2023-2024 Dean's Intiative Scholars, Afrofuturism and C3W

Meet the 2023-2024 Dean's Intiative Scholars, Afrofuturism and C3W

Afrofuturism Initiative: supports the advancing of Black student success and elevating Black excellence across student, staff, faculty, and community spaces. Afroturism celebrates the themes of imagination, technology, liberation, and the future. Afrofuturist Scholars (student-focused) and Afrofuturist Fellows (faculty-focused) who have a demonstrated knowledge and experiences will be recruited to help facilitate the goals of the initiative. Read More.

2023-2024 Scholars and their projects:

Community-Care and Wellness (C³W) Initiative will recruit Student Scholars and Faculty Fellows who are committed to and have demonstrated experiences in social justice and civic engagement for the purposes The College of Education and Integrative Studies along side so many local and global entities is seeking to thoughtfully navigate post-pandemic factors that cannot be ignored. Lived experiences of food insecurity, racial injustices, housing instability, socioeconomic challenges, isolation, grief, trauma, exacerbated physical and mental health conditions, and lack of access to consistent and integrated care are significantly impacting students, staff, faculty, families, and communities. Read On.

Faculty Mentor, Dr. Hyeryung Hwang.

Faculty Fellow, Dr. Marisol Diaz:The name of this project is called “ S.E.M.I.L.L.A” and  stands for Students Engaging & Mobilizing In Lifelong Learning through Advocacy. This project encompasses all five objectives of the College of Education and Integrative Studies’ Community-Care and Wellness (C3W) Initiative. S.E.M.I.L.L.A comes from the Spanish word “semilla” which means seed. The acronym was inspired by a traditional Mexican proverb, “Nos quisieron enterrar, pero no sabían que éramos semillas” which in English translates to “ They tried burying us but they did not know we were seeds”. This proverb has been used in various community discourses and protests as resistance to physical and cultural eradication and genocide. Through this project, students will build community relationships while planning and advocating for social change. Overall, the theme of the project carries the metaphor of a semilla (seed) as it relates growth and expansion. The purpose of this study is to capture and understand the experiences of local Pomona residents and their schooling experience in the PK-12 system, with a specific focus on parents and caregivers who have been historically marginalized due to race or socioeconomic class.The C3W Project aims to engage CPP students in research while identifying and prioritizing equity and social justice issues in the Pomona community. This project encompasses several key objectives, beginning with researching the history of Pomona to provide contextual understanding of current sociopolitical issues. Students will critically reflect on their own positionality and identity, studying power, oppression, and systemic inequalities, particularly within the educational system. They will be introduced to undergraduate research, learning about the Institutional Review Board (IRB) process, and will develop and distribute surveys to gather data from parents and caregivers. This data collection is aligned with action planning for advocacy and social action, emphasizing the importance of community-driven change. Students will analyze the data, identify common themes, and write preliminary reports. They will then present their findings to the Pomona Unified School District, incorporating feedback from community members to validate their results. The project culminates with students submitting their findings to a national education conference and potentially organizing a community educational event. Throughout the process, students will maintain digital journals to reflect on their learning and enhance their critical thinking skills.

Lyfen Clarke: the project's goal is to create a more holistic society by advocating for social justice and improving resource accessibility for low-socioeconomic communities. Drawing on personal and professional experiences with Long Beach Head Start and as a paraeducator in Special Education, the leader aims to foster community-centric conversations and actions through a social justice lens. The proposed project will initiate open dialogues acknowledging systemic inequalities and racism, facilitating community workshops, training for school staff and students, and a media platform to educate and raise awareness. These efforts will partner with diverse communities, leveraging knowledge of local history, culture, and demographics to address social inequities. By uniting communities and engaging influential leaders, the project seeks to collectively advocate for funding and support, ensuring that social issues such as housing, racism, and mental health receive the necessary attention for a more equitable society.

Chaitanya Ganpat Nalage: This project proposes a Community Advocacy Hub that aligns with the C3W Initiative's objectives, aiming to create both digital and physical spaces that foster community-centric conversations and actions. Key components of the hub include establishing an online platform for collaborative discussion, engaging interdisciplinary teams of students, staff, faculty, and community members to facilitate conversations, and organizing regular community forums to identify and prioritize equity and social justice issues. The project will focus on creating actionable plans through participatory workshops, leveraging insights from both campus and community-based research. The anticipated impact is a strengthened sense of community agency, with the hub serving as a central point for co-creating advocacy strategies and initiating social actions. By transcending traditional boundaries, this project encourages diverse stakeholders to contribute their unique perspectives, fostering a dynamic and inclusive environment for sustained community-driven change.