Blog Topic #8

Blog Topic #8: “A budget is a statement of values.” Discuss the way your CP gets and spends its money or resources is a reflection of its values. Which Hallmarks, if any, are expressed in the way your CP manages its budgeting and service delivery?

The way my community partner receives is money is through various individual donations and also donations from the Our Lady of the Pillar Catholic Church. The table of plenty began as a idea from father Charlie. Its first year they idea began as a wine tasting event to raise enough money to start up the Table of Plenty. The wine tasting event went so well that it raised enough money to become a self-sufficient non-profit organization for a whole year. I am also aware that a lot of the volunteers donate their time and money to please our guest. For example, there are volunteers who bought the organization new plates. There are volunteers who take their time off to cook the food and bake desserts. Lastly, there are other local businesses and individuals who donate simple stuff such as shampoos, fruits and bread for the homeless. The way my community engagement spends it money is on buying food to cook our guest, flowers and simple decorations to make the place look nice. None of the volunteers or people who work at the Table of Plenty get paid, neither the people in charge. This is a non-profit organization that all its funding goes out to pleasing our guest and making them feel in a safe and warm environment. 

A hallmark that expresses they way the table of plenty manages its budgeting and service delivery is hallmark four, we commit ourselves to community service. "We create partnerships with community agencies that facilitate service-learning processes." Not only do we create partnerships with the community but we also try to establish a good relationship with other local businesses to donate so we can help the same community. We basically establish a good relationship with the community so they can help us serve the community in need. In the end, all the donations and the help we receive, goes back to the community. 

CTA Reflection Day

In what ways did the activity reflect any of the themes we have explored so far this semester? IN what ways did it reflect any of the values expressed in the hallmarks of the SNDs?

Unfortunately, I was not able to participate in a Call To Action activity due to the fact that I had to work and volunteer at the Table of Plenty. While a lot of students were volunteering in the different locations for Call to Action, I was working at the Boys and Girls Club at Hoover Elementary School. I am a mentor there and I help kids with their homework, teach a curriculum and engage with them in various activities. Working with kids at the Boys and Girls club is a very pleasurable experience and in a way i feel like I am giving back to the community. I feel this way because about 90 percent of the students are at risk students where a lot of them come from unstable homes or  come from families where their parents are working g two jobs and don't have someone there for them. A lot of these students don't know what college is and are not planning on attending. Mentors like myself try to emphasize the importance and provide them with resources that will help them prepare for college and try to emphasize that college for them is a possibility if they work hard in high school. I also enjoy working with these students because the majority of the population is Latino, so it reminds me of when I was a kid. The main reason why I choose to work in this organization is due to the fact that I want to make a difference in the latino communities and emphasize that it is possible for them to go to college. After work I also went to serve at the Table of Plenty. Serving at the Table of Plenty is always a phenomenal experience. Just knowing that as a volunteer we are making an impact in hundreds of peoples lives always makes me think of how grateful I am. Also just seeing a sense of community as seeing happiness in a lot of our guest brings warmth to my heart.

Working at the Boys and Girls Club reflects Hallmark number seven which implies that We develop holistic learning communities which educate for life. My co-workers and myself try to implement academic excellence and try to provide them with the resources to succeed academically and try to teach them how to responsible. We also actively support them whether it be academically, mentally, emotionally and other aspects. And even though they are at risk students we let them know that we are always here to support them even through adversity.

Serving at the Table of Plenty reflects most of the Hallmarks but the one that stood out to me was Hallmark number five. Hallmark number five states that we embrace the gift of diversity. When I first started serving at the table of plenty it was hard to embrace the gift of diversity. In my head I would think to myself that some of the people were weird but once i got to interact with them and actually got to know them, I realized they were good people. At the table of plenty we welcome everyone to our community, despite any differences.

Blog #7

How does your CP interface with local government units? Be specific. Are there any leaders in particular who have had an important impact on the success or development of your CP?

My community partner, Table of Plenty, is a privately run non-profit organization. Therefore, there is no interface with local government units. At the Table of Plenty there are various leaders who have impacted on the success of this organization. First and foremost, Sister Jeanette, she is a prominent leader in this organization by making sure that everything runs smoothly. Sister Jeanette took over the Table of Plenty from Fr. Charlie. Ever since I joined this organization, things have ran smoothly and thanks to Sister Jeanette and other leaders such as Debbe Kennedy, this organization continues to impact hundreds of people.


