collaborate with individuals and groups to reach common goals
●Practice respect for diverse people and cultures
●Apply academic knowledge and learning to one’s civic engagement
Ex. De Anza College’s Vision at the Top
De Anza College Vision
Empower all students to attain their educational goals, develop an equity-based mindset and
become civic leaders in their communities
De Anza College Mission
●De Anza College provides an academically rich, multicultural learning environment that
challenges students of every background to
○Develop their intellect, character, and abilities
○Realize their goals
○Be socially responsible leaders in their communities, the nation, and the world
●The college engages students in creative work that demonstrates
○The knowledge, skills, and attitudes contained within the college’s institutional core
competencies
○Civic capacity for global, cultural, social, and environmental justice
○Critical thinking
De Anza’s VIDA
Vasconcellos Institute for Democracy in Action (16 years)
●Supportive & visionary president, Dr.
Brian Murphy
●Developed 5-year plan through
participatory research
●Civic Engagement Task Force with
members across campus
●Current Staffing
○Director (faculty administrator)
○Program Coordinator for AB 540
students (classified staff)
○Student Interns (x2)
VIDA’s Mission is to
●Empower students to become agents
of change in their communities and
beyond
●Foster education that meets the
needs of the communities we serve
●Help develop pathways to
meaningful participation in local, state
and federal government decision-
making processes
Civic & Community Engagement
Helps Achieve Equity Goals
Civic & Community Engagement Is Equity
“Civic engagement can help us to reach our equity goals as well as to
achieve other long-standing goals of the institution. If students see the
college working in their communities, then they are less likely to see
college as something separate from their everyday lives; if the college’s
curriculum is deeply related to things relevant to students’ lived concerns,
then being in school will be less alienating; if we prepare students to be
leaders in their communities, they will be able to address some of the
serious problems that face those communities.”
- De Anza College Task Force on Community and Civic Engagement
Equity-Centered “Community Engaged Learning”
Faculty Service-Learning Guidebook: Enacting Equity-Centered Teaching, Partnerships, and
Scholarship (Cress, Stokamer, Van Cleave & Kaufman, 2022)
●New paradigm redesigns service learning curriculum, activities, and collaboration based on
principles of:
○Student agency (enhanced skills, knowledge, and motivation)
○Community efficacy (community assets and capacity-building)
○Scholarly advocacy (equity-centered learning, serving, and social justice)
●Equity-centered community engagement
○From service learning to “community engaged learning”
○Recognizes the voice & expertise of community partners
○Addresses power imbalances between communities & academic institutions
○Educational experiences that are transformative & promote civic responsibility
●In-person & online service learning opportunities
Where Does Civic Engagement Live
in the California Community Colleges?
Civic & Community Engagement in the
California Community Colleges
Civic Engagement Programs with Staff & Funding
Chabot College Change It Now (CIN)
College of the Canyons Civic Engagement
De Anza College Vasconcellos Institute for Democracy in Action (VIDA)
Evergreen Valley College Service Learning & Public Service
Skyline College People’s College Initiative
Civic & Community Engagement in the
California Community Colleges
Requires each campus to
●Distribute campus-wide emails to all
students with specified voting-and
election-related dates and information, and
to include dates on all academic calendars
●Post on social media reminders to students
of specified voter-related dates and
information
●Designate one person per campus as the
Civic and Voter Empowerment Coordinator
with specified responsibilities, including
developing a Civic and Voter Empowerment
Action Plan
Civic & Community Engagement in the
California Community Colleges
Civic & Community Engagement in the
California Community Colleges
Civic & Community Engagement in the
California Community Colleges
Civic & Community Engagement in the
California Community Colleges
Civic & Community Engagement in the
California Community Colleges
These programs incorporate the values, knowledge, and skills of civic & community engagement.
How can we build upon the momentum of our social justice, global, and ethnic studies programs?
Gavilan’s Strong Foundation
Gavilan’s Strong Foundation for
Civic & Community Engagement
Civic Engagement webpage
Mission
Fostering a commitment to understand,
connect and transform ourselves and our
community
Beliefs
●Scholarship strengthens critical thinking
and social justice
●Authentic hands-on exchanges build civic
and leadership capacity
●Engagement heightens awareness and
compassion, transforming students,
college and community
Civic Engagement in Different Places on Campus
(some examples)
●El Centro (community resources)
●Heritage months & action week events
●Puente Program (activities in community)
●Student clubs (community service)
●Veterans Resource Center
●Community Education & Career Pathways
●Ethnic studies degree in process
●Expanding courses at San Benito County Jail
●Past service learning program (defunded)
●Social Science Dept. program plan
(unfunded)
Gavilan’s Strong Foundation for
Civic & Community Engagement
Civic Engagement in Different Places on Campus (examples from colleagues)
●Film & TV Department: inspirational speakers series, student-led commercials for local
candidates
●Art Department: student-created murals in our communities
●Child Development Department: students engaged with Resilient Families
●Environmental Studies Program: student-led habitat clean-up days
●Mental Health & Wellness Committee: Active Minds Club, partnerships with community
●Captains Council: athletic teams engaged with community organizations
●English Department: Pinnacles National Park partnership, social justice assignments, etc.
●Social Science Department: community-engaged research, debates, etc.
●Dean Julian West: mentorship program for men of color
What Are Your Thoughts About Building Civic & Community Engagement at Gav?
Department Chairs & Academic Senate Feedback
Project-based learning,
Civic engagement days.
Chico State model.
