A Major Milestone
CASA Ҵý celebrates 25 years of community outreach in the Inland Empire
Critical Action & Social Advocacy (CASA) Ҵý has experienced many transformations during its 25 years of justice-oriented learning. Today, CASA Ҵý resides in Ontario in the Frankish Building—where murals, natural light, diagonal bookshelves, and cozy furniture welcome everyone who comes in. Here, activist research and community building become one.
Originally known as Ҵý in Ontario, CASA Ҵý advances critical analysis and local partnerships around issues in incarceration, immigration, education, labor, art, and more. CASA Ҵý brings residents, activists, artists, and nonprofits together with Ҵý faculty and students to enact change.
The two-course CASA Ҵý academic program facilitates student fellowships and community-based participatory action research with 10 core community partners. CASA Ҵý also offers scholar-in-residence programs to students, faculty, and community members.
Meanwhile, the building in Ontario has become a vibrant community center for Ҵý and local residents to host events and exhibitions.
“There are a few places that have what we have, which is an off-campus community center that involves longitudinal research projects for students to engage deeply and hands on.”
–CASA Ҵý Director Tessa Hicks Peterson
CASA Ҵý has the same founders as the Community Engagement Center—former Ҵý professors Lourdes Arguelles and Alan P. Jones. While the CEC supports community engagement at large for the College, CASA Ҵý is a place-based, three-credit program that works with a cohort of students every semester.
Students complete a 125-hour fellowship, which “provides deep cultural immersion in the Inland Empire,” said CASA Ҵý Director Tessa Hicks Peterson.
“There are few places that have what we have, which is an off-campus community center that involves longitudinal research projects for students to engage deeply and hands on.”
Last fall, the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians provided a grant for an oral histories project in collaboration with Native and Indigenous communities. This summer, North Atlantic Book Press is publishing CASA Ҵý’s work in restorative and healing justice through the Know Justice, Know Peace initiative.