Magnolia Project

Students   |   Community Partners/Host Sites   |   Alumni

Students

• Student applications for January two-week service trip will be due in September.
• Student applications for Summer eight-week internship program will open in November.

If you would like to be notified about upcoming application deadlines, email us to be on MP’s email list.
Students who demonstrate interest in public service and social change, regardless of their academic concentration or year, are encouraged to apply. 

Community Partners/Host Sites (Summer Internship Program)

The Cal Corps Public Service Center’s Magnolia Project program is in its 7th year. The program, led by Student Directors Becka Fisher-McGinty and Nazanin Salehi and Angela Taylor, Internship Programs Coordinator, (contact info at the bottom) recruits and matches Cal students based on the information you provide in your internship descriptions. Interns serve approximately 35 hours/week for 8 weeks at organizations in New Orleans, Louisiana.
What Cal Corps Looks for in Host Agencies

• Connection to Cal Corps’ mission to promote leadership through service and foster social justice and civic engagement
• Project-based internships that expose interns to meaningful, project-oriented work beyond administrative tasks
• A firm commitment to sound supervision by a full-time professional staff member
• A job description for the Intern that outlines duties
• Office space where the Intern will work.
• Provide a contribution where possible to the intern stipend (see below).

Submit a request for proposal (RFP) by January 7, 2013

Alumni
MP is interested in staying connected with past MP participants, as well as Cal alumni living on the Gulf Coast, especially those working with grassroots organizations in the New Orleans area.
If you live or have a network in the New Orleans area, we have several ways for you to support MP:

• Host an MP summer intern at your organization. If you serve on a nonprofit board or have family or friends who work for a change organization, recruit them to host a Cal intern.
• Identify and recruit community-based organizations that will host Cal interns. This role can be fulfilled by a one-time referral or consistent contact with staff and other alumni.
• Provide financial support for students who often have to choose between work and service.
• To stay connected join our MP LinkedIn group for alumni only. For a complete list of ways we invite alumni to engage with the Center, please visit our alumni page.

You can contact Internship Programs Coordinator Angela Taylor via email (taylora@berkeley.edu) or phone (510.642.5429). 

Magnolia Project Directors
Rebecca Fisher-McGinty and Nazanin Salehi

Since its first summer service trip in summer 2007, MP has:

• Served more than 50 community based organizations
• Engaged more than 365 Cal students in Gulf Coast relief, rebuilding, and recovery
• Contributed more than 46,000 hours of service, mainly to working class/low income communities of color

Recently through its 2012 summer service trip the MP program:

• Introduced 12 service trip volunteers to the New Orleans community, providing a total of 1,225 service hours to the Gulf Coast
• Received a grant through the Center’s Shinnyo-en Peacebuilding Leadership Program to coordinate and conduct a Memorial Day weekend youth camp that served 35 youth mainly from the Lower Ninth Ward
• Lodged at Lower Ninth Ward Village for the third year in a row

Magnolia Project Participant Blogs - Summer 2011

• Aaron Cadore - Kids Rethink New Orleans Schools
• Johanna Tseng - City of New Orleans, Department of Performance and Accountability
• Suzy Robinson - Community-Based Urban Resource Management
• Bernadette Rabuy - Placement: Voice of the Ex-Offender
• Mansher Singh Dhillon - Orleans Public Education Network
• Lucy Rosenbloom - Lower Ninth Ward Village

A special thank you to Magnolia Project’s Community Advisory Group, which provides on-the-ground advice on how Magnolia Project and the wider UC Berkeley campus can be most effective and collaborative given distance separating our campus from the Gulf Coast.

Current and past MP service trip and internship community partners include:
• Animal Rescue of New Orleans
• City of New Orleans
• City of Abbeville
• Greenlight New Orleans
• HandsOn New Orleans
• Just the Right Attitude Second Harvest Food Bank
• Jordan Flaherty
• Karen Leung, UC Berkeley Alumna (MPP 2007)
• Kids Rethink New Orleans Schools
• Lower Ninth Ward Village
• Neighborhood Partnerships Network
• Orleans Public Education Network
• Project Homecoming
• Peoples Organizing Committee
• Rebirth Center for Ethical Living
• Rebuilding Together
• Tulane Center for Public Service
• YA/YA (Young Artists/Young Aspirations)

Magnolia Project Newsletter

June 2011: UC Berkeley Students Volunteer with Lower 9th Ward Village in New Orleans, Louisiana

This summer, 40 students from University of California, Berkeley are working in New Orleans as part of Magnolia Project, a student social justice organization created in collaboration with the Cal Corps Public Service Center to work in solidarity with Gulf Coast communities through a 2016...

MP has been made possible by ASUC, our co-educators on the Gulf Coast, UC Berkeley’s Genaro Padilla and Susie Castillo Robeson, Pepsi Refresh, Northern Louisiana ATT, and generous alumni donors.

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The Magnolia Project is offering internships with New Orleans-based organizations in summer 2013. Interns will be matched with partner organizations according to their interest and through the selection process.

Please note that we have not confirmed all internship positions for summer 2013. Check back frequently as more internship opportunities may become available! Current list of 2013 internship opportunities; PLEASE DO NOT contact these partners directly, as one goal of this program is to make their communication with the Cal campus more efficient through MP.

Questions? Contact us!

Participant Commitments and Responsibilities:

While engaged in their internships, all participants are expected to adhere to participant agreements and MP leadership decisions.

Time Commitments

• Attend All-participant meeting (tba),
• All participants must agree to spring/summer participant commitments as well as intern responsibilities.
• Attend the mandatory DECal class taking place select Tuesdays and Thursday from 5-6pm throughout the spring 2013 semester
• Participate in the entire internship, May 21-July 27, 2013

Personal Commitments

• Students are responsible for associated costs for the trip including air, lodging
• Fill out and turn in all trip safety and liability forms.

Selection Timeline

• Application Deadline: February 15, 2013
• On campus interviews: February 7-22
• Interviews with community partners: February 15-28th
• Notifications: March 4th
• Interns commit: March 10th

Questions? Need more information?

E-mail us at magnolia.katrina@gmail.com

Attend an information session [ADA accessible]

In order for your application to be complete you must, by the application deadline:

1) Complete this on-line application

2) Email us your most recent resume that highlights your professional, academic, and student life experiences that relate to this position. Please be sure to list previous internship, extracurricular, and volunteer activities.

Please do NOT click "submit" until the entire application is complete!

Incomplete applications will NOT be read!