SLICE

Jessica Ramirez Named Jumpstart Site Manager of the Year

July 6, 2022 By Kandis Newman

CSUDH Jumpstart Site Manager Jessica Ramirez has been named the inaugural winner of their national Site Manager of the Year Award. The award recognizes Ramirez’ work in guiding the office at CSUDH in their partnerships with local schools, providing language, literacy, and social-emotional programming for preschool children in the local community.

Jumpstart is a national early education organization with branches in 15 states and Washington, DC. The CSUDH office partners with Compton Headstart, offering assistance and programming in eight classrooms in three local preschools.

“We bring in language and literacy development tools, curriculum, and activities that we work with or provide to the preschoolers,” says Ramirez. “We work on social-emotional development, as well. That’s been something the kids really needed during the pandemic. We also recently started putting together at-home literacy kits. We call them ‘Jumpstart To Go,’ and they have activities for the families to do at home with the children.”

Each year, Ramirez guides and leads a cohort of forty Jumpstart Corps student workers. “I oversee them for a whole academic year,” she says. “From September until June, I monitor and help them with their work in the preschools, in training, and in all the other activities we do in between.”

Ramirez is a proud Toro alumna, having attained both a BA in child development and an MA in multicultural education at CSUDH. Her connection to the program goes back to her undergraduate days on campus–she was a Jumpstart Corps worker herself for several years as a student. After graduating, she had been working for three years as a preschool teacher when she saw a job posting for the site manager position.

She jumped at the chance to return to CSUDH. “I grew up here,” she says. “I fell in love with the campus and the community. Everybody knows each other here, because it’s a fairly small campus. Everybody says good morning. It feels almost like family.”

Ramirez believes that her years as an undergraduate Jumpstart worker make her a more effective manager. “I’ve been in our students’ shoes, which I think is a key. I know what they’re going through. I know they will struggle sometimes. It allows me to be more understanding of what they’re going through. And maybe I know the tools they need, because I was once in the same place.”

This is the first time that Jumpstart has recognized a national Site Manager of the Year. Ramirez was nominated for the award by her colleagues Cheryl McKnight and Miami Gatpandan, the director and coordinator of CSUDH’s Service Learning, Internships and Civic Engagement (SLICE), respectively.

“Jessica is so humble that few people know about the amazing work she does,” says McKnight. “She exemplifies the university’s ‘Culture of Care’ by validating each and every one of our students who are lucky enough to work with her. Jessica’s recruitment and retention of our students has become legendary.”

Ramirez’ accomplishments as site manager include initiating a workforce program to provide employment opportunities for CSUDH Jumpstart Corps members upon graduation–a program that was picked up by Jumpstart’s national corporate office. Jumpstart has enlisted Jessica to provide presentations to new Jumpstart site managers across the nation on strategies to improve recruitment and retention at their sites.

Her creativity in pivoting to virtual mentoring for Compton preschoolers included having Corps members develop interactive learning webpages for the children and constructing the aforementioned ‘Jumpstart at Home’ kits. Other universities have emulated Ramirez’ innovations at their Jumpstart sites.

“Jessica personifies the colleague and leader we all want to be,” says Gatpandan. “She is doing amazing things with Jumpstart and she does it with great care, joy, humility, and fun. Through her leadership in Jumpstart, we are nurturing our students into competent, compassionate educators and professionals.”

Winning the award was a complete surprise to Ramirez, who didn’t even know she had been nominated. “It means a lot,” she says. “It represents the spirit of service at DH and all the hard work our Toros are doing. We are not stopping here, either–this is a new opportunity to enrich and do new things in the communities we serve.”

Ramirez adds, “I enjoy what I do, helping Toro students and others in the community as well. I love giving children that extra Jumpstart!”

Holiday Toy Drives Showcase Toro Generosity

December 14, 2021 By Kandis Newman

Toy For Tots 2021 — SLICE and Jumpstart volunteers dressed up to distribute toys at the Compton YWCA.

