This summer saw a number of exciting projects taking place at UCSC, including the D@PP Summer of Service Tech Institute, a collaborative effort between GIIP and long term partner Center for Multicultural Cooperation in Fresno. The Digitally Abled Producers Project (D@PP) is an innovative program sponsored by CMC that teaches youth leaders skills to produce multi-generational documentaries of their community. Fifteen Central Valley D@PPers were chosen to attend the institute based on their commitment to civic engagement and peer leadership.

High school drop out rates in Central Valley are notoriously high, and of those who do graduate only 1 in 3 students graduate with the requirements to apply to a 4 year university. High school student activists and community members see the lack of counselors and knowledge of admission requirements as the contributors to the crisis. The Summer of Service addresses these issues head on.

The Summer of Service’s goals were two fold: to increase diversity of the UCSC population by introducing an under-represented group to the college admissions and financing process, and an introduction to innovative technologies to be put to use in D@PPs local projects. While at UCSC, the students were housed in dorms, and attended a number of presentations by campus organizations and departments. The Educational Opportunity Program provided a student panel including members from the Hmong Student Association and familiarized D@PPers with services available to first generation college attendees. The Career Center and Financial Aid offered practical information for students, and Students Informing Now (SIN) offered non-traditional financing tips for undocumented students. The Social Computing Lab introduced new resources for online research and digital video production, including a presentation on metavid, an innovative online application that searches congressional proceedings. Kids Productions’ workshop included both practical and inspirational video production tips.

In between their busy workshop and production schedule, the D@PPers did manage some time for fun with a tour of the Farm, Porter Caves, Tree 9 and lots and lots of walking. Off campus events included photo bingo in downtown Santa Cruz and frisbee and s’mores at several local beaches.

Not only did the week have an impact on the students who attended, but working with CMC’s expertise in youth empowerment and digital video production , the students documented their experience and are producing short digital videos to share their knowledge with their peers. These four videos cover the admissions process: Why go to college? How to apply for college? How to pay for college? How to stay in college? These videos will serve as a resource to hundreds of students in the Central Valley and beyond.

GIIP students, Julie Caso and Christina Hamill began planning the tech institute during Spring quarter, using their GIIP acquired skills in project development and grant writing. With the help of CMC’s Brandon Wright and GIIP’s Adam Thompson they were able to secure funding for the project from a variety of campus grants, including a prestigious award from the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society, funded by AT&T.

The response from the D@PP students has been overwhelmingly positive, with special mention made to the personal connections made by GIIPers, and a new found sense of hope that came with the knowledge of alternative funding sources for college. The GIIP staff was in turn, very impressed with the creativity and professionalism exhibited by the students. Team GIIP looks forward to making the D@PP Tech Institute an annual event.

Special thanks to our donors, presenters, workshop facilitators, CMC staff and GIIPers for making this event such a success.

See our D@PP Summer of Service video.