Advocacy Programs and Issues
Plant Around the Tot Lot
Bear C.A.R.E.
Adoopt an Agency
Thanksgiving Clothing Drive
Angel Tree Project
Student Safety
Dining Plan Flexibility
Swipes for Victims
Foothill Bridge
Speed Roommating
Sexual Assault Awareness Week
UCB P.A.W.S.
Plant Around the Tot Lot:
In 1996 RHA held a community wide service project
to beautify Willard Park. This event was held during a weekend from
9am-12pm and brought the Berkeley community and residents together.
It also included a free meal for all participants.
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Bear C.A.R.E.:
This event was adopted by Berkeley’s RHA in
1997 from UC Santa Barbara. Bear C.A.R.E. stands for Caring About
Residential Environment and worked to make real changes in response
to the information that they received from the records of “fix
the damage” reports from the Department of Housing and Dining.
Through Bear C.A.R.E. residents became more aware of damages in
their halls and were held responsible for damages by either doing
community service or paying off the damages themselves. If residents
had very few damages or showed a vast improvement in the amount
of damages in their halls, residents were eligible to participate
in a raffle. Prizes included: Macintosh printers, $1000 travel gift
certificates, bikes and various other gift cards to movies, restaurants
and stores in the Berkeley area.
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Adopt an Agency:
In 1997-1998 this program was held by RHA to establish
permanent relationships between the residence halls and local Community
Service Agencies. The main philosophy of this program was to have
each hall adopt a single Community Service Agency and work with
that organization for the entire academic year. Though this program
has not continued, today Cal Core in conjunction with the residential
community has created five spaces for Cal Core Resident Advocates
to create networks and readily available service projects for residents.
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Thanksgiving Clothing
Drive:
In 1997, RHA held a clothing drive to support the
Salvation Army. Residents brought clothing to the dining commons
to donate.
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Angel Tree Project:
In 1997 RHA, in conjunction with the YWCA, held this
program to provide Christmas presents to low income and homeless
children and families. Residents were invited to buy requested gifts
for children and distribute them on behalf of the children’s
absent parents.
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Student Safety:
In September of 1997, Berkeley City Council members
addressed RHA to discuss campus issues, specifically police views
of pepper spray, noise control and night safety. RHA was involved
with these issues on campus and in Berkeley.
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Dining Plan Flexibility:
In 1997 RHA successfully advocated for more meal flexibility.
This increased flexibility included allowing residents to save meal
swipes as well as extending the hours of the Golden Bear Café.
The previous meal plan had been a three swipe per day use or lose
policy. RHA felt that residents should be able to use or not use
as many meal points per day as they desired. RHA was successful
in increasing resident flexibility in terms of meal points and GBC
accessibility in terms of hours.
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Swipes for Victims:
In 2001 after the September 11th attacks, RHA, in
conjunction with Residential Housing and Dining, hosted Swipes for
Victims. This program gave residents an opportunity to help the
victims of 9/11 by donating a meal swipe. By giving a meal swipe,
residents were agreeing to not eat dinner in the dining commons
on October 11th and for every meal given Residential Housing and
Dining gave $2.20 to the victims of the events in New York. The
goal was to raise over $10,000 as well as create awareness about
a national and global issue.
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Foothill Bridge:
In 1993, when the Foothill complex was originally
built, a proposal by the University for the Foothill Bridge was
denied. The issue was later revived in 1997 by the City of Berkeley
and battles continued. The enormous cost contributed to arguments
against its building as well as the complaints of many Northside
city residents about the potential decrease in property value due
to the bridge blocking the view of the bay. However, residents living
in the halls along with RHA and other student groups felt that safety,
ADA accessibility and convenience to access resident buildings and
mailrooms were potential positive outcomes of the bridge. The issue
again became a hot topic for RHA in the 2004-2005 academic year.
During this year, RHA advocated and pushed for the bridge and finally
the Berkeley City Council passed the permit for the bridge to be
built. The bridge was completed in the Fall of 2007.
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Speed Roommating:
In the Spring of 2006, RHA hosted a program for returning
residents in the halls to find a roommate. This program was designed
for residents to meet a prospective roommate for the 2006-2007 academic
year. Attendees were provided with a host of questions and a comfortable
setting to meet and talk to possible future room mates. Food, drinks,
and prizes were available during the event.
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Sexual Assault Awareness
Week:
In light of the rise in crime rates in Berkeley and
in the residence halls in the Spring of 2008, RHA, in conjunction
with Take Back the Night, put on this event in order to educate
residents about sexual assault crimes and issues. In each hall,
poster boards were placed with statistics, stories and other information
about sexual assault issues and safety. In addition, each unit had
a location where flags were placed daily to represent a percentage
of people who had been sexually assaulted based on national statistics.
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UCB P.A.W.S. (ucbpaws@gmail.com):
Got Problems? Want Answers? Wonder How Things Work?
Need a Solution? UCB Paws is a way for RHA to help you with your
various and miscellaneous questions and concerns while living in
the residence halls. It is also a pilot to gathering statistics
on how well the residence halls is serving resident needs and providing
adequate resources and information. Got a question and don’t
know who to contact in the halls? Email ucbpaws@gmail.com.
*Please Note: There have been
many more Advocacy Programs and Issues that RHA has implemented
or in which RHA has been involved. This is just a sample of some
of the advocacy work RHA has done. For more information, please
feel free to contact an RHA staff member or have a look in previous
Daily CAL newspapers that highlight RHA’s work in the 1980s-90s.
Also, to be involved in Advocacy Programs and Issues or to suggest
potential areas where you think RHA should get involved, please
feel free to contact the RHA Vice President of Advocacy and Outreach
at rhaadvocate@berkeley.edu.
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