Generous members of the Toro community turned out for a pair of on-campus toy drives during the first weeks of December. The drives were sponsored by CSUDH’s Center for Service Learning, Internships and Civic Engagement (SLICE) and its Jumpstart program; and the CSUDH Police Department (DHPD). As a result, hundreds of children from underserved communities received holiday gifts.

The SLICE/Jumpstart “Totes for Tots” drive was in its fifth year, said SLICE coordinator Miami Gatpandan. “We work with preschools in Compton and recognized that this was a real need for many of the children there. We’ve partnered with a lot of departments over the years, including the Office of External Relations, who provided assistance this time.”

“Our work is not just about volunteering and helping kids with their academic needs, but really meeting the community’s needs,” added Gatpandan. “Often, it’s just about what will bring joy. What will bring that sense of being one community? We’re sharing gifts and treasures with one another, but not in the sense of ‘The community needs something and so CSUDH will give it to them.’ It’s just a community coming together and sharing our resources.”

During the five years the program has been up and running, the Toro community has generously stepped up with donations–even in 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Our partners in Compton said that the kids still wanted the event to happen,” said Natalie Gomez, a Jumpstart worker who participated in her first toy drive while still a student intern at SLICE. “So, we didn’t take a break. We felt like it was even more necessary, in a way, after everything that the kids had gone through.”

“We left drop boxes outside our center, and Dominguez Hills showed up!” she recalled of last year’s drive, while the campus was primarily remote. “People were also shipping toys here if they couldn’t come in person. In the end, we had a great event for the kids after all. There were less of them, but the kids who were there were really happy and appreciative!”

Santa Toys For Tots — Santa and Mrs. Claus–with some help from a reindeer or two–hand out toys to children at the SLICE/Jumpstart event.

This year, SLICE and Jumpstart received over 200 donated toys, including many donated by the student group Movimiento Estudiantil Chicanx de Aztlán (MEChA), who held their own mini-toy drive in support of the effort. “Many of our Mechistas come from minority, low-income communities that did not have the opportunity to receive holiday gifts from their families,” said the group’s president, Areli Zagal Barrera.

“Instead, they would receive gifts from local parks or community donors which would bring them joy and hope. Now that we are college students, we find the value of community service, kindness, and planting a seed of aspiring to higher education essential to uplifting our community.”

The collected toys were distributed at an event for local children at the Compton YWCA. Every child in attendance got to pick a toy and get their picture taken with Santa, while volunteers were on hand to socialize with the kids and help them choose presents.

The remaining toys will be handed out to children at smaller giveaways at several Compton preschools that Jumpstart partners with. “This has been our most successful drive yet,” said Gatpandan.

Meanwhile, DHPD was conducting their own “Toys for Tots” drive in partnership with Carson’s Chick-Fil-A restaurants. Toro student Priscilla Arriaga, who works at the location, approached the police department with the idea to work together on a toy drive. The DHPD readily agreed to host a pair of drop-off events in a campus parking lot–while Chick-Fil-A provided vouchers for free sandwiches to thank everyone who donated.

Velez said the DHPD typically partners with a variety of community groups during the holiday season, helping out everyone from the City of Carson to local hospitals. The opportunity to team up with Chick-Fil-A this year was one they didn’t want to pass up.

“Over the course of the two events, we filled two large SUVs with toys,” said Dominguez Hills Police Chief Carlos Velez. The collected toys will be shipped to the United States Marines’ Toys for Tots Foundation, who will oversee their distribution to children in the local community.

Cheryl McKnight Honored with CSU’s Faculty Innovation and Leadership Award

August 25, 2020 By Kandis Newman

Cheryl McKnight, director of Service Learning, Internships, & Civic Engagement

In the 1990s, when gang violence in Los Angeles County was at its peak, Cheryl McKnight was a member of the Gang Prevention and Intervention Unit in Long Beach. She helped initiate a truce between the East Side Longos and Insane Crips gangs, resulting in a long-standing peace that remains to this day. She soon became director of the city’s Future Generations Youth Center, where she enabled marginalized youth to take some ownership of the program.

