Though the CSUN Northridge campus was quiet weeks into summer break, the halls of Jerome Ritchfield Hall were buzzing with K-12 students, families, and educators bustling to their next class.

This year was the third annual Community Action Research Program (CARP) — a weeklong summer training on how to conduct community-based participatory research and develop action plans to address critical issues impacting school communities.

CARP was established in 2022 in partnership with Reclaim Our Schools LA, Asian Youth Center, Urban