From Concept to Best Practice
The first five years of the Community Fellows Initiative

How can UCSB help to build a pipeline of diverse, highly qualified teachers in Santa Barbara, where the cost of living is steep, and graduate school is often not an option for local students due to financial barriers? Six years ago, the Gevirtz School and local community funders set out to solve this thorny issue – establishing what is now the Community Fellows Initiative.

Jon Clark and Patricia Madrigal of the Bower Foundation; the three 2022-23 Community Fellows, Adriana Trujillo, Haidee Jimenez, Marissa Santizo; Lynne Sheffield, Assistant Superintendent, Secondary Education, SBUSD, Gaby Cabrera, School Counselor, SBUSD and Albert Martinez, PEAC Program Supervisor
The biggest benefit of giving to the Gevirtz School is having the opportunity to pay back. We hope that the gift from our estate will help those who cannot afford graduate school, as well as make it easier for those in the program to concentrate on their research. Going forward, we can’t assume state funds alone will support the work of the school. In the future, we hope more friends will step up for the Gevirtz School.

- Dr. Carol Dixon

fellows

Celebrating Our 2022-2023 Fellows

After two years of online celebrations, the Gevirtz School welcomed students, faculty, staff, and supporters to the first in-person Gevirtz School Fellowship Breakfast since January of 2020. 


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healing space therapist

Community Support for a Healing Space

At the Healing Space, situated within the Hosford Counseling and Psychological Services Clinic, graduate student therapists have created an environment to better understand racism as well as Black culture’s unique resilience and strength.


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