Spring 2022
Marketing to Fight Women's Homelessness
Marketing to Fight Women’s Homelessness: Students in this Capstone will learn about homelessness, housing policy and issues of women in poverty while partnering with Rose Haven. Rosehaven is a women’s day shelter which welcomes women off the street and addresses needs by offering life sustaining services and assistance. Students will support the work of Rosehaven by providing marketing support for its annual Reigning Roses Walk, which helps create awareness and raise support to serve 2,400 people annually.
Leadership an
The mentoring of young people takes many forms. Some young people grow up with a sibling, relative or another adult ally who serves as a mentor to them. Some benefit from formal mentoring programs in schools or from community organizations. Not everyone enjoys access to regular mentoring, yet research shows that mentoring has tremendous benefits for both the mentor and the mentee. These benefits include the development of leadership skills, increased interpersonal communication, improved relationship-building skills, and increased self-awareness. Armed with these skills, a young person has greater potential for success in many settings.
This capstone is designed to provide an opportunity to learn about Spanish culture and society by means of synchronous and asynchronous discussion group forums between American and Spanish middle and high school students. The communities of students will be from: Portland, Oregon, various schools in Washington state and Zamora, Spain. These forums will be between paired classes (one USA and one Spanish) of similar grade and language level and will be facilitated and monitored by both teachers of each class. Each grouping of classes will be assigned 2 capstone students.
This hybrid online course is for students who are interested in creating and facilitating a community event. This Capstone partners with Portland Parks & Recreation Adaptive Inclusion Program. Each term, students will plan and facilitate a community event that has already been arranged with the community partner prior to the start of each term. You can expect the in person event to be during the last 2 weeks of the term (event date and time will be announced in the first week of classes, and is a requirement of this course). Students will be challenged to develop skills in: event planning, speaking, listening, building community relationships, and affecting social change. This course will not be addressing fundraising or grant writing as part of event planning.
Grantwriting for Environmental Defense
Environmentalism is a philosophy and social movement (come call it a revolution) involving both protection and improvement of the health of our natural environment. Environmentalism is an attempt to achieve sustainability so that both humans and the Earth thrive without compromising future generations. The movement in this country is credited as starting with Rachel Carson and her extremely popular book Silent Spring published in 1962, when it fact it was spawned in 1945 with the return of soldiers from World War II and the creation of suburbs that caused issues with sewage, storm water runoff, nonpoint source pollution, and inefficient energy sources.
Nationally, approximately 1 in 6 children live in food insecure households. Recent reporting suggests that food insecurity rates for households with children have tripled since the onset of the pandemic.
Social Justice In K-12 ED Capstone
Since the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001, the “achievement gap” has been at the forefront of discussions about school equity. The public has been tuned into this so-called “achievement gap” alongside shocking high school dropout rates, lack of access to equitable early childhood education, public disinvestment in the education system, disparities in access to higher education, and more. According to the Children’s Defense Fund’s 2012 State of America’s Children Report, the gaps (more accurately and truthfully described as opportunity, wealth, or access gaps) between high and low income students is 30-40% greater now than a generation ago. This same report details that a lack of access to early childhood education can lead to 25% of at-risk youth dropping out and 60% never accessing higher education. This study goes on to state that while 76% of high school students graduate within four years, only 2/3 of black and Latino students graduate within this same time frame (Children’s Defense Fund).
Water Scarcity (online)
The project will work alongside Water4 Foundations, a non-profit that is focused on water scarcity issues. Students will address needs affecting the field of water scarcity. Students may participate in the following service-learning:
Research cultural practices and country dynamics to assist NGOs transition into new markets;
• Research water technologies, benefits/drawbacks of each, identify best practices; and
• Survey water scarcity activities, map out industry trends, and conduct gap analysis.
Older Americans have been witness to great social and political changes in the lives and acceptance of LGBT people in American society. As the Stonewall generation of boomers near their later life, is estimated that as many as 7 million older adults will identify as LGBT by 2030. These seniors face unique challenges in accessing the care and rights that enable them to age with dignity and stability. For many LGBT seniors, recent research has marked a disconcerting trend of going "back into the closet" for fear of intolerance and survival in senior housing, assistance and care facilities.