This Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday inspired Citizen Schools California campuses to engage in projects that benefited the community. All seven of our campuses participated: West Lake Middle School, Greenleaf Elementary School, McKinley Institute of Technology, Joseph George Middle School, William Sheppard Middle School, Renaissance Academy at Fischer, and Renaissance Academy at Mathson.

The range of projects included:

• Dropping off 100 bagged lunches to West and North Oakland’s encampments, and representing ongoing service work with the next drop off at the end of February.

• Creating 126 bags with necessities (towels, body care, tissues, socks, teeth care, etc.) and dropping off 120 snack bags at St. James Park.

• Participating in community service led by Grassroots Ecology and the local Audubon Society at McClellan Ranch Park in Cupertino. In a series of three activities, we learned about the dangers of invasive species, walked around the trail to do some birdwatching, used accessible tools to estimate the health of the local creek, and learned about the importance of environmental preservation and environmental justice. 

• Partnering with Our City Forest to plant trees in our local community.

• Helping clean up trash along the shoreline in Oakland.

• Joining the MLK Luncheon put on by the AACSA in San Jose and supporting the Registration table.

Check out pictures of our teams in action!