At UC Berkeley and college campuses across the country, students lack the necessary administrative support and peer collaboration to achieve widespread success in increasing voter turnout and civic engagement. The mission of The UC Berkeley Democracy Initiative is to develop a campus-wide coalition of students, staff, and faculty representing our campus's diverse voices and identities and unite them in biweekly meetings focused on developing programs and media that reach all audiences. Institutionalized through the Associated Students of the University of California Vote Coalition and Berkeley Public Service Center, this Democracy Initiative Committee will become the leader of civic engagement on campus and will help achieve the initiative's goals. The UC Berkeley Democracy Initiative's abridged goals are to create community and communication among civic organizations, organize annual Democracy Days on Election Days, and help fund student civic engagement activities campus-wide. Committee members will be expected to attend weekly, or biweekly meetings depending on the season, share information to and from the communities they represent, and host at least one event on or in the lead-up to Democracy Day in order to properly incorporate the Democracy Initiative on campus. Through sustained outreach, external grants, and intended expansion across the UC system, The UC Berkeley Democracy Initiative will continue to thrive for years to come.

The Kunas are Indigenous people who live in numerous autonomous reservations in Panama and Colombia. Cativa, Panama is one location of the several communities where the Kunas live, and unfortunately, the girls and women in the community face high rates of teen pregnancies, school dropouts, and lack of financial means. Fundación Grandes Sueños (Big Dreams Foundation) began in 2019 to work with 20 at-risk girls of ages 11-17 who live in circumstances of education and social vulnerability. The project first started as a tutoring program that was tailored to each girl’s needs based solely on academic goals. Today, the project has grown into working not only on academic purposes but also on important life skills that can be used both inside and outside the classroom, now serving more than 50 girls as well as their parents, learning together how to manage and run a self-sufficient business. Now, we want to focus more on working with the parents of these girls to create a holistic community of support, communication, and awareness through a school for parents. There is definitely no manual on how to be a parent, and we recognize that the resources on parenthood are usually only accessible to the more privileged individuals. Therefore, we want to implement a series of year-long courses for 50-100 parents regarding sexual and reproductive health, LGBTQ+ awareness, skills to enhance communication, approaches to break sexist patterns, prevention of verbal, physical, and/or sexual abuse, skills for money management, and steps for parents to learn how to seek employment in their community.

I founded Bits N’ Bytes Cybersecurity Education Corp. (BNBCE) a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that is dedicated to educating and equipping all vulnerable populations with the cybersecurity personal risk mitigation skills needed for the future of technology. Since its founding in 2016, BNBCE has educated 20,000+ students across the United States and the world in topics including password protection, encryption, data privacy, email safety, and more. This proposed project is a grassroots effort to transform our pilot project in India (impacting 3 schools and 200 students) into repeatable, sustainable programs in India that empower students to adopt security-based approaches every day. We have identified multiple regions with high potential and high interest in adopting increased K-12 curriculum: Tamil Nadu (Chennai, Thoothukudi), Mumbai, and Kerala. India also presents of immense geostrategic importance to the United States, and the United States has proven to be a key partner to this region in supporting regional stability, promoting energy security, and enhancing economic prosperity in the region. Increasing diplomatic engagement in the region will proactively empower a “human firewall,” and strengthen the sovereignty of these regions in achieving economic independence in cyber.

Inadequate access to digital health information systems, and use thereof, poses a significant barrier to improving healthcare outcomes and quality of care in the developing world. Specifically, physicians in the developing setting face significant barriers in implementing Electronic Medical Record (EMR) systems, which store pertinent patient health data, primarily due to lack of technology resources, difficulties in ease of use for current EMR software design, and more. In addition to the design problem, advocation for implementation of EMR systems in the developing world remains limited. In this project, I plan to partner with the Loloma Foundation, which provides free medical and dental services to patients in Fiji and the Solomon Islands. Specifically, I will work with physicians at the Loloma Foundation's central hospital in Taveuni Island to learn their biggest needs in EMR implementation and test a working prototype. Thus, the goal of this project is two-fold. First, I will work to design an open-sourced EMR system that is suitable for the developing healthcare setting, specifically for the physicians working at the central hospital in Taveuni. Secondly, I hope to create video media in order to advocate for the benefits of EMR systems, especially for increased implementation in the developing healthcare setting. In all, I hope to improve and expand on current healthcare information systems in the developing world, which can have a dramatic impact on improving patient outcomes and quality of care.

Every 66 seconds, someone is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease, a terrible neurodegenerative disease

that shatters the lives of diagnosed persons and their loved ones. Estimates claim that there will be nearly

500,000 new cases this year alone. Alzheimer’s cannot be prevented, cured, or slowed, making it one of

the top ten causes of death in America that only continues to grow. In Orange County, Alzheimer’s poses

an even larger threat as the 3rd leading cause of death, showing a much higher Alzheimer’s rate relative to

the nation. Although Alzheimer’s cannot be treated, I intend to ease the growing Alzheimer’s epidemic

through the novel usage of virtual reality technology to improve quality of life. By taking advantage of

the benefits specific to VR and collaborating with local clinics and senior centers, my plan is to

transform traditional treatment and education. This program will provide alternative treatment and

screening that is safer, more accessible, and more stimulating than traditional care, which will increase

early detection and quality of life. By implementing VR into education as well, my project will also

improve understanding of Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases with the hopes of improving

quality of care and empathy.