In 2007, she joined California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) and used what she learned about empowering to expand experiential learning and service opportunities for students as coordinator for the Center for Service Learning, Internships and Civic and Community Engagement (SLICE).

“Coming to Dominguez Hills, I brought the lessons learned from working with the youth of Long Beach. Many of our students come from Watts and Compton, communities still bearing the scars of years of violence,” McKnight recalled. “I took notice of the quiet student in the back of the room trying not to be seen. Often these are the students who have experienced generations of trauma and need to find the place where they are safe and belong. I let them know it was here.”

Today, community engagement is at the heart of SLICE’s mission, and much of it is carried out by student interns and volunteers. Over the years, McKnight has been honored for the positive outcomes the center has had on the communities CSUDH serves, most recently with the California State University’s 2020 Faculty Innovation and Leadership Award (FILA).

“Being recognized by the Chancellor’s Office is very humbling, and such an honor, but this award is really recognition of all the challenging, yet very rewarding work the SLICE staff does in earnest throughout the year,” McKnight said. “I’m so proud of them all.”

The CSU FILA recognizes CSU faculty who have demonstrated leadership at the campus level and accomplishments associated with student success, or the implementation of innovative practices off campus that improve youth outcomes and eliminate equity gaps. Each FILA awardee will receive a $5,000 cash award and $10,000 allocated to their academic departments to support awardee activities.

CSUDH Jumpstart students volunteer at a school in Compton.

Through SLICE, McKnight, a CSUDH alumna (’01, B.A, anthropology; ’06, M.A., English), has established a number of state and federal government programs on the campus, such as JumpStart and JusticeCorps. Additionally she spearheaded the return of the campus’ annual Native American Pow Wow, which has led to the creation of the American Indian Institute at CSUDH.

McKnight established the JusticeCorps program at CSUDH in 2006 with Americorp grant funding she acquired. The program provides CSUDH students with the opportunity to assist self-represented litigants in navigating the legal system under the supervision of paralegals and attorneys.

Jumpstart for Young Children is a national early education organization providing language development, literacy, and socio-emotional curriculum to preschools in underserved communities. Also funded with Americorp grants, CSUDH’s Jumpstart program has been serving preschools in Compton since 2010 with cohorts of 40 CSUDH students, who work directly with local Jumpstart staff members on training, session planning, and service opportunities.

READ: Jumpstart Program Celebrates 10 Years at CSUDH

“Our incredible Jumpstart students use the skills they learned here to prepare Compton preschoolers for kindergarten,” McKnight said. “They give over 300 hours of their time a year in addition to their studies, often while caring for parents or their own children and holding down jobs.”

SLICE student volunteers who have participated in Jumpstart and JusticeCorps have higher retention and graduation rates on average – 84 percent and 71 percent, respectively.

Comparably, Compton preschoolers who participate in the program average a 64 percent improvement in kindergarten readiness. These programs also provide pathways for employment for CSUDH students working in preschools, K-12, the courts, and police departments.

Miami Gatpandan, a CSUDH alumna and SLICE’s coordinator, served in Compton preschools as a Jumpstart member for two years. She credits McKnight for her innovative approach to student success and closing equity gaps for students of color.

Like Gatpandan, each SLICE staff member is a CSUDH alumnus who was mentored by McKnight as a student volunteer.

“It began with Cheryl taking the time to know and understand our personal stories, exhibiting confidence in our abilities, and challenging us in our academic pursuits and civic responsibilities,” wrote Gatpandan in the nomination letter for McKnight’s FILA award. “Through her continued mentorship and bringing in resources, I am one of the countless students Cheryl helped to finish graduate school and use our education to continue serving our communities.”

In 2010, after McKnight examined the impacts on Native American students of being underrepresented at the university, SLICE organized the first CSUDH Pow Wow, and tied it to the service-learning Anthropology course North American Indians. A pow wow is a Native American ceremony involving feasting, singing, and dancing.

Today, SLICE students continue to organize the pow wow and work alongside the Native American community during the event. SLICE also runs the American Indian Institute at CSUDH, and in 2011 their work with native groups resulted in a request by the CSU Office of the Chancellor to establish the Indigenous People of the Americas minor at the university.

