Model Arab League - United Arab Emirates (NDNU), April 11-13, 2014

Blog Topic # 13 - Governors

To what extent does the governor interact with your community partner?

There is no direct interaction between my community partner and the governor.  The governor simply does his job and we play off of the hand we are dealt.  The governor does not even know that PSANDNU exist. If the governor does something beneficial for our community (NDNU) then we applaud him and give him praise. If he does something disadvantageous, then we may choose to try to influence him to change the unfavorable action or even go as far as to rally against him.  Either way we a not even a blimp on his screen at the moment.  We actually have Veronica Villalobos Cruz as the Vice President of External Relations for the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities to lobby/represent our school, and other private universities, in the state capitol.  She may be one of our best resources to interact with the governor and other state officials.

Does he/she have the authority to make an impact on your community partner's operations?

Directly, the governor has no authority over our organization, but has the power to impact us by impacting our community.  The governor has the authority to impact us negatively and positively.  The impacts that are felt the most, is when it hits our wallets.  That type of impact seems to be the most common and reoccurring. When the governor makes cuts to financial aid, we find ourselves organizing and heading his way to give him a piece of our minds.

Blog Topic #12 - State Constitutions

Is your community partner constitutionally mandated?
My community partner is unfortunately not constitutionally mandated.  The PSANDNU is more like an interest group than a government entity.  They are actually nothing close to a government entity.  We have no affiliation with any form of government, other than the fact that we are their constituents.  PSANDNU does have its own constitution though.  It is similar to other constitutions, in the way that it setups up the governing body of PSANDNU.  Of course, it is not perfect, but it is nice to have some guideline/foundation.

Does it seek any kind of protection relating to its existence or scope, or any guarantee relating to its area of interest, under a state constitution?
My community partner does not seek any kind of protection from the government.  If we wanted to, we could make a huge stretch and say that we use the government for protection regarding freedom of speech or freedom to assemble.  We did seek protection of financial aid funding from the state of California, when we went to Sacramento to voice our concerns about Cal Grant cuts.  That was a recent example, but there may be more to come as we grow older as an organizations.  It is hard to foresee what obstacles we will face in the future.  As for problems directly with the state constitution, there are none.

Blog Topic 11 - Taxing and Spending

Does your community partner have authority to raise funds through taxation? 
     
      My community partner, PSANDNU, does not have any authority to raise funds through taxation. We may be able to charge members an initiation fee and/or annual fee, but this may dramatically affect our member count. We will be involving ourselves in fundraising, but not through taxes. We have had plans in the past to do sales for edible goods, but have not currently do anything.

If so, what factors or processes are involved?

     Unfortunately, PSANDNU does not tax.  PSANDNU is not a government or government entity, and therefore does not have any ability to tax.

Discuss the ways in which your community partner is associated with taxing, spending, or both.

    Actually, neither.  The only thing we can do, is possibly influence how taxpayers money is spent.  Our mission to the State Capitol was the prime example of our attempts to influence how tax money is spent.  We had gone to stop cuts to spending on CAL Grants.  CAL Grants are reserves of money that the state uses to help students, who meet the criteria, pay for college.  This is important because it is a huge chunk of a lot of students financial aid.  In the end, we have no direct say on the spending, but try to influence.

Blog Topic 10 - Public Admin: Budgeting & Service Delivery

"[State and local budgeting] is as tangled and intricate as the webs of a thousand spiders on methamphetamines" - Ann Bowman/ Richard Kearney, 2012

I thought that was a vivid way of describing budgeting... I could definitely visualize it better after that.

1) Does you community partner rely on money or services provides by any public entity?

At the moment, PSANDNU does not receive funding from any sources.  Any funds that PSANDNU has or has had came from fundraising or donations.  Being that we are more of a grassroots organization that just started, we have not found a source of funding.  Our current missions, such as our lobby trip to Sacramento, have been self-funded by our members.  This shows how determined and dedicated these students are to the goal we are trying to accomplish.  In the future, we may be able to acquire funding from ASNDNU, but we must first obtain legitimacy.  The next step after legitimacy would be to petition for funds.

2) Are the money and services provided in a consistent and reliable manner or is the community partner subject to periodic application, approval, re-application, etc.?

The currently are no funds.  When we are able to ask for funds from ASNDNU, we must constantly apply for them, seek approval in two forums, then use a school credit card that is allowed out for a period no longer than 24 hours.  This will need to be done every time we are in need of funding, as an organization.  I was told that legitimate groups are allocated a certain amount at the beginning of the year, but I will need to look into this more.