The Nature’s Senses project aims to build and establish a maintenance plan for a community sensory garden in Jericho, Palestine. With the assistance of Kathryn Payne-Gray, Director of the Stanford Learning Lab, the garden will be designed to provide sensory integration therapy for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The scientific literature surrounding the benefits of sensory gardens for the social, emotional, and cognitive development of all children is vast and robust. This project will collaborate with the municipality of Jericho, which has allocated a plot for the garden’s assembly. Another community partner is the Palestinian Happy Child Centre (PHCC), a non-profit organization based in Ramallah, Palestine, that offers educational services to children with ASD. The PHCC has agreed to provide volunteers for the garden’s proposed construction in December of 2023. Access to resources such as sensory gardens are among the most disproportionately distributed along the socioeconomic gradient. The Nature’s Senses project will be the first of its kind in the region and provide a long-term community resource accessible to all.  

SketchNF is dedicated to raising funds and creating a network for pediatric NF patients one sketch at a time. Our mission is to empower children with NF by allowing them to share their stories and hopes through the form of art. By auctioning off these original drawings, we hope to raise money for NF research and organizations such as NF Network in pursuit of a cure.  We also envision that every person who purchases a drawing will feel a personal connection with that child, knowing that their donation has given back directly to the effort of changing their life. As our community grows, not only will the number of youth empowered by SketchNF increase, but greater NF awareness can be spread. 

As each child’s unique story is shared through art, we hope that people can better understand the impact NF has on each of their precious lives.

We are members of Imani Clinic, a student-run UC Davis Medical Center clinic, which aims to
service the most disadvantaged populations of the larger Oak Park, Sacramento area. Since its
inception in 1994 to, Imani Clinic continues to provide preventative and episodic primary care, health
education, mentorship, and specialty care. Oak Park, as a historically redlined community, is an area
with limited access to affordable nutritious foods, a poor emphasis on preventative care, and a high
proportion of working poor, unemployed, and uninsured individuals. Recently, we have seen a
troubling increase in patients experiencing heart conditions. Hypertension (HTN) is the most
frequently diagnosed, with estimates suggesting that 50% of both our 250 annual patients as well as
the community experience, representing a marked increase from 2019, in which prevalence of
hypertension in the community was around 31-39%. Despite the prevalence of hypertension: lack of
awareness, appropriate follow-up, and treatment options are still common barriers to optimal blood
pressure (BP) control. This is exacerbated by the presentation of hypertension alongside many other
conditions, including diabetes, mental health issues. As such we present a new program, titled the
Comorbidity Management Program at Imani, C.M.P.I, which aims to assess and address the barriers
patients face in fully managing their various conditions. This program will be conceived at the Imani
clinic, with the intended goal of expanding to other UC Davis Health run clinics. Through this
initiative, we hope to fully acknowledge the intricacies and multifactorial nature of comorbidities, in
order to provide culturally and racially sensitive care.

We are members of Imani Clinic, a student-run UC Davis Medical Center clinic, which aims to
service the most disadvantaged populations of the larger Oak Park, Sacramento area. Since its
inception in 1994 to, Imani Clinic continues to provide preventative and episodic primary care, health
education, mentorship, and specialty care. Oak Park, as a historically redlined community, is an area
with limited access to affordable nutritious foods, a poor emphasis on preventative care, and a high
proportion of working poor, unemployed, and uninsured individuals. Recently, we have seen a
troubling increase in patients experiencing heart conditions. Hypertension (HTN) is the most
frequently diagnosed, with estimates suggesting that 50% of both our 250 annual patients as well as
the community experience, representing a marked increase from 2019, in which prevalence of
hypertension in the community was around 31-39%. Despite the prevalence of hypertension: lack of
awareness, appropriate follow-up, and treatment options are still common barriers to optimal blood
pressure (BP) control. This is exacerbated by the presentation of hypertension alongside many other
conditions, including diabetes, mental health issues. As such we present a new program, titled the
Comorbidity Management Program at Imani, C.M.P.I, which aims to assess and address the barriers
patients face in fully managing their various conditions. This program will be conceived at the Imani
clinic, with the intended goal of expanding to other UC Davis Health run clinics. Through this
initiative, we hope to fully acknowledge the intricacies and multifactorial nature of comorbidities, in
order to provide culturally and racially sensitive care.

The mission behind Facilitating Creative Healing for Forgotten Families is to address the issue of strained parental relationships of those populations that face incarceration firsthand. With an intentional focus on familial relationships, this program seeks to facilitate visual arts classes in person, with both child and mother, so that all parties are receiving the maximum benefits that come from healing arts. The California Institution for Women (CIW) is an ideal location to begin this project as data shows that three out of five women in federal prisons are mothers to minor children. In partnership with the Prison Arts Collective (PAC), this project will expand on the current programming that the CSUF branch of PAC has been facilitating over the past several semesters. Considering that most incarcerated mothers and children have been repeatedly traumatized through criminal activity and the resulting consequences, they stand to benefit from the type of healing arts classes that this project aims to provide. Many incarcerated people are non-violent, and a significant population also suffer from substance abuse or psychological disorders. Because of this, arrests and sentencing can often increase the inner conflict that these people may already be struggling with. As an added consequence, many children are placed in unfavorable living situations after their parents are taken away from their homes. The process of corresponding with inmates makes it exceedingly difficult for children to maintain frequent contact, especially if they are poor, or in a household that has strong feelings against the incarcerated parent. Since nearly half of the people incarcerated in the United States are parents, there is a significant population of youth that are at risk for numerous life debilitating issues as they grow older. As the social issue of mass incarceration continues to escalate, it becomes clear that there is a need for more programs focused on rehabilitation and personal growth. Once implemented, this program can be replicated and applied to prisons across the nation in order to make a positive impact on the larger, long-term social issues that stem from incarceration and ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences). This proposed project, Facilitating Creative Healing for Forgotten Families seeks to create a safe environment for these families to engage with visual art activities and learn meditation practices to develop healthier coping strategies that can help contribute to lower rates of recidivism and traumatization.