Date

12-2021

Document Type

Capstone Project (Open Access)

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)

Department

Health, Human Services and Public Policy

Major

Public Health: Community Service Worker

Abstract

The internship was completed at Growing Greatness, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization located in Watsonville, Ca. They facilitate in-person and on-site leadership and advocacy workshops for school educators, youth organizations, foster and homeless youth throughout Monterey and Santa Cruz counties. Growing Greatness teaches leadership and health advocacy workshops for youth ages 12-20 who attend middle and high schools living in Watsonville, Ca. . The problem addressed is the continued lack of leadership and health advocacy programs offered to at-risk youth in the Watsonville Ca. community. The contributing factors are a competitive environment for nonprofits seeking funding for after-school academic programs from state and federal agencies and promoting the importance of these programs is that leadership and health advocacy programs contribute to positive development. The consequences are not providing these programs is students becoming disengaged from school and community, causing delinquent behavior and increasing dropout rates. Also, the loss of free resources to become active leaders in their community before becoming adults and/or going to college. Another consequence is the large Hispanic/Latinx community of underserved youth are left without a voice for an equable change. The capstone project is to create a hybrid online leadership and advocacy workshop titled, The Changemaker academy. First by creating a master PowerPoint presentation from the curriculum “Do Kit” from Growing Greatness in-person workshops for use in an online learning environment. Secondly, add additional PowerPoint presentations from sections of the Growing Greatness Do Kit. A barrier for implementing the project is the continued COVID -19 in-person restrictions placed on schools during the 2021 school year. The findings of the project results are from a survey completed by CSUMB undergraduates in the Colabororate Health and Human Services program. Future recommendations would be for Growing Greatness to add two interns from CSUMB for the spring 2022 semester and increase funding by applying for educational grants. Also, continue to create an online course curriculum with several individual PowerPoint presentations outlining each section using the master Do Kit presentation.

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