Kimberly Sloan
Chico Ambassadors Intern
CAVE Office Bell Memorial Union 309
400 West First Street
Chico, CA 95929
Office: (530) 898-5817 Cell: (916)436-6293
cavechicoambassador@csuchico.edu
www.aschico.com/cave
NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 22, 2010
GRANT AWARDED TO CSU, CHICO TO FOCUS ON STUDENT LEADERSHIP,
SERVICE-LEARNING, SOCIAL INNOVATION AND CALIFORNIA’S ECONOMIC
RECOVERY AND RENEWAL
CHICO, Calif.—California State University, Chico today announced that it has been
awarded a three-year grant from California Campus Compact as part of California
Campus Compact's Social Innovation Generation: Student Leadership Initiative (SIG:
SLI), which is designed to support new and innovative student-initiated, student-led
service or service-learning projects that will result in change-making action to help those
who have been hardest hit by California's economic crisis and to help California emerge
from the current economic crisis with a more innovative, green and sustainable economic
future.
CSU, Chico is one of three campuses from throughout California selected through a
rigorous application process by California Campus Compact to participate in the first
phase of Social Innovation Generation: Student Leadership Initiative. California Campus
Compact was awarded a Learn and Serve America Higher Education grant in excess of
$1 million from the Corporation for National and Community Service to fund Social
Innovation Generation.
“This grant provides CSU, Chico with an outstanding opportunity to demonstrate the
significant contribution that higher education, in general, and California college students,
in particular, have to make to the recovery and renewal of California,” said Elaine Ikeda,
Ph.D., executive director of California Campus Compact.
The grant is administered to the Associated Students Community Action Volunteers in
Education and offers students a new opportunity in a program called Chico Ambassadors
giving volunteers experience as homeless advocates and friendly visitor guides in
downtown Chico.
Volunteers will provide a positive presence downtown, assist visitors with directions and
information, promote safety as well as outreach to the homeless community through a
branch of the program called Chico Homeless Advocates The program’s goal is for
volunteers to understand the issues facing the downtown community and be trained in the
methods to enhance the social fabric of the community.
-more-
The program hopes to provide a bridge between the city and campus to build community
relations. Partners of the Chico Ambassadors program include the City of Chico, Chico
Police Department, Chico Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Chico Business
Association, Sixth Street Drop-in Center, Jesus Center and Torres Shelter.
About the Corporation for National and Community Service and Learn and Serve America
The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) is a federal agency that each year
engages four million Americans of all ages and backgrounds through its Senior Corps,
AmeriCorps and Learn and Serve America programs. The mission of CNCS is to improve lives,
strengthen communities and foster civic engagement through service and volunteering. CNCS’s
Learn and Serve America program awards grants to state agencies, schools, nonprofit groups and
institutions of higher education to engage students in service activities linked to academic
achievement and civic responsibility. This type of service is called service-learning. For more
information, please visit www.NationalService.gov.
About California Campus Compact
Since its founding in 1988, California Campus Compact has worked to build the collective
commitment and capacity of colleges, universities and communities throughout California to
advance civic and community engagement for a healthy, just and democratic society. Through
innovative programs and initiatives, grant funding, training and technical assistance, professional
development and powerful research studies and publications, California Campus Compact each
year invests in and champions more than 500,000 students, faculty members, administrators and
community members involved in diverse and ground-breaking activities that support and expand
civic and community engagement throughout California. For more information, please visit
www.cacampuscompact.org.
About Community Action Volunteers in Education
CAVE is an Associated Students program founded in 1966 on the California State University,
Chico campus. Every year more than 2,000 volunteers assist Chico and Northern California. The
student run nonprofit agency offers 17 programs that serve children, seniors, special populations,
and the environment. Our motto, “Life is for Learning,” supports our philosophy that the
community should be a classroom for hands-on learning. For more information, please visit
www.aschico.com/cave.
###
For more information about the Chico Ambassadors program, please contact Kimberly
Sloan, the program coordinator in the CAVE office (530) 898-5817, (916) 436-6293 or at
cavchicoambassador@csuchico.edu.
We gratefully acknowledge the following organizations for their significant support in making this program
possible: