usfmccarthycenter | Leo T. McCarthy Center for Public Service and the Common Good

Looking Back and Sharing our Journey

On the evening of November 19th, my fellow Privett Global Scholars and I had the opportunity to showcase our summer experiences abroad with friends, family, and the USF community. The event turned out to be a huge success; the room was filled with live music, the sharing of fond memories, and of course, delicious Indian and Bolivian cuisine….

Championing New Deal Public Art

Urban Affairs faculty member Rachel Brahinsky contributed to this lovely mini-documentary on the life of Masha Zakheim, daughter of a New Deal artist and protector of many of San Francisco’s New Deal murals. Zakheim, who passed away in 2014, wrote the key text on the history of the Coit Tower murals, and was a champion…

An Afternoon With MAGIC ZONE

My fellow members of Urban Cohort 2 are super humans: juggling a full class schedule, adjusting to being back in the classroom, working full time or multiple part time jobs, volunteering for incredible causes all over the Bay Area and staying (or trying to stay) positive throughout! With a packed schedule myself; it is easy…

Election Day Reflection: Supporting Stevon Cook’s Campaign for Board of Education

“”Our campaigns have not grown more humanistic because candidates are more benevolent or their policy concerns more salient. In fact, over the last decade, public confidence in institutions- big business, the church, the media, government- has declined dramatically. The political conversation has privileged the nasty and trivial. Yet during that period, election seasons have awakened…

Urban Affairs student joins the Ferguson Freedom Ride

We’re proud to see Urban Affairs graduate student Nolizwe Nondabula featured in a gofundme campaign designed to send activists to Ferguson, Missouri with the group Black Life Matters. Nolizwe joins the USF community and many others who are deeply troubled by the Aug 9, 2014 killing of Michael Brown, and by the militarized police response to…

Art Agnos in Urban Affairs class

Former San Francisco Mayor Art Agnos recently spoke to Master of Arts in Urban Affairs students about the urban planning of the San Francisco waterfront, including the Golden State Warriors Arena and the 8 Washington project.

Picture of the Week: Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom at USF

The Single Stories: An ACE Reflection

Advocate for Community Engagement Aundraya Martinez had her final reflection with Professor Evelyn Ho’s “Ethnography of Communications” class last week. Students wrote the “single stories” and preconceptions they had about the Tenderloin prior to engaging in service at the St. Anthony Foundation Tech Lab and placed those inside the box. Then, thinking “outside the…