Recent Clinton School graduates Britney Sink and Dylan Perry are leading a workshop to expose Central Arkansas children to food activities as part of a public service commitment they made at the Clinton Global Initiative University conference.

Sink and Perry put together the press release below about the May 25 event, which will be at the new Central Arkansas Library System Children’s Library and Learning Center.

May 25 Workshop to Introduce Kids to Food Crafts

Little Rock, Ark. (May 15, 2013) – Home Grown is a hands-on workshop exposing children to fun food activities that can be done at home to promote healthy, sustainable lifestyles. The event will be held Saturday, May 25 from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) Children’s Library and Learning Center, 4800 W. 10th Street in Little Rock.

University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service students Britney Sink and Dylan Perry are working with farmers, cooks and enthusiasts to develop an engaging atmosphere to learn about many activities that can be done at home. All are welcome to attend at any time throughout the event. Home Grown hopes to promote healthy individuals, families and communities by introducing young people to concepts of homesteading, “do it yourself-ism,” and food choices in a fun and engaging way.  (more…)

Ford

Clinton School student Kelly Ford (’13) partnered with Just Communities of Arkansas (JCA) to create a writing workshop for middle school youth that the local nonprofit will include in its diversity training for young people.

The project, titled “In Our Own Voices” uses personal writing exercises as a way to honor a student for who they are. Through the writing and sharing of the students’ words, the workshop encourages youth to respect their heritage and the heritage of others.

“We are excited to facilitate the workshop for the first time this summer at the Central Arkansas Library System’s new Children’s Library,” said Ruth Shepherd, executive director of JCA. “So much of the work we do is fostering conversation and ensuring that all voices are heard. We believe that this workshop is another powerful tool for helping young people have that conversation and for enhancing their self-esteem and acceptance of others.”

Ford researched similar programs across the country and interviewed numerous writing professionals, educators and social justice advocates before developing the 10-module curriculum. Each module includes sample work and a facilitator’s guide. The modules can be used together or individually.

The workshop was piloted with approximately 100 students at eStem Public Charter School this spring. Ford has identified other potential community partners that might host JCA and the new curriculum, and JCA plans to share “In Our Own Voices” with its national affiliate organizations for their use as well. (more…)

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel speaks at Clinton School commencement.

LITTLE ROCK – Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel delivered the commencement address today to the graduating class from the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service, telling the graduates to “make change your ally not enemy.”

Citing the legacy of President Bill Clinton, who built a covenant that “avoided the battles of the left and right by building a bridge beyond them,” Emanuel told the graduates to embrace Clinton’s best quality of learning more from their setbacks rather than successes in life.

Today, the Clinton legacy “becomes a part of your own,” Emanuel said.

The 34 graduates are the seventh class to graduate from the unique Master of Public Service degree program. The graduates represent 14 states and four countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Portugal and Thailand.

The students came to the school with a variety of public service backgrounds including those who have served in AmeriCorps, Peace Corps, City Year and Teach for America. Members of the class have led voter registration drives, volunteered with the Red Cross in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and promoted sustainable business practices, among other service activities.

During the past two years in the program, the graduates have completed a 36-hour curriculum, including three field service projects: the team-based Practicum, the International Public Service Project and the Capstone.

Beginning in the fall of 2011, the students completed year-long team projects with 10 Arkansas-based government and non-government organizations such as, Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, Governor Mike Beebe’s No Kid Hungry Campaign, the Arkansas Women’s Foundation and the UAMS Center for Rural Health.

During the summer of 2012, the students completed projects in 21 countries on five continents. They partnered with government and nongovernment organizations to complete projects related to social justice, human rights, education, economic development and health improvement, among other causes.

They will partner with organizations such as the Desmond Tutu Peace Center, Heifer International, Room to Read, Vital Voices Global Partnership and the World Bank.

To finish the program, the students have worked on a final Capstone Project, which requires them to partner with an organization and dedicate 250 hours to a project of their choosing. This year, students completed Capstones with organizations such as the Walmart Foundation, the Mongolian Government General Authority for State Registration, Hope North Uganda and HIPPY Canada, among others.

The graduates also benefited from participating in the Clinton School Speaker Series, which hosted more than 130 lectures during their two years in the program.

Speakers who visited during the past two years include former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Attorney General Eric Holder, Senator John McCain, former White House Chief of Staff Thomas F. McLarty, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, Representative Nancy Pelosi, former U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens and former EPA administrator Christine Todd Whitman. (more…)

Clinton School students who are graduating Saturday were the first to receive a preview hard-hat tour of the school’s new top floor space in the Arcade Building under construction next to the River Market campus.

The new facility will house a start-of-the-art distance learning classroom and a large multi-purpose room. The building will also have a 300 seat theater which the Clinton School can use for public programs.

Joining the students on the tour were Registrar Jeanne Busbea, who will manage the Clinton School Arcade Building Space; Nikolai DiPippa, director of public programs, Associate Dean Susan Hoffpauir and Dean Skip Rutherford.

Flanagan

The Boston Globe reports today that a team of University of Arkansas graduate students, including Clinton School student Trish Flanagan, has won the MIT Clean Energy Prize for creating a technology to improve the efficiency of solar panels.

Flanagan, a concurrent student at the Clinton School and the Sam M. Walton College of Business, is president of Picasolar, the team that took home a $150,000 prize and an additional $100,000 from the Department of Energy. Here’s more from the Globe:

Picasolar, a start-up from the University of Arkansas, on Monday won the MIT Clean Energy Prize for developing a technology that could improve the efficiency of solar panels and make them cheaper to produce, said the Boston utility NStar, one of the annual competition’s sponsors.

