CARA Certificate Program
The Oakes Community-based Action Research and Advocacy (CARA) program builds on the mission of Oakes College to leverage university-based education for social and political change. Our courses support Oakes students to build connections with community-based organizations and to gain tangible skills they can leverage for social justice in various contexts, from grassroots activism to working with nonprofits, public agencies, and beyond. The CARA program also supports first-generation, low-income, students of color, undocumented and other student communities to make meaningful connections that bridge their academic studies to social justice issues that are most pressing for their communities and their own lives.
CARA courses pose rigorous, interdisciplinary academic questions about how to expand justice within and across contexts. Students connect course readings, seminar practice, reflexivity, and writing with their field-based research projects or internships, often in partnership with local organizations. In the process, students develop a variety of skills, from conducting qualitative research to analyzing data, communication, mentorship, advocacy, and more, deepening their own understanding and capacities to contribute to social justice initiatives. In addition, many CARA courses also support students to complete their general education requirements.
While any student may enroll in our community-engaged research and learning courses, our aim is to support Oakes students to complete the CARA Certificate. The CARA Certificate is awarded to students upon their successful completion of at least 19 credits, as outlined in the four program areas. Students should notify the CARA program director and community liaison via email that they’ve successfully completed the program courses, or of their intent to complete in their last quarter of the CARA program (oakscara@ucsc.edu). The CARA program director will also accept petition requests for other courses that fit the programmatic themes, per written request of the student and submission of the course syllabus. Courses listed in more than one program area can count toward each area, provided a total of 19 credits are completed across all four areas.
Students are encouraged to list the CARA Certificate in their resumes, in addition to articulating the skills they’ve developed through program courses. The CARA Certificate will not appear on students’ transcripts.
Oakes CARA Certificate 2021-22
Students who successfully complete a minimum of 14 credits from the following courses qualify for the Oakes CARA Program Certificate. Students can choose any of the classes in order to qualify.
Building Capacities for Community Voice, Advocacy, and Organizing
OAKS 47 Building An Inner Sanctuary, 2 credits, PR-S
OAKS 48 Slugs Speak, 2 credits, PR-S
OAKS 67 The Politics Of Food: Labor and Social Justice, 2 credits
OAKS 70 Diverse Voices In Contemporary American Women's Poetry, 2 credits, PR-C
OAKS 73B Mentoring, 2 credits, PR-S
OAKS 80H Rainbow Theater, 5 credits
OAKS 130 Creative Writing Workshop,5 credits, PR-S
Community Voice, Advocacy and Organizing in Practice
OAKS 151 Corre la Voz, 5 credits total, PR-S (A&B)
OAKS 167 Food Systems: Culture, SJ, Sustainability, 5 credits, PR-S
OAKS 185 Tracing Health, 5 credits, PE-H
OAKS 188 Intro to the Legal Profession and Legal Aid, 5 credits, PR-S (A&B)
OAKS 189 Building Websites For Social Justice, 2 credits, PR-S
Community-based Action Research
OAKS 76 Social Geography & Justice in Santa Cruz, 5 credits, PR-S
OAKS 152 Transformative Literacies, 5 credits, PR-S
OAKS 153 Community Mapping, 5 credits, PR-S
OAKS 155 Research for Social Justice: Special Topics, 5 credits, SI