“It is really my hard-working staff who earned this award,” McKnight said. “Coming from our underserved communities, they understand developing partnerships to overcome the long-standing health, education, and economic disparities. They also understand that education is a bridge to help level the playing field for the community’s youth. They really get ‘transforming lives,’ and their work is reflected in our students’ passion and commitment to serve.”

CSUDH Jumpstart Celebrates 10 Years of Service

August 24, 2020 By Kandis Newman

CSUDH and Jumpstart working together for the community

Editor’s Note: Interviews for this article took place in late 2019.

It’s 9 a.m. on a school day, but Paola Gonzalez isn’t in a lecture hall. She’s leading a rapt circle of four-year-olds in a rousing rendition of “Slippery Fish” at the YWCA preschool in Compton. “Slippery fish, slippery fish, gulp gulp gulp,” she sings, wriggling her hands as the children squeal with delight.

Gonzalez, a fourth-year theatre arts major at CSUDH, is well experienced in putting on a show. As a team leader for Jumpstart, she has ample opportunity to put those creative skills to good use. Each week, Gonzalez and her team of fellow Jumpstart volunteers plan and deliver an engaging curriculum for local preschool children.

Jumpstart, a nationwide program, pairs college students with preschools in underserved communities to improve children’s language and literacy skills. College students make a one-year commitment to serve at least 300 hours in their designated preschool, working with on-site teachers to better prepare the preschoolers for kindergarten.

“Jumpstart changes children’s lives,” Gonzalez said. “Preschool is the beginning of their road to success, and we get to give children the boost they need.”

Gonzalez is just one of hundreds of students who have made an impact through the CSUDH Jumpstart program. Since the program’s inception in 2009, CSUDH Jumpstart members have completed more than 108,000 hours of service, helping transform the lives of more than 1,000 children in low-income communities.

“Jumpstart at CSUDH is a legacy of service,” said Jessica Ramirez, site manager for the program. “Its impact is immense, on both our college students and our preschool children being served.”

Ramirez says hands-on experience, leadership skills, and long-lasting relationships are among the many benefits reaped by the Jumpstart members.

“Students learn to take ownership of their actions, and realize they play a key role in making a difference in our communities that need it the most,” Ramirez said.

While Gonzalez leads her group in song, human services major and Jumpstart volunteer Rosita Sary reads a story with one of the preschoolers. Most of the children at the school are dual language learners, and do not speak English at home – a situation Sary understands well.

“I moved to the U.S. at the age of nine, and I didn’t speak any English,” Sary said. “Growing up, I had a hard time learning. In Jumpstart, I work with the children one-on-one, because I know that speaking in a group can be intimidating.”

By focusing on building the children’s confidence, Sary says she sees huge progress in her students over the course of a year.

“At first they’re really shy, and they won’t talk to other kids,” she said. “But then you see them raising their hands and participating. I enjoy seeing the growth in the children.”

That joy of teaching is a highlight for many of the Jumpstart volunteers. In the case of Areli Lopez, it led directly to her current job. Lopez, who graduated from CSUDH with a degree in child development, had volunteered at the Compton YWCA preschool as an undergraduate. Her dedication and passion were so impressive that the school offered her a full-time teaching position upon her graduation in 2019.

Now, as a teacher, Lopez says she has an even deeper appreciation of CSUDH students’ efforts to lift up others.

“Dominguez Hills reaches out and helps the community in many different ways,” Lopez said. “I see the change in the children and how meaningful it is for them.”

Cultivating Crops and Eager Minds Earns Jenney Hall the Excellence in Service Award

May 28, 2020 By Paul Browning

Jenney Hall stands in the shed at the Urban Farm that she co-founded at CSUDH in 2018. Hall has been honored with the 2020 Excellence in Service Award.

Since she arrived at California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) in 2016, lecturer of environmental studies Jenney Hall has wasted little time developing new ways to teach students how to study and protect the environment, and how to grow nourishing crops for themselves and food insecure people.

