The community empowerment activist
program is a special program as part of
the McCarthy Center at USF where we work
with students who have committed their
lives to fight against oppression and
lift people who've been neglected
isolated and forgotten. What makes this
program so unique is that it's a
reciprocal exchange of what we study in
the classroom from revolutionary
thinkers and doers to what we gain on
the frontlines working alongside our
community partners for people power
change. Students learn how to mobilize
and organize working alongside their
host organizations, folks who are doing
the work fighting for housing labor
immigration environmental racial and
economic justice.
The fundamental values of the community
empowerment activist program, which
remain the building blocks of how we
rise and evolve our building kinship,
walking in humility honoring community
and love. At the start of the class we
check in with each other about our highs
and lows, our promises to self and each
other for radical self-love, seeing how
we could lift and support one another. We
end class and a prayerful gratitude
reflecting on our time together and the
intentions we hope to seek out. It's a
safe and trusting space where our voices
matter and we honor our power while
working learning and building with each
other. But in the good and trying times
we remember why we made this commitment
to being justice warriors and how we
have a collective community that cares
extends beyond the classroom. We
celebrate each other,
embracing our lived experiences, passions,
and culture, and through that we became a
family and will continue to hold each
other in that light no matter where
space or time takes us.
[Music]