Service Learning

Students in Ethics and International Politics have an option of designing an individual advocacy project or engaging in service learning with an approved organization.  This page provides information concerning service learning opportunities.  In the future, it will also provide some suggestions for making service-learning projects as beneficial as possible to both students and the organizations being served.

Organizations

El Rescate
1501 W. 8th Street
Los Angeles, California 90017
www.elrescate.org

El Rescate (The Rescue) was founded in 1981 to provide legal and social services to those fleeing war and human rights abuses in Central America.  As part of its work representing the political asylum claims of immigrants, El Rescate collected information concerning human rights abuses, including documentation of the activities of El Salvador's infamous death squads.  Today the organization continues to offer low-cost legal services along with a variety of social services.  Increasingly, El Rescate's work also includes efforts to promote economic development in Central America.

Here are some of the specific projects that you may be interested in working on at El Rescate:

• assisting clients who are applying for the renewal of employment authorization documents (EADs) under Temporary Protected Status (TPS);
• organizing a community-based letter-writing campaign in support of the DREAM Act;
• researching and writing grant proposals;
• assisting with planning for the "El Salvador in the World" conference to be held in Boston;
• updating the El Rescate web site;
• researching and writing a newsletter for the organization; and
• organizing an art exhibit to be held at El Rescate.

For background information on TPS renewals, see this page.  (The Federal Register pages detailing the designation of El Salvador under the Temporary Protected Status Program is here [.pdf document].)

For information concerning the DREAM Act, go here.

Law Office of Richard Mendez

Richard Mendez, a graduate of the Pepperdine University School of Law and a member of the Board of Directors of El Rescate, handles immigration and naturalization cases.  His case load includes many pro bono cases involving recent immigrants seeking political asylum.  Mr. Mendez has also worked on suits alleging human rights abuses under the Alien Tort Claims Act.

Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law
256 S. Occidental Blvd.
Los Angeles, California 90057
www.centerforhumanrights.org

The Center describes itself as "a non-profit, public interest legal foundation dedicated to furthering and protecting the civil, constitutional, and human rights of immigrants, refugees, children, and the poor."  Please see me if you are interested in the possibility of using an internship at CHRCL (or elsewhere) to fulfill the service-learning requirement for the course.

Program for Torture Victims--LA
3655 South Grand Avenue #290
Los Angeles, CA 90007
www.ptvla.org

Since 1980, the Program for Torture Victims has provided a variety of medical and psychological services to survivors of torture. Last year, PTV-LA served torture victims from forty different countries.

Among the projects you might undertake on behalf of PTV-LA are the following

• planning events for the UN International Day in Recognition of Survivors of Torture;
• translating (especially French, Arabic, and Amharic);
• updating the web site;
• organizing an informational program at Pepperdine; and
• assisting with the Healing Club (including outings with clients).

In addition to the PTV-LA web site, you might find some of the links on this site helpful.

Revised: February 04, 2008 .