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. We offer courses in three program areas: 1) Building Capacities for Community Voice, Advocacy and Organizing; 2) Community Voice, Advocacy and Organizing in Practice; and 3) Community-based Action Research. Students can choose courses in any combination of these program areas to complete the CARA Certificate.
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 14 credits. Students should notify the CARA program director 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.
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 2023-24
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.
OAKS 26 Navigating The University From A Black Critical Lens, 2 credits
OAKS 46 Multiracial Visibility Project, 5 credits, ER
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, PR-C
OAKS 73B Mentoring, 2 credits, PR-S
OAKS 76 Social Geography & Justice in Santa Cruz, 5 credits, PR-S
OAKS 80H Rainbow Theater, 5 credits
OAKS 130 Writing Resistance: Creative Writing Workshop, 5 credits, PR-S
OAKS 151A and OAKS 151B Corre la Voz: Community Literacies, 5 credits total (2 credits for A, 3 credits for B; 151B may be re-taken for credit), 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
OAKS 167 Food Systems: Culture, SJ, Sustainability, 5 credits, PR-S
OAKS 185 Tracing Health, 5 credits, PE-H
OAKS 188A and OAKS 188B Intro to the Legal Profession and Legal Aid, 5 credits total (2 credits for A, 3 credits for B; 188B may be re-taken for credit), PR-S
OAKS 189 Building Websites For Social Justice, 2 credits, PR-S