Timesheet Status Check

Travel Time: 60 minutes
Volunteer Hours: 3 hours
Total Hours Volunteered: 36 hours

Going to Table of Plenty continues to be a gratifying experience. It makes me joyous seeing familiar and new faces. Going to Table of Plenty and forming new relationships with co-workers and guest has also been memorable. However, since the majority of the people are old, there has been a lot of guest and volunteers who have suffered medical issues. Just hearing about it breaks my heart because they are people who I have grown to love. For example, one of our guest had a stroke and was in comma for a couple of weeks. He lived in government housing. While he was in comma he was evicted and they gave away his home. Now he has no home and no where to sleep. It breaks my heart because he suffered a severe stroke and to top it off he lost his home. It is very unfortunate and unfair.

Blog #6

What are the three principal functions of legislature?
- Legislature engage in three principal functions: policymaking, representation, and oversight.

1. policymaking includes enacting laws and allocation funds. Legislature deals with issues such as budget shortfalls, health care, higher education, and alternative energy sources. They revise old laws, pass new laws and make changes in spending. Legislators do not have sole control of the state policymaking function; governors, courts, and agencies also determine policy, through executive orders, judicial decisions, and administrative regulations, respectively. But legislatures are the dominant policymaking institutions in state government.

2. legislators are expected to represent their constituents - the people who live in their district - in two ways. They are expected to speak for their constituents in the legislative chamber - to do the will of the public in designing policy solutions.

3. the third function, oversight, is different form the policymaking and representation functions. Concerned that the laws they passed and the funds they allocated frequently did not produce the intended effect, lawmakers began to pay more attention to the performance of the state bureaucracy. Legislatures have adopted a number of methods for checking up on agency implementation and spending. Their oversight role take legislatures into the administrative realm of state government.

TimeSheet Status

Doing my internship work at the Table of Plenty has been a pleasurable experience but at the same time it has been difficult. The reason why it has been difficult is because I have class in San Francisco from 2-5 and sometimes I have to leave class an hour early to get to the Table of Plenty on time. Besides that, I have served at the Table of Plenty six times and has been a pleasure. I have been going for 6 weeks and I have enjoyed every single moment. I have been able to meet and talk to a lot of nice and genuine people. What we do at the Table of Plenty is greet and welcome people into the dinning room. Then we serve them drinks, and after that we bring them their salad. After they are done with their salad we serve them their main course meal. After they are done with their meal we give them a nice dessert. Serving at the Table of Plenty is a nice experience because to me it feels nice to give back to the less fortunate and it makes me realize that sometimes we take for granted all the blessings that we have and that other people don't have.

Case Study

http://gaymarriage.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=006193

Gay Marriage in the US Supreme Court, 2015

On April 2015, the US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Obergefell v. Hodges, whether or not gay marriage is a right guaranteed by the US Constitution. Couple months after, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that gay marriage is a constitutional right. After this rule, gay marriage is allowed in all 50 US states and all existing bans are invalid. This case in particular was interesting for me because it was a triumphal love story. Jim Obergefell sued his home state Ohio along with his partner John Arthur, who was dying of ALS. The couple wanted to acknowledge their marriage in Arthur's death certificate but the state of Ohio did not allow it because same-sex marriage was not allowed in Ohio. However, Arthur and Obergefell married in Maryland but was not recognized in Ohio. After Arthur passed away a federal judge ruled that the state of Ohio must recognize the legal union. In the end the ruling was, "if States are required by the Constitution to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, the justifications for refusing to recognize those marriages performed elsewhere are undermined." In the end Obergefell won the case against the state of Ohio and the union was legally recognized in the state of Ohio. 

Blog #4

The term subsidiarity to me means the principle that some issues and matter should be handled by the lowest level of government. After reading the article on subsidiarity and the proper role of government, I definitely agree that there are some matters that are best to be handled by local government. For example, if the people of a city or county want to remodel a park because the community thinks it is dangerous for kids to play in, the state might not take as an important matter. However, if the citizens go to the local government and petition, it is more likely that they will respond and actually do something about it.

As the way I understood it subsidiarity and devolution are very much alike. After reading articles on devolution in Kenya, I was happy to see the progress of local government and how it impacts the community in a positive way. Rather than having one big local government where it can not fulfill the needs of all of the communities, it is better to have a lot of different local governments where they can focus on the issue of a particular community and try to resolve the problem. However, I am not saying that a big centralized government is not bad because having a big government is also necessary. For example, there are some issues that state and local government can not address and without the help of state and federal government, some local governments would not function. The article states that subsidiarity refers to the way the various levels of society should relate to each other and assist one another in bringing about the best outcomes for the people. I definitely agree with that because with the help of federal, state and local government, they can achieve many things and resolve a lot of issue if they work together.