Grants finally honored

In a casual and long-awaited reunion Wednesday, the Cesar Chavez Institute for Public Policy at SF State honored six students who received grants to work on issues affecting Chicanos and Latinos in the Bay Area.

"It took about three months to finally get together and honor a group of students who dedicated a whole summer to work for the benefit of the community," said Teresa Carrillo, a member of the CCIPP research committee, an organization that promotes public policy for Bay Area La Raza communities.

Among the recipients of grants, some as much as $2,500, three were graduate students. All six did research or interned with community-based organizations.

During the reunion, held in the University Club, grant recipients had the opportunity to discuss and share their experiences.

"The results of my research work were a revelation for me," said Carlina Zeuli-Phelphs, a La Raza major who's planning to pursue a master's degree in counseling. Her research showed that Norplant and Depo-provera, two contraceptives controversial for their side effects, are promoted by pharmaceutical companies to women of color due to class more so than race.

"Usually you find them in clinics that give them for free or on a sliding scale. The manufacturers push those contraceptives basically among the poor, which includes a large segment of Latino women. Other classes are not as exposed to them," she said.

Claudia Leon, an urban studies major, promoted a youth community center in the Mission District to parents, many of whom didn't know it existed. While keeping parents informed about the center and conducting telephone surveys regarding their expectations, she encouraged parents to participate in their children's activities.

"I enjoyed a lot working with so many children and parents. I got very attached with the kids," she said.

Stressing that the center's overall success depended on the parents' participation, Leon said her experience, "teaches you things you never learn in class."

Encouraging students to explore SF State research programs, Carrillo, who is also an assistant professor of La Raza studies, said the grants give students a unique opportunity to get the money they need to pursue and promote research relevant to public policy issues.

"It's a drop in the bucket, but at least it gives an opportunity to collect some data and analyze it," Carrillo said.

Trying to identify the pressing needs and concerns of the Latino community in the Mission District was the goal of Maria Elena Ayala, a graduate in counseling. To achieve this, she developed a bilingual questionnaire pinpointing mental health and legal issues. She mailed it to approximately 500 residents and agencies.

Her findings proved Proposition 187 strongly affected the Latino community.

"People have a lot of fear -- they're not coming out," Ayala said. She added one of the effects is the diminishing enrollment of Latino children in schools.

Once her research is completed, Ayala plans to publish her results and offer them to non-profit organizations.

She also praised the CCIPP for the energy, time and funds it devotes to working on social policy.

"The problems have to be cut from the root, and the CCIPP is working on that," she said.

Other grant recipients included Kara Ann Zugman, a La Raza student graduate who did research on Fuerza Unida, a movement made up of immigrant women seeking compensation after being fired by Levi Strauss; Marisela Trujillo, a graduate student in ethnic studies involved in Mujeres Unidas y Activas, a group in the Mission District that promotes women's empowerment, self-help and self-esteem; and Jose "Pepe" Urquijo, an undergraduate cinema major who worked on the production of "500 Years of Chicano History," an educational film from a Mexican-American perspective.

[ Golden Gater Online October 31, 1995 ]

[ back to top ]