Experiences With C.E.

           Looking back at the first day of class, one of my biggest concerns in being successful in this course was the community engagement partner portion. This is just my second semester here at Notre Dame de Namur, as I transferred in Fall. Because I had never done anything even remotely close to this C.E., I was hesitant. I was used to a regular course, where we would just read the textbook, answer questions, and take tests. Adding to my burden was the amount of hours we needed to fulfill. At first, it seemed like it would be a near impossible task. However, looking back at it, I am glad I had this opportunity. This is because I would have never otherwise gone out of my way to become involved with such an organization.

           To say the least, the experiences that my group had at first were demoralizing. Our initial partner never got back to us. We learned that their numbers had changed, as well as their staff. We were ultimately unable to work with them. This got us off to a bad start since we had lost over two weeks, therefore we lost on hours as well. however, I was able to get in contact with an organization that I had heard of years earlier: the Day Workers Center of Mountain View. When I got in contact with Maria, the director of the organization, she was able to accommodate our group and provide us with a task. She told us how recently, there was a surplus of work, but there were not enough workers. So, out task was to recruit members to the organization. Together, our group generated flyers in both Spanish and English, and we distributed them to various locations. Such locations included college campuses, churches, small businesses, among others. As we went to the center multiple times, and as we generated and distributed the flyers, my hours quickly added up.

           While at the center, I did notice that the workers were not as talkative to one another. i noticed how the white members kept more to themselves than the Latino members. I attributed this to the fact that the vast majority of the people at the center were Spanish speakers. Because of this observation, I was able to come up with my question for my research paper. I hypothesized that language was the reason that there was a lack of community within the center. So, I generated a questionnaire to test my hypothesis and had the workers fill them out. Additionally, I also had impromptu conversations with some of the workers. This proved to be one of the most eye opening parts, and I must say memorable, of my experience with my C.E.

           As I spoke with the members, most had a common attitude: they were reluctant and fearful. Many members expressed their worry that they should not talk because they were afraid about their legal status (most were undocumented). Additionally, seeing how they were even fearful with me made me realize the lifestyle that they have to endure. For example, they live in constant fear of being separated from their families due to being deported. Having to live your life with this constant worry, having to always be on guard, was something that most of us would never have to imagine. However, for the vast majority of the members at my C.E., this is their reality. They live their lives knowing that any day might be the day that they are separated from their families and sent far away. Although this was definitely a depressing realization, it helped to remind me of things that I take for granted.

           Ultimately, I enjoyed my time working with my community partner. I learned new things as well and saw how some people have to live their lives. Looking back at it, it is something that I will constantly keep in mind. Being there makes you want to contribute and help those that are in need as much as you can.

Blog #5 Challenging State Statutes

           The case that I will analyze went before the United States Supreme Court in 1989. That case is Texas v Johnson. Johnson was convicted under a Texas statute which criminalized the desecration of the U.S. flag. However, he challenged the constitutionality, arguing that his actions were protected under the freedom of speech of the First Amendment. Once they Supreme Court reviewed the case, they ruled in favor of Johnson. They stated that the desecration of the flag was political speech, the very essence of which is protected by the First Amendment. With this ruling, the Court struck down the Texas statute. Because of this ruling, it is now unconstitutional for states to make laws that would criminalize the desecration of our flag.

Blog #6 Lawmaking Process

         I would characterize the lawmaking process as a political casino. That is, there will be winners and losers, but instead of the gamblers being regular citizens, the gamblers in this case are politicians and lawmakers. it is easy to wonder why it is extremely difficult for laws to pass, but one must remember that this was the way that the Founding Fathers intended our government to function. They wanted a system of checks and balances; this way, no one branch of government would become to powerful. This can be seen in the process, indeed circus, of how bills become laws.
   
           When Politicians create bills, they need sponsors to gain momentum. The first step for a bill to become law comes when bills are presented in house committees. In these committees, most of the bills will die. However, the chances of a bill being successful are decreased since they must pass through both houses of government. Should bills pass the committees, they go to the floor for debates. After debating, bills are often changed for compromising. Then both versions of the bills are revised, that is, the one from the Senate and one from the House, and any differences are ironed out. Then the bill goes to the floor again for a final round. If the bill is voted in, then it will go to the governor, or President, to be either signed into law, or vetoed.

