Category: Programs
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SJSU Campus Community Garden: A Hidden, Local Gem for Both Residents and Students
In mid-May, a little over a dozen of children from Olinder Elementary School’s CORAL after school program took a trip to an urban farm. The destination? Our very own San Jose State Campus Community Garden. The SJSU Campus Community Garden is located on San Salvador St. across the street from the Campus Village housing, and…
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Catalysts of Community Engaged Learning: The 2022 Celebrating Partnerships Event
Every other year, CommUniverCity holds a huge event called “Celebrating Partnerships,” where core partners of the organization come together to take a grand look at active projects that CommUniverCity has been maintaining or is involved in. This past Thursday on May 5th, in which some of you know as Cinco de Mayo, CommUniverCity their biennial…
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Veggielution’s SoFA Pocket Park: A Perfect Project Uplifting the Community Through Research and Core Partners
By SJSU URBP295 Students: Matt Gustafson, Xio Aguirre, Jean Reynolds, Ana Lopez At the southern edge of downtown San José lies an arts district known locally as SoFA (South of First Area). In recent years the area has seen an influx of investment activity as developers set their sights on the highly gentrifiable landscape. Enter…
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Reintroducing Science Day After the Height of a Pandemic
In mid-November, CommUniverCity had the opportunity to bring back Science Day to Horace Mann and Olinder Elementary School after not being able to have an in-person Science Day during the shelter-in-place phase of the pandemic. CommUniverCity wanted to help achieve a way for both elementary schools to enjoy Science Day, so to counteract the feats…
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Children Learn the Fun in and Importance of Healthy Eating
According to Santa Clara County’s status of children’s health, 18% of students in San Jose Unified School District face obesity or are in the “health risk” zone for body composition. To combat increasing rates of obesity, Cooking Matters teaches the importance of a healthy diet and living a healthy lifestyle. Over the course of three…
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Revitalizing the Community in the Alum Rock Corridor
The Alum Rock Avenue business corridor and its adjacent East San José neighborhoods are steeped in history stemming from its immigrant past, activist roots, and deep culture exhibited in its Mexican heritage through the arts. At the core of it all is a steadfast community that has shown great resilience through the years, even as…
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Joining a National Initiative for Green Spaces
Many of us enjoy spending quality time at home with loved ones or catching a quick bite with close friends. As the city life overtakes our lives, the outdoors seems to go underappreciated. Over the fall of 2020, graduate students in SJSU’s Master of Urban Planning program worked collaboratively on a national initiative called Reimagining…
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Opening Doors of Curiosity for Garden Education
As climate change becomes an imminent reality of our future, gardening contributes to healthy eating and exposure to the natural world. While record numbers of people began cultivating their own gardens during pandemic lockdowns, vulnerable communities do not have the same luxury. CommUniverCity saw this opportunity to promote healthy lifestyles while young students and families…
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Ready, Set, Grow: Growing Sustainably brings the classroom outdoors
“This reminds me exactly of what we were learning in class this week!” an SJSU freshman studying Child and Adolescent Development (ChAD) recants after one particularly challenging garden education workshop in a 4th grade classroom. During this lesson on photosynthesis and what it takes for a plant to grow, this intern reflected back to behavior…
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Our Growing Sustainably Pledge
Author: Nancy Nguyen, Garden Education Coordinator What is Growing Sustainably? Kids love to eat and play outside. CommUniverCity’s Growing Sustainably program uses outdoor classrooms to work with elementary school students in Central San Jose to nurture an appreciation for the natural environment and fresh, nutritious foods. This is the pledge we make every day to…