Hall quickly became well liked and respected among her students and colleagues in CSUDH’s Interdisciplinary Studies Department (IDS) for her teaching of introductory and advanced courses in environmental studies, and for developing curriculum for face-to-face online and hybrid courses. In 2018, she brought agriculture to campus when she co-founded the Urban Farm to teach the health and societal benefits of growing food in small spaces in metropolitan settings.

Hall is now leading the development of a new undergraduate degree program in Environmental Studies, another ambitious project that has helped her earn the 2020 Excellence in Service Award. The honor recognizes faculty contributions to university governance and development, and acknowledges that service and partnership are an essential component of CSUDH’s mission.

“My department and my college have been incredibly supportive in encouraging me to build the Environmental Studies program here at CSUDH. I feel fortunate to work closely with Global Studies, American Studies, and Labor Studies in this effort,” said Hall, who believes that the “cross pollination” of physical and social sciences and the College of Arts and Humanities is essential to addressing issues of sustainability and environmental justice.

“We have endeavored to create a program that connects our different disciplines and engages students with a big picture of our complex and ever-changing world. This multidisciplinary approach makes our Environmental Studies program unique.”

Hall has also been recognized for her ability to connect quickly with those she teaches by making a conscious effort to explain concepts from the place where her knowledge aligns with their understanding.

“If I am explaining scientific concepts to a 10-year-old, 20-year-old, or a 70-year-old my first task is to find out where they are coming from and then find a way to start from there,” she explained. “I also try not to take myself too seriously when teaching and use any tool that I think will help better communicate ideas. Sometimes it can be a little intimidating to put myself out there like that, but I do it anyway.”

Jenney Hall makes a guest appearance in recording artist Scotty Sire’s YouTube video “24 Hour Zero Waste Challenge.”

Hall knows that it is essential to give students the tools they need to make educated decisions about the issues affecting them, their families, and communities.

“Everyone needs to participate in creating a more just and sustainable future. The campus is a literal crossroad of urbanization, industrialization, and residential interests,” she said. “Students from surrounding communities have a life expectancy of 12 years less than in other parts of the county. There are less trees, less green spaces, and less grocery stores, but more pollution, diesel traffic, and health consequences for people of all ages.”

Jenney Hall with alumna Holly Keedy, who served as a paid intern through the Basic Needs Initiative performing cooking demonstrations with produce grown in the Urban Farm. Keedy graduated from CSUDH in fall 2019.

Urban Farm

The Urban Farm was designed to foster experiential learning through a service-learning curriculum and has been supported by CSUDH’s Center for Service-Learning, Internships and Civic Engagement through a Faculty Fellows grant, as well as the university’s First-Year Seminar Program.

The farm is also a venue for faculty to engage students not only in organic gardening and urban horticulture techniques, but in discussions about larger societal issues around sustainability, and the lack of access to healthy food choices in urban environments. During harvests, surplus food is shared on campus with food insecure students and in local communities.

In two years, the farm has grown to include workshops for local high school students, the help of regular volunteers from the CSUDH Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), which is a program of educational, cultural, and social opportunities for retired and semi-retired individuals age 50 and above.

“The collaborative effort that goes into the farm and the multigenerational participation makes me very proud,” she said. “It is a wonderful effort between students, faculty, and staff with participation from all age groups.”

Unfortunately, COVID-19 has temporarily sidelined all these activities. The farm and its fruit tree grove are being maintained by essential campus facilities personnel, but it is still providing food for students in need.

“It was a true heartbreak to close the farm this semester and move classes online, especially now that the weather is warm and everything is growing so beautifully,” Hall said. “No matter how good a video or picture, it can never replace the deep learning that comes through doing.”

Hall looks forward to returning to campus. “I love my students and the campus community here. I have learned so much from my colleagues in IDS and have grown tremendously from my interactions within the department, both academically and personally. I am constantly challenged to see things from a different perspective,” she says. “This is an exciting time to be part of IDS and the CSUDH community as it continues to grow and transform. I feel honored to be a part of it.”