Blog #7 CP And Local Units

       Throughout our time working with Maria, she did not specify certain government units that interfered with the center. What Maria did tell us were the various organizations that are involved with the organization. For example, such organizations include the Gardner Medical Clinic, Stanford Legal Clinic, East Palo Alto Legal Clinic, Santa Clara University and Notre Dame High School. Each of these organizations play very important roles in the center that contribute to their success and message. For example, the workers have weekly access to medical check ups. This is because the Gardner Medical Clinic sends a trailer with professional health care providers to check on the workers' health; all free of charge. Additionally, the Stanford Legal Clinic, assists workers when they encounter legal disputes. Although these agencies are from different sectors, they all contribute in maintaining the Workers Center healthy and operational. Therefore, these organizations are vital to the center's success.

Blog #8 Budget and Hallmarks

           When I spoke to Maria, whom is the director of the Day Workers Center at Mountain View, she explained to me the way that the center generates funds. The two main ways consist of private funds and government grants. The private funds come primarily from private families, as well as banks and Linkedin (the professional network). With respect to grants, Maria must apply each time that she needs to use them. Because the money that grants give the organization is spread out over months, they need to plan accordingly. This means that Maria needs to be very clever in how she creates the budget. A hallmark that is reflected is Hallmark #4. This is because the center relies enormously on volunteers. These volunteers offer the workers a variety of assistance; ranges from work training and even English courses. This also relates to Hallmark #7 because they put great value on education. For example, the workers that attend English classes regular get first dibs on work. Lastly, their budget reflects Hallmark #6. This is because they need to be careful in the way that they spend their funds. The organization makes great attempts to help their members as much as possible. Because of this, they need to make sure they use their resources as best they can.

Blog #9 Generating Funds

           After speaking with Maria Marroquin, the director of the Day Workers Center at Mountain View, she explained to me the way that the organization generates funds. because the organization is a nonprofit, they rely heavily on donations. Maria informed me that private donors are the ones that give a large part of the funds. Such donors include Linkedin (the Professional Network), Banks, and private families. She explained that these families were the biggest donors from this category. Additionally, Maria said that they generate money from grants. However, the issue with grants is the way that they receive the money. For example, they tell the organization the amount of money that they will receive, yet they do not give them the amount all at once. The process consists of the organization receiving a large part of he sum one month, then a few months go without any money, then other months the receive other portions. Although the money is not received in an orderly manner, they receive the money consistently. Because of this, Maria says that they need to be very careful with the way they plan the budget. Since they know that they will not receive money every month, they need to plan accordingly. Also, Maria needs to re-apply for each grant. No other organizations rely on the Day Workers Center for their funds, the center uses their funds on what they see fit.

CTA Day Blog

Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the event we had at school for Call to Action Day. The reason was because I had to attend a department dinner for my major, and I spent the morning doing work for a class that was not canceled that day, but I was going to miss because of the dinner. I was one of the students in the organizing committee that was in charge of putting together the dinner. I will be writing my blog based on what we did that lead up to it, and the dinner itself; which I see reflect the hallmarks of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur.

One obvious hallmark that we reflected in the committee was Hallmark number four: committing ourselves to community service. For over the last four weeks, my fellow students and faculty that were in the committee met every Tuesday at noon. We discussed everything from what to serve for dinner, what theme we should have, designing the flyers, assigned tasks to members and the list goes on. The event took a lot of effort to take shape. Other students, as well as community members were invited to the event. Additionally, it took a lot of service to put the location in order. We scrambled to get the plates out, the tables decorated, food out on the tables, silverware put out, drinks chilled and even placed flowers on each table. Without the help of those who were there, it would have been a disaster.

The second hallmark that could be seen from the event is hallmark number three: educating for and on behalf of justice and peace in the world. More and more, we see our country divided. With extremist candidates on the rise, racially divided rhetoric is becoming more and more popular. With this in mind, it is important to listen to speakers such as the one we had, Dr. Abbas Milani, and open ourselves to academic explanations. He gave a very optimistic speech about how our school, despite these dark times, can still have a positive impact. These ideas are essentially, especially with the negative views that are rising everywhere.

Blog # 4 Subsidiarity And Devolution

After having gone through the readings, I got a solid concept of what subsidiarity means. I would explain subsidiarity as allowing for things to be solved at the lowest level of government involvement possible. Putting it symbolically, if you are thirsty for a cup of water, serve a cup of water not a gallon. Subsidiarity allows for people to maintain a balance of self-reliance and the need for larger assistance when needed. This is not to say that just because you use as little as possible, there is no help from larger groups when needed. On the contrary, it simply means that people are capable of finding solutions for themselves, yet have access to help from above when needed.

