Community Fundraiser Sponsored Two Student Externships in Santa Ana

Thanks to the generous donations of community members, UCI's Global Sustainability Resource Center was able to sponsor two student externships with the Santa Ana Building Healthy Communities project (SABHC) through funds raised during the i❤oc Giving Day.

The students will work with the SABHC Food Justice Workgroup in support of their goal of realizing systemic changes that provide accessible, healthy food for the residents of Santa Ana regardless of socioeconomic status through the creation of increased community urban agricultural opportunities and policy changes.

Student Externships

The purpose of the externships is to cultivate a meaningful collaboration and learning experience in deep democracy and sustainability for the two UCI students in the context of SABHC’s work in the Santa Ana community. Find about each student below and how they plan to contribute to SABHC's work in Santa Ana

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Emanuel Preciado
Manny is a student fellow with the UC Global Food Initiative, focused on UCI's Garden Project. He is a first-year Master’s student in urban and regional planning with a focus in environmental policy. As an urban planner, he wants to utilize urban farming as a means to help revitalize communities, provide communities healthy food at a low cost, assist communities to reconnect with nature, and create spaces that communities can be proud of and participate in. He is especially interested in trans-border collaboration between San Diego County and Baja, Mexico. One of his goals as an urban planner is to implement urban gardening as a tool to help build sustainable communities, particularly in low-income areas.

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Yoselin Gutierrez
Yoselin is a graduate of the Campus as a Living Lab Internship program where she learned to grow food and community through the UCI Garden Project. She is a fourth-year anthropology major with a passion for sustainability and preserving the environment. She hopes to implement ecologically-friendly policies in communities where it is not the top priority by understanding the people who live there and adjusting environmental education to fit the needs of the community. She is passionate about food justice in disadvantaged communities. She one day hopes to help eliminate the food deserts in both urban and rural areas. Her vision is to help communities cut their dependence on industrial agriculture and empower them to take control of their food systems.

About the Santa Ana Building Healthy Communities Project 

SABHC is a ten-year initiative committed to addressing health inequities and improving opportunities to create a healthy, thriving Santa Ana. SABHC understands that health is directly shaped by the circumstances in which people are born, raised, live, and work. Improving these circumstances is a collective responsibility and one that must be led by those directly affected. SABHC is located in Santa Ana and is an initiative of the California Endowment.

>> Find out more

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The Sustainability Initiative supports community-engaged sustainability scholarship at UC Irvine. We empower students, faculty, staff, and community partners with the skills, tools, and relationships needed to lead the sustainability shift at UC Irvine and beyond.

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