Cal State LA Selects SELA Collaborative for the Statewide Civic Action Fellowship Program

LOS ANGELES - Aug. 11, 2020 - PRLog -- The Southeast Los Angeles Collaborative (SELA Collaborative) has been selected by Cal State LA as the key partner as part of the statewide Civic Action Fellowship program.

Gov. Gavin Newsom's California Volunteer's Office unveiled the program during a Feb. 10 news conference at the Capitol in Sacramento. The Civic Action Fellowship program will involve eight universities across California.  Cal State LA represents the only Southern California university selected to participate in this new initiative.   The SELA Region and the SELA Collaborative were selected by Cal State LA to launch this program to support the nonprofit capacity building needs of the SELA region.

Cal State LA will select 31 undergraduate and graduate student fellows to work with 11 SELA nonprofit organizations over a 10-month period. The work will focus on critical capacity building activities identified by the SELA nonprofits partners including environmental, economic development, and health and education issues. "Cal State LA is proud to continue its long-standing work and partnership in Southeast LA.  We are excited to partner with the SELA community to provide our students with meaningful opportunities for engagement and service aimed at strengthening the important work of our SELA nonprofit partners," said Belen Vargas AVP for Operations and Chief Mission Officer for California State University, Los Angeles.

The nonprofit organizations include the SELA Collaborative, 7 of its members, and 3 Community Partners serving the SELA Region:  Alliance for a Better Community, AltaMed Health Services, Families in Schools, Hub Cities, Southeast Community Development Corporation, East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice, Southeast-Rio Vista YMCA, ELA Collaborative, TreePeople, Latino Equality Alliance, and Southeast Community Foundation.

"Our mission is to strengthen the SELA community, build collective power, and encourage innovation to drive regional systemic change," said SELA Collaborative Executive Director Dr. Wilma Franco. "We're honored that Cal State LA selected the SELA region and the SELA Collaborative to launch this pilot program to continue to not only build the nonprofit capacity in the region but to also to encourage students to be civically engaged and support their learning."

In addition to Cal State LA, seven other universities will participate in the program including Cal Lutheran, Dominican University of California, San Jose State, Stanislaus State, UC Berkeley, UC Merced and the University of the Pacific.

         # # #

Southeast Los Angeles Collaborative was founded in 2011 as a network of organizations that wanted to work together to strengthen the capacity of the nonprofit sector and increase civic engagement in Southeast LA. Through its 12 member partners SELA Collaborative works to strengthen the SELA community, build collective power, and encourage innovation to drive regional systemic change. For more information please visit www.SELACollab.org