            This concept is related to the textbooks definition of devolution in that both believe in allowing things to be solved through the simplest way possible. According to the textbook on page 37, devolution delegates power from the federal to the state and local governments. Again, this reflects the idea of how if something can be solved simply, it should; without the involvement of higher powers. 

Blog #3 Relationship Between Citizens and My CP

          The relationship between citizens and my CP is very close. Because they are a nonprofit, they rely heavily on volunteers. This allows for a fairly close relationship between the volunteers and the people that live at the shelter. One example of a close relationship would be when it comes to food. Because the shelter does not have any cooking facilities, they rely heavily on volunteer groups to bring and serve food three times a week. The shelter also allows its volunteers to interact with the citizens on an educational level. This is because the shelter offers courses that teach them hot to save money, life-skills workshops, Internet access as well as medical care when needed. Because of these reasons, we can see how there is a caring and educational relationship between the CP and the volunteers.

            This also allows us to see how citizen-participation affects the CP. As stated, because there are no cooking facilities at the shelter, they rely heavily on outside sources for food. If there is no citizen participation, it would drastically impact the shelter in a negative way. This is because they would not have any means of coming up with the meals for the people residing in the shelter. Another way that no participation would negatively affect the shelter is that there would be no one to help with the services they offer. In all, no participation could potentially mean that the shelter would come to an end. We can see that citizen participation is vital for the shelter to remain operational.

Blog #2 Tension Between State and Local Government

            When it comes to state and local government, there are different types of tensions. Just like the national Constitution, which serves as a document reflecting the governments enumerated powers, each state has their own State Constitution. This state document outlines what state and local governments can or cannot do. As stated by Dillon’s rule, local governments can only exercise what is allowed by the state. These powers must be explicit powers. When there is any doubt with the legality of a local government, the state’s power is favored. Despite this seemingly straightforward set-up, there is still tension between the local government and the state government.

            One area of tension is in the amount of power that states grant local government. There is not one uniformed amount of power that states grant local governments throughout the country. Instead, the amount of power given to local governments vary widely in different states. For example, some states give local governments a lot of power. While other states are significantly more conservative in the amount of power they give local governments; for example by forcing local governments to refer to legislature for approval to act. Often, state government regulates the finances, service standards and structures of the local government. This causes some tension between the two types of governments because local governments do not always control their finances.

            Another area of tensions between the two is with mandates. Specifically speaking, unfunded mandates are the ones that cause more tensions. A mandate is an order given by the state in which all local governments must obey. From the states’ point of view, mandates are necessary to ensure that desired goals are reached, mandates reflect uniformity within the state and they also promote coordination. From the local point of view, mandates that are not funded by the state can prove to be costly. Because of the extra costs that mandates bring, local governments push for such things as mandate reimbursements. Local governments also demand that the state clearly explain their logic in pushing for mandates and local governments want greater flexibility in implementing the provisions of mandates.

            Another key area of tension between the two governments is in regards to money. The local governments want more money, more control on how to spend it, as well as more control in raising money. In areas where sates have most control in funding th local governments, we see that local governments want more freedom in deciding where the money should go.

            Regional governance has been another area of tension. In the US, the term is city-county consolidation. Here, local governments join to form a much larger government. This is done in an effort to gain wider area solutions to problems, while giving up their power and authority to the larger government. However, according to the choice theory, this has some negative effects. A major con is that the consolidation of governments robs the people of important choices and inefficiencies.

            In addition, some local governments, such as those in California, have resulted to hiring lobbyist to represent their interests at the state legislatures.  But, these tensions do have a positive affect.

            Tensions between the state and local government reflect the tensions between our three branches of government. In a smaller scale, we can see the frustration between state and local governments reflect the frustrations between the executive, judicial and legislative branches. These problems serve as a system of checks and balances. Also, they demonstrate that there are people very much aware of what is going on, and they make their interests heard by bringing up their issues in both local and state governments.

Blog Topic #1

I think that Maple Street Shelter rose because of the difficulties that individuals face. For example, homelessness, a lack of jobs and a lack of life-skills are still major factors that cause individuals to be out of work. Maple Street Shelter tackles these issues by offering temporary housing for short-term (2 months), long-term (6 months), life skills workshops, on-site medical care and hot meals. I think that local governments did not fill these needs for a variety of reasons. One could be that due to the severe budget reduction, the local government concluded that volunteers and donations could take care of said issues. Another reason could be that the local government needed to fund other areas first, such as education and healthcare. I assume that this organization is accountable to their board of directors. The only federal issues that I think would affect this organization would be financial, since they need funding, and healthcare, since the residents are not necessarily in the best shape.