Community Empowerment Activists | Leo T. McCarthy Center for Public Service and the Common Good

Designing for Community Empowerment Activists

In this week’s blog, Sofia Criswell ’25 reflects on their journey creating the new Community Empowerment Activists (CEA) logo. With collaboration and creativity, Sofia was able to blend various components of diversity, community, Mother Earth, color, and joy in their artwork. Keep reading to learn about the artistic process and what the logo portrays. Reflecting…

Honoring Our Own Divinity

In this week’s blog, Alyssa Traina ’25, Politics major with a double minor in Public Relations and Legal Studies, reflects on Sister Destiny’s visit to their class with storytelling and Jazz. Read more about “H.O.O.D.” as Honoring Our Own Divinity and her wisdom in using radical love to fight for our communities. Under the bright…

Freedom Love is Revolutionary Love

This week’s blog is a poem from Community-Engaged Learning Program Manager, Jackie Ramos, that was shared with community and students at the Community Empowerment Activist year end celebration. Read Jackie’s piece dedicated to and honoring this year’s CEA cohort. I could write a book about the beauty that exists in your being But time is…

Community Building Through Art

This week’s blog is contributed by Community Empowerment Activist (CEA) and Critical Diversity Studies major, Alaia Zaki ’23. The year long CEA course analyzes systems of oppression and movements of resistance while working with grassroots organizations in San Francisco. Learn about the recent mid-year retreat and mural walk and from Alaia, and how it connects…

Learning How to Listen

Last month, we sat down with USFVotes member and Community Empowerment Activist, Zachary Sexton, to discuss his experience with the McCarthy Center in advance of the Leo T. McCarthy Award Celebration. In this week’s blog, learn more about Zach’s current work with the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation, what he’s learned from the community, and how…

Activism as Reconciliation

This week’s blog is an abbreviated reprint of an article entitled, “Public service and activism as vocations of reconciliation” published in the latest issue of Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education. The contributors to this piece are McCarthy Center staff, Angeline Vuong, assistant director of public service programs, Jacqueline Ramos, community-engaged learning program manager, Community Empowerment…

Lifting our Community’s Voices

We are honored to have been awarded the Jesuit Foundation Grant, given to academic programming, curriculum development, and research projects which address USF’s Jesuit Catholic mission. This funding helps to underwrite the first year of “Amplifying San Francisco Voices: Building Bridges in CommUNITY Conversations,” a series of interdisciplinary dialogues that examine the major historical and…

How To Be a Changemaker

While we are all busy preparing for a year of in-person learning, the Center wants to remind students that they can begin to explore their roles as Changemakers for the common good. Changemakers on campus and in community become well-informed and civically engaged about social justice issues impacting society at large. Here are 10 ways…