3) How does this consistency, or lack thereof, affect your community partner's operations?

PSANDNU is very prideful, so we have been able to manage to the best of our abilities.  Of course, the lack of funding is holding PSANDNU back from its full potential.  Participation during events like the Sacramento trip has fallen because there were students that were unable to financially commit.  Also, without funding, we lack resources.

4) Do other people or organizations rely on your community partner to provide funding?

Fortunately, no one relies on PSANDNU for funds, because we do not have any.  It would be the equivalent of squeezing blood out of a rock.  Since we are a grassroots organization, we are at the lowest level of the pyramid.

Call 2 Action - Waterdog Lake

This year for call to action day, I aided in uprooting plants that were not indigenous to Waterdog Lake in Belmont.  This is important to maintain the grow because these plants will take over and kill other indigenous plants that are necessary to maintain that ecosystem.  I was accompanied by Jonathan Slocum, Manny Andrade, and Tiffanie Lee.
We were fortunate to work with Jonathan Gervais, the Belmont Parks and Recreation Director that spoke in our class. This call to action day was relevant to the State and Local Government class because we were helping a city entity (Belmont Parks and Recreations) in it's task to preserve the plants in Waterdog lake and remove the plants that are harmful.  This is one of the many tasks that the parks department has.  To help them will save them many hours of much need man power and help the environment, both at the same time. During this time, we experienced how this entity serves the city of Belmont and the multitude of tasks that are required to maintain this large piece of Belmont's property.

Blog Topic 9 - The Judiciary

My community partner, PSANDNU, does not ever have recourse to judicial processes as a way of resolving problems.  Also, my community partner does not involve the prison system in anyway.  Not at this point in its existence anyway.  We select a few missions every semester, problems that concern our community (NDNU) and attempt to address them.  In my community at NDNU, there is not judicial system or prison system, luckily.  There really is no need for either of those systems in a university.  Maybe if PSANDNU tackles an issue in the future, it might involve one or more of those systems, but not currently.

Blog topic 8 - Leadership

As my community partner is the Political Science Association of Notre Dame de Namur University (PSANDNU), we have only interacted with the Associated Students of Notre Dame de Namur University (ASNDNU).  We currently have no voting power or representation in ASNDNU and only can sit in on meetings until our probation is over.  When it ends, we will have the ability to vote on budgets that are trying to pass in the inter-organizational meetings.  We also have members that are currently trying to be involved in the ASNDNU senate as a commuter representative.  ASNDNU would be best described as a special district, as it only governs the student body at NDNU. Beyond that, the PSANDNU has not interacted with any form of government yet.  In reality, they have not even interacted with ASNDNU yet either.

PSANDNU was fortunate enough to be founded by multiple leaders.  The original members all had a desire to stand up and have their voices heard about topics they feel is important.  We acknowledge that we must all play our roles to make the machine that is PSANDNU work.  We have elected Veronica Minnis and Dean Kevin Santos as our Executive Co-Chairs, and they have done excellent jobs impacting our success and development.  Dean has been using his skills acquired as an activist for immigration, to help PSANDNU members learn what it takes to lobby and advocate politically.  He has been the voice and direction.  Dean has expanded us vertically, while Veronica has expanded us horizontally.  Veronica facilitates meetings, maintains/tracks membership records, and all the other dirty work involved.  Veronica has solidified and expanded the foundation of PSANDNU, so that we may move on to bigger and better things.  Of course they both have many other tasks that are very important, even if others may not view them as important.  Again, the other original founders are amazing leaders who perform beyond expectations, but I thought I was proper for this blog assignment to focus on the two that go the most above and beyond.

Blog Topic 7 - State-Local relations

I have currently switched my Community Partner to the Political Science Association.  Currently, there has not been any conflicted between our State government or our local governments that we have gotten in the middle of.  There are currently issues that we have with our state government involving better funding of higher education.  We are currently planning to head to our state's capitol and voice our concerns.  We will be working with other students, interest groups, and possibly even staff to push our message and make our voices heard.  We basically will be taking on the role of unpaid lobbyists.
We do not currently have ours sight set on any local government.  Also, there are not conflicts between state and local governments that we have concerned ourselves with. For now...