Roughly 56 teams from 38 schools entered the national competition, which was founded in 2008 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Department of Energy, and NStar to promote the development of alternative energy and energy efficiency technologies. The Picasolar team beat more than a dozen other semifinalists for the top prize of $150,000. Picasolar won an additional $100,000 from the Department of Energy.

Trish Flanagan, president of Picasolar and a University of Arkansas graduate student, said the company’s technology fixes electron-absorbing flaws in the surfaces of silicon solar cells, helping to make the solar panel components about 15 percent more efficient, while also decreasing their cost. The technology was invented by Picasolar’s chief technology officer, Seth Shumate, also an Arkansas graduate student.

“This has been a really fun competition for us, and we’ve made some extraordinary contacts,” Flanagan said.

Recent news reports suggest that the economic recession may have hurt some groups more than others, particularly African Americans and Latinos. The findings from a poll conducted by two University of Arkansas System entities indicate that while unemployment rates are substantial among African Americans and Latinos, these groups still have surprisingly optimistic views of their economic future.

On the heels of the 2012 presidential election, the Diane D. Blair Center of Southern Politics and Society in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas and the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service partnered to conduct a comprehensive online national poll of political attitudes and behaviors.

Todd Shields, director of the Blair Center, addressed questions of economic and political attitudes across race and region in the latest analysis of results from the Blair Center-Clinton School Poll. His report, “Economy Across Race and Region: Unemployment fails to dampen positive outlook among African Americans and Latinos” was released today and may be found at the poll’s website.

The poll’s data shows that while African Americans in the South have been hit hardest by economic factors since the recession, they are by far the most positive group when compared to southern whites, non-southern whites and non-southern African Americans. Conversely, whites in the South, who have been hurt least by the economic downturn, are the least optimistic of the four groups.

“These findings challenge long-held assumptions about the impact of the economy on political attitudes and behaviors and may require scholars and political strategists to reconsider previous approaches during future elections,” said Shields. “The findings also suggest that regional differences between and across racial groups continue to be an important reality of contemporary American politics. Despite claims that the South is no longer distinct, there remain substantial differences in the effects and perceptions of the negative economy.”

The 2012 Blair Center-Clinton School Poll oversampled participants from the southern region of the United States, as well as oversampling African Americans and Latinos, providing unique perspectives on contemporary politics. With more than 3,600 respondents from across the nation, the poll provides a comprehensive and uniquely accurate perspective on how the country evaluates public figures and current public policies – and how these evaluations vary across race and geographic region. This is the second national poll conducted by the Blair Center. Following the 2010 midterm elections, the Blair Center also conducted a national survey with oversamples of African Americans and Latinos, giving researchers the ability to compare attitudes across time. (more…)

Clinton School students today participated in a live webcast of the first in a series of lectures delivered by President Clinton at Georgetown University.

The former president is lecturing at the university about the people and events that shaped his life and career in public service. Clinton School students watched the lecture via webcast and submitted questions online during the Q&A. Here’s more details from Georgetown:

APRIL 30, 2013 – Former President Bill Clinton (F’68) today gave the first in a series of lectures AT GEORGETOWN that explore the people, events, lessons and guiding principles that have shaped his career in public service.

The lectures examine the framework for a lifetime spent championing an idea espoused by his Georgetown professor Carroll Quigley: that America is the greatest nation in history because our people have always believed in two things – that tomorrow can be better than today and that every one of us has a personal, moral responsibility to make it so.

This four-lecture series will take place over a number of years. The lectures will be webcast live.

This is the second time Clinton has given a series of talks at Georgetown. In 1991, as the governor of Arkansas and Democratic candidate for president, he presented three “New Covenant” speeches to students on Responsibility and Rebuilding the American Community, Economic Change and American Security. These speeches, like the new lecture series, took place in Georgetown’s historic Gaston Hall.

Underwood

Clinton School student Jillian Underwood (’13) partnered with the ACLU of Arkansas to develop a report on the status of immigrants in Arkansas in light of current immigration programs, policies, and police practices.

Underwood’s report concluded that law enforcement agencies across the nation are spending limited resources addressing minor, non-violent crimes committed by those perceived as immigrants resulting in an increased fear of law enforcement within immigrant communities. Because of this, members of immigrant communities are less likely to report crime, or seek help for domestic violence issues, she concluded.

Underwood reviewed secondary data of up-to-date reports about immigration enforcement programs and policies, conducted interviews with community advocates, activists and attorneys who work with immigrants and related issues across Arkansas, and analyzed quantitative data of traffic stops and other police records.

The primary purpose of the report is to raise awareness of the differential treatment immigrants receive in some law enforcement jurisdictions in Arkansas, the impact of anti-immigrant programs and the rights of immigrants. (more…)

Milligan

Clinton School student Katie Milligan (’13) partnered with the Junior League of Little Rock to develop a curriculum and guide for a course to create active, effective and knowledgeable nonprofit board members.

Milligan researched several other similar national programs and spoke with nonprofit organizations and possible participants to identify the themes and course subjects that would be the most valuable to educate interested individuals on nonprofit boards of directors. These themes were used to inform the development of course materials and appropriateness for the Little Rock area.

The Junior League of Little Rock plans to implement this course based on the recommendations and curriculum guide developed by Milligan. The vision of the program is to enhance, diversify and educate the pool of qualified applicants for nonprofit boards of directors in Central Arkansas. The program will be open to any interested community members.

“Surveying nonprofits both formally and casually it is apparent that there is a need for greater diversity of age, gender and experience on nonprofit Boards,” said Maggie Young, president of the Junior League. “We hope to offer a unique training opportunity for all interested citizens to better prepare themselves to serve in community leadership roles such as a board of directors position. We know that the greatest positive community impact will be made when all interested citizens have the necessary skill set to create such change.”  (more…)