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

Freedom as a Practice

“Freedom is not a secret. It’s a practice.” – Alexis Pauline Gumbs The Leo T. McCarthy Center is co-sponsoring this year’s Critical Diversity Studies Forum. In this week’s blog, we introduce the keynote speaker Alexis Pauline Gumbs, the founder of Brilliance Remastered, an online network and series of retreats and online intensives serving community accountable…

Bridges that Connect Us

In this week’s blog, Camille Batiste, new Program Assistant for Engage San Francisco and recent USF graduate, answers four questions about her goals and passions in education and public service. Learn what motivates Camille to advocate for programs that support youth development and community building. How did you arrive at the Leo T. McCarthy Center?…

Meet Our 2022 McCarthy Fellows in San Francisco

Our 2022 McCarthy Fellows in San Francisco have just began their journey with the City and County of San Francisco, by attending their first class at City Hall. In this week’s blog, meet 16 students who will be learning firsthand about San Francisco’s local policymaking, administration, and politics throughout the semester aimed at shaping San…

Pursuing Equity in Education

This story is a reprint of USF News highlighting two members of our recent Equity Intern cohort and their experience in the classroom combating summer and COVID learning loss. Read more about Sarah’s takeaway around compassion in the class and Richard’s understanding around the importance of patience and effort as teaching assistants in San Francisco…

Falling in love with Education

In today’s blog, Cassidy Steele, our new graduate assistant for the Engage San Francisco Literacy Program, reflects on her inspiration for her passion in education. Cassidy introduces herself and answers four questions revealing her understanding of learning differences. Hello! My name is Cassidy Steele and I am one of the graduate assistants for the Engage…

Commemorating Leo T. McCarthy’s Desk

In today’s blog, we cite the words of Conna McCarthy, daughter of Lt. Governor Leo T. McCarthy and Council Member for the City of Piedmont. Conna commemorates arrival of the Lt. Governor’s desk in the McCarthy Center and introduces Lt. Governor Eleni Koulanakis who attended the celebration in the center’s Open House last week. “Today…

Learning is a comfortable environment

In this week’s blog, Equity Intern, Richard Dzreke ’25 reflects on his summer combatting learning loss with young students in the YMCA of San Francisco’s Power Scholar Academy, helping him understand how to be an effective educator. Read more about how Richard learned the importance of comfort in an effective learning environment. When I first…

Memories of Summer

Teacher for the Summer Academy Program (SAP), Amy Scharf False Katz, authors a poem on her 4 weeks with middle school students. SAP is a 4 week summer program for 6-8 graders, created as partnership between USF’s School of Education and Gateway Public Schools. The Summer Academy Program is supported by Engage San Francisco’s year-round…