Community Briefs

Tuesday, March 2, 1999

Community Briefs

UCLA 'Eco-Heroes' expands program

The UCLA Advanced Policy Institute has expanded its award-winning Eco-Heroes campaign to 10 Los Angeles high schools, introducing more than 1,500 urban students to the wilderness.

The Eco-Heroes program - originally started by API with the Los Angeles Unified School District, the U.S. Forest Service and the non-profit California Environmental Project (CEP) - seeks to educate students and provide assistance to local wilderness areas struggling with tight budgets.

During the pilot phase, students from El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills and Garfield High School in East Los Angeles planted 1,152 trees and picked up more than three tons of trash in the Angeles National Forest while learning about natural resource management and ecosystem dynamics.

This year the campaign has been expanded to include eight additional high schools, which will send approximately 1,500 students to forests, beaches and other habitats throughout Los Angeles County, said David Bloome, the campaign's director.

"This illustrates the important leadership role the university can play in the community, enriching students' education," Bloome said.

A grant from the Los Angeles Urban Resources Partnership helped to underwrite the pilot program. This year corporate sponsors including Airtouch Cellular, Edison International, and Laidlaw Transportation donated thousands of dollars in cash grants or in-kind services.

Cal program reaches inner-city schools

Schools that have incorporated a highly successful UC Berkeley pilot program were visited by U.S. Department of Education representatives last week to see the program in action. The program is designed to help improve the performance of students in low-income, inner city schools.

The outreach programs, collectively called the Berkeley Pledge, which has been hailed a national model by U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley, reported that students made significant improvements in math and literacy.

Both UC Berkeley educators and students are involved in the program, helping with curriculum development, teacher training, mentorships, summer school, in-class support and tutoring.

"Their work proves that, when given the right resources, at the right time, students from all backgrounds can excel," said UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert M. Berdahl. The improvements for African-American students were particularly significant.

The Berkeley Pledge programs, was first implemented into dozens of Bay Area schools in 1995, vary from math and literacy tutorial programs for young children to college preparation for high school students.

Terrorism and drug topic of UCSD forum

Terrorism, corruption and drug trafficking in Latin America and the Pacific Rim will be the focus of Challenges to Governance in Latin America and the Pacific Rim, an international conference March 5 to 6 at the University of California, San Diego.

The conference, sponsored by UCSD's Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies (CILAS) in collaboration with the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies (IR/PS), is free and open to the public. It will include some of the world's top experts on terrorism, corruption, drug trafficking and the global economic crisis. All sessions will take place in the Gardener Room at IR/PS.

The two-day conference will begin on March 5 at 9 a.m. Now in its third year, this visiting scholars program aims to strengthen ties between Asian and Latin American academics.

Compiled from Daily Bruin staff reports.

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