Blog topic 5 - Founders Week

On wednesday morning at 9am, I got the honor of spending the hour with the person who spoke at the roundtable that week.  If you are not sure who that was, it was Professor Patricia Andrews.  I was unable to go to any other Founders week events, so I showed up to class and fine tuned my Community Partner issues.

Blog topic 6 - legislative

My community partner is Diversity pipelines.  They mainly focus on creating opportunities for minorities and under privileged to get into law school and pass the BAR.  Since their main concern are obstacles other than current legislation, they do not aim to change or create legislation.  I'm sure if they had legislation that directly affected their mission, the would support or go against the legislation, depending on its content.  Currently, they are not doing anything of the sort.  That being said, the second question to be addressed in the blog post is not applicable.

Blog topic 4 - Political Parties, Interest Groups & Campaigns

  My community partner (Diversity Pipelines) does not participate in political campaigns, take public stands on campaigns or candidates.  The aim of the group is to get a diverse group of people to practice law, not change them.  The Bar Association does not take a political stance, and is more focused on regulating internally.  The process to become an attorney is pretty stringent, and no one wants to change that, so that the integrity of the organization is credible.  Also, their focus is not on politics, they are an agency that regulates.  If they did take a stance in politics, it could possible effect their credibility, and some may consider them biased.  Being that their own internal regulation is their only focus, they do not participate in political campaigns, take public stands on campaigns or take public stands on candidates.  Simply it is beyond their scope and agenda.

blog topic 3 - Citizen Participation & Elections

       The relationship between my community partner and citizens is slightly narrow.  I say narrow because the group has a very specific target audience.  The Diversity Pipeline is focused on encouraging and aiding the members of the community that are typically left behind or left out.  The group aims to speak for those who do not have the voice or ability to engage in an activity that is typically dominated by specific races and socioeconomic groups.  Summed up, this is not an organization that has direct relations with the general population.
    The level that Diversity Pipelines interacts is on a local level.  Since they are a subdivision of the San Francisco Bar Association, they are directed and funded to aid the communities within a certain proximity.  There are more than likely other Bar Associations across the state that cater to their own communities.
     Citizen participation can affect my community partner through volunteer work, donations and other means of aid.  An issue is that not all people are able to help my community partner in either of those manners.  The organize is a small one, and if there were more people that needed help in the field that my community partner helps in, the organization would get more backing and be larger.  At the moment, there are only so many people that need/ reach out to Diversity Pipelines for help, and the demand affects the supply.

Blog Topic 2 - National Voting Rights Museum and Institute

"Bloody Sunday" was the first of three marches from Selma to Montgomery.  It took place on March 7, 1965.  The marches were sparked because of unfair treatment to African Americans, and the fact that white locals were trying to deny them of the right to vote.  The name "Bloody Sunday" came about as a result of the state and local police attacking the marchers with tear gas and clubs.  The marches started with the Dallas County Voters League calling on the help of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other organizations to help them organize and fight for equal rights. Voting, being the foundation of democracy, was a vital tool that the African American community needed to utilize.  Fortunately, the community would not just sit there quietly and allow their rights to be kept from them, so a bunch of brave souls banned together and fought for what was right.  These marches, rallies, and other actions all helped fuel what is known as the civil rights movement.  In essence, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and these brave soldiers in the war against inequality left a legacy of fairness for the future generations of African Americans.  Not only did they earn voting rights, they earned a better life and a leg to stand on.  This was a local win, but it had national effects.  It may have seemed like a small win because it was on the local level, but the implications were bigger than that.  There is always going to be various roadblocks to try and keep different communities weak or even out of the democratic system, but Dr. King and the others left a model on how to fight back and succeed.  They basically paved the road for generations to follow, regardless if they are black or not.

(sources include http://nvrmi.com and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Sunday_(1965)#First_March:_.22Bloody_Sunday.22)

Blog Topic 1 - Community Partner

     I would like to work with the Diversity Pipeline Program as a Community Partner for my Community Based Learning.  They are an organization that helps minorities and the underprivileged get into law school.  The Diversity Pipeline Program arose from a need for equality and opportunity. The groups of people that the program aims to help, either do not how the process of becoming an attorney works and/or do not have the ability to reach that goal. The program is not constrained or affected by federal policies because the California Bar Association is state jurisdiction.  The Diversity Pipeline Program is accountable to the Justice & Diversity Center in the Bar Association of San Francisco.  Above the Bar Association of San Francisco is the California Bar Association.