CommUniverCity San José
Position Announcement: Project Coordinator
CommUniverCity San José is seeking a SJSU graduate student to assist with
the development and management of community-based projects in the Five
Wounds/Brookwood Terrace community.
Time base: Half time (up to 20 hours per week)
Salary: $17.5 / hour
Starting date: September 1, 2009
End date: August 31, 2010
CommUniverCity San José is a partnership to improve community connections,
health and education in low-income neighborhoods in central San José. The
partnership includes the City of San José?s Strong Neighborhoods
Initiative, The Health Trust, Neighborhood Housing Services Silicon
Valley, and other community partners. The area served is culturally
diverse; more than 60% of residents are immigrants or children of
immigrants and only 22.5% of households speak primarily English at home.
CommUniverCity San José works with faculty, students and community
partners to create and sustain meaningful course-based service-learning
opportunities and to encourage civic engagement of students while
increasing community connections among residents.
The project coordinator will help to identify community assets and needs
related to health, education and the neighborhood environment, assist with
efforts to build community leadership and involvement, link student
service-learners and volunteers to community collaborative efforts,
evaluate program impacts, and carry out publicity and fundraising
activities to sustain those efforts.
CommUniverCity San José?s projects are based on priorities set by
neighborhood residents. CommUniverCity San José?s goals are to create,
support, and enrich sustainable community service-learning projects in the
following areas:
Education: Enrich and expand educational opportunities for residents and
youth, encouraging a ?College-Going-Culture? throughout the community.
Community Health: Support all aspects of the neighborhood that contribute
to healthy environments and lifestyles.
Neighborhood Environment: Foster a physically safe and socially connected,
empowered community.
The following is a sample of the type of projects the successful applicant
will be assisting with:
Community Planning: Residents develop community development goals for
their neighborhood.
Civic Engagement: Voter registration and candidate forums facilitated by
SJSU students.
Annual Neighborhood Public Opinion Surveys: Statistically valid surveys
of opinions about neighborhood issues by SJSU students of Political
Science and Urban Planning.
College Going Culture: Workshops for parents and elementary school
students on access to college; tutoring; supervised activities in
elementary schools by students of Counseling, Sociology, etc.
SJSU Campus visits for high school sophomores, elementary school children,
and their parents.
Education: Tutoring, supervised recess activities, events for families
and children at McKinley, Olinder and Anne Darling Elementary Schools.
Inquiry in Action: SJSU students guide elementary school students through
chemistry experiments.
Intimate Violence Prevention Training: Workshops facilitated by
Psychology students.
Annual Days of Service: Service projects completed each year by SJSU
students, faculty and staff with local residents, including house
painting, neighborhood and park clean-ups, mural painting, school projects
and more.
Housing: Home repairs and painting by student volunteers.
Family Health Night: Public Health and Health Science students cook and
serve dinner for McKinley Elementary School families, and provide health
information.
Safe and Green Halloween: An event for elementary schools children and
families of the Five-Wounds/Brookwood Terrace area, where they participate
in Halloween games, learn about energy-efficiency, and receive free
costumes.
McKinley Late Nights: A safe space where gang impacted youth meet once a
week to recreate, explore new and positive opportunities, and have
one-on-one interactions with caring adult role models.
Comcast Readings: Comcast employees read to children in Kindergarten and
First grades.
Jester and Pharley, Reading Makes a Difference: A literacy and outreach
program for elementary schools that give youngsters a means of helping ill
or homeless children while expanding their reading skills.
Required Qualifications:
Graduate student standing at San José State University.
Experience working in a diverse, multi-cultural setting.
Strong organizational and time management skills.
Excellent communication skills, both written and oral.
Self-motivation, especially when working with students and community
members.
Commitment to CommUniverCity?s mission.
Leadership skills.
Ability to work collaboratively in a team setting.
Ability to engage in physically strenuous activity such as lifting at
least 50 lbs. and climbing step ladders (some neighborhood projects
include painting homes, dumpster days, street and park clean ups, etc.)
Desired Qualifications:
Bilingual in English and Spanish, Vietnamese or Portuguese.
Experience with community planning and development.
Knowledge of issues affecting poor communities and/or communities of
color.
Valid California driver?s license.
To learn more about CommUniverCity, please visit our website at
communivercitysanjose.org.
To Apply:
Submit the following materials to dayana@... by
Friday, August 7, 2009:
Statement of intent.
Resume or CV.
Names and contact information (phone numbers and email addresses) for 3
references (work and/or academic), and your permission to contact them.

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