Gav once had learning
communities, but now there
is no funding for design that
went into those programs.
Service Learning is a high impact
practice. Supports equity, students of
color. Concerned that SL stopped when
Leah left. 20% release time was not
enough. Hard to have robust program
when limited to a 20% position.
Institutional Learning
Outcome: Practice Social
Responsibility. As a campus,
how are we upholding this
ILO? Where is this
happening? Appreciative
inquiry.
What institutional
support is needed
to make these
efforts more
sustainable? What
are some barriers?
Create an inventory
using appreciative
inquiry. How can we
build upon our good
work and put this work
on our radar?
Exciting! CE work is
empowering for
students!
Learning Communities are a
high-impact practice. Evidence
ties civic engagement into
equity, increased success rates
among Latinx and African-
American students.
Develop a certificate
in sports leadership!
Love the idea of
establishing a cultural
center & doing events
within the community
and at the college.
Does Your Program Participate in Some Kind of Civic & Community Engagement?
Department Chairs & Academic Senate Feedback
The Active Minds Club of the Mental Health
and Wellness Committee partners in mental
health in communities, tabling, outreach, etc.
Film & TV: inspirational speakers series at Gav. Film
local high school events. Students produce
commercials for local businesses, Gilroy police dept.,
Santa Clara fire dept. Candidates ask for help during
elections. Need for online content. Also, existing
archive of promotional videos featuring faculty.
Murals in San
Ysidro Park were
done by Art
Department.
Child Development
students engaged
with Resilient
Families.
Climate Club &
Environmental
Studies Program
organizes habitat
cleanup days.
Kinesiology Department
would like to partner with
CE. Already have a Captains
Council of athletic teams.
Student athletes doing
leadership work with
community. Participate in
homeless shelters, turkey
drives, Rebecca’s, toy drives,
etc. Working with ASGC.
Pathway to law school
program, field trips to prisons,
etc. New faculty who is also a
judge overseeing this. How
could we build this program
to include more students?
Recommendations
1. Civic & Community Engagement Task Force
●Campus-wide task force that reports to President’s Council
●Tasked with developing a plan for Civic & Community Engagement at Gavilan
●Representation from all constituent groups: students, staff, faculty,
administration
●Works in collaboration with Equity Committee
●Works in collaboration with guided pathways leadership
●Defines a timeline
●Develops a mission statement for Civic & Community Engagement Program
2. Current Civic & Community Engagement Inventory
●Identify where civic & community engagement activities, events,
assignments, etc. are already happening at Gavilan
●Identify current community partnerships engaged in civic &
community engagement work
3. Components of Civic & Community Engagement
●Certificates in leadership and social change, ethnic studies, social work, etc.
●Civic & community engagement courses developed through curriculum
process
●Core group of community partnerships cultivated over time
●Student transcripts include civic & community engagement hours and courses
●Student internships with community partners
●Gavilan arts festivals
●Professional learning opportunities for faculty, staff, and administrators
4. Community Partnerships
●Learn about existing partnerships that may already fulfill the civic &
community engagement mission
●Find out what community organizations would like from Gavilan’s civic &
community engagement program
●Conduct focus groups to discuss how the organizations imagine students
working with them
●Collaboratively determine guiding principles for community partnerships
5. Sustainable Organizational Structure
A sustainable Civic & Community Engagement Program should:
●Be institutionalized and viewed as integral to the college’s mission,
vision, and values.
●Incorporate community partnerships, curriculum development &
professional learning.
●Be woven into the guided pathways framework.
○Civic engagement skills, knowledge, and experience increase
the capacity for student success within every career and
academic pathway.
6. Staffing Possibilities
Program Director (.5 FTE faculty)
Provides leadership for programs and activities & collaborates with
academic divisions, CAPs, and Student Services toward the achievement of
mission and goals. Etc. (Estimated yearly cost including benefits: $70,000)
Community Partnerships Coordinator (.5 FTE classified program coordinator)
Assists in developing community-engaged learning experiences and
coordinates activities. Maintains database of community learning sites. Etc.
(Estimated yearly cost including benefits: $40,000)
Student Intern/s
Supports director and community partnerships coordinator. (Estimated yearly
cost: $10,000)
7. Funding Possibilities
Gavilan College Budget
General Fund
Student Equity and Achievement (SEA)
Student Representation Fee
Grants
Title 5
California Youth Leadership Corps
Program Director ($70 K)
Community Partnerships
Coordinator ($40 K)
Student Intern/s
($10 K)
Estimated Total Yearly
Budget: $120 K
Phase 2
AY 2025-27
Task Force | Faculty
($70 K)
Task Force | Staff
($40 K)
Task Force | Students
($10 K)
Estimated Total Yearly
Budget: $120 K
Phase 1
AY 2023-25
7. Relationships with All Parts of Campus
Civic & Community Engagement will only be effective if
●Woven throughout academic divisions, departments, programs, CAPs
(Career & Academic Pathways) & Student Services.
●All faculty and staff are encouraged to participate in civic & community
engagement work.
●Strong collaborations with the Equity Committee and new intercultural
center are established to ensure equity and diversity are central to civic &
community engagement work.
8. Centering Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
“...uncoupling diversity and civic work diminishes the possibilities
for learning and building strong communities locally, nationally
and globally…To do civic work with integrity and have an impact,
students need knowledge about the cultures and community with
which they will interact and understanding of the historic and
current inequalities that have defined social locations and
opportunities.”
-McTighe Musil