American Service-Learning: Urban Issues Service Project
| |
 |
 |
| |
Jerry Zee : Stanford Coordinator |
Daichi Hirose : Japan Coordinator |
Project Themes
1. Homelessness
2. Immigration and the City
3. San Francisco, the Gay Community, and HIV/AIDS
4. Urban Spaces, Communities, and Social Change
Project Overview
The main focus of this project is to get an in-depth look at some of the problems, issues, and concerns that arise in modern cities, where many groups of people with many different interests are located very close to each other. The area of "urban issues" and urban studies is very broad, and deals with all aspects of life, from city planning and space, to racism and prejudice, to public health and the homeless. This project will attempt to give an introduction to the problems and issues of the city, but will focus on three main areas of interest: homelessness, immigration, and public health in gay communities. We will tour many organizations, meet many people, and try to help wherever we can, and will be exposed to a wide range of concerns and challenges in a global city like San Francisco.
San Francisco is an incredibly diverse and interesting city. It has a short but complex history of social justice and progress, immigration and ethnic diversity, and many other factors that have created the city as it is today. San Francisco is home to a huge Asian American and Asian immigrant population, as well as a large Latino population. It has also been called the "gay capital" of the United States, and perhaps the world, with a large, well-organized, and powerful gay community in the city. These communities are divided and connected along lines of class, ethnicity, commerce, and sex, and this project will attempt to explore the intersections of these communities and how they are all connected in the backdrop of the city. It will explore how the city makes these communities and how the city is made by them as well. By the end of the project, we will have come to a deeper understanding of life in an American metropolis and see how these discoveries can relate to circumstances in other places.
Pre-Program Readings
ASL Urban Issues Yahoo! Group
|
