Chancellor’s Community Partnership Fund announces new awards

The Chancellor’s Community Partnership Fund (CCPF) today announced this year’s (2013-14) award recipients for projects focused on education, arts, math and sciences.  Now in its seventh year, the fund will award a total of $252,000 to 11 partnerships between local community members and UC Berkeley students, faculty and staff. The fund has awarded $1.65 million since 2006.

Community mural in downtown Berkeley’s Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park.

UC Berkeley created the Chancellor’s Community Partnership Fund to strengthen the university’s support of the  Berkeley community. Grants are awarded in two categories: community service programs that enhance the economic, social or cultural well-being of Berkeley residents; and neighborhood-improvement projects that enhance the physical environment of the city’s neighborhoods.

“One of the highlights of my tenure as chancellor has been our dedicated support of community engagement which has brought about a partnership that will continue for many years to come,” said Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau.

This year’s 11 winning projects were selected from a pool of 66 proposals totaling over $2million in funding requests.  Some of the grants include:

Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) Garden Education Collaborative — A multipronged initiative designed to connect BUSD’s in-school and outdoor learning environments to assist with the planning, teacher training, curriculum development and green-space infrastructure needed to deliver garden education to students.

Print Public — A new creative place-making project partnering UC Berkeley’s College of Environmental Design’s Department of City & Regional Planning, UC Transportation Center, Kala Art Institute and local businesses to create art installations, pop-up projects, print kiosks, and innovative acts of culture to activate San Pablo Avenue in West Berkeley.

Berkeley Advancing in Mathematics (AIM) — A pilot program that will bring UC Berkeley undergraduates who have math education experiences into elementary schools as tutors and as classroom trainees providing teacher support.

“I congratulate UC Berkeley and Chancellor Birgeneau’s efforts to strengthen the university’s partnerships in the community through the Partnership Fund,” said Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates. “Working together, we have been able to make Berkeley a stronger, healthier and vibrant community.”

“We are thrilled to be launching a new creative place-making project, Print Public, a two-year pilot project creating an arts-integrated approach to urban planning and community activation along the San Pablo corridor in West Berkeley,” said Archana Horsting, Kala Art Institute executive director. “Stay tuned for innovative cross-disciplinary art projects that push the boundaries of print media in public space.”

More information on the 2013-14 community partnership grant recipients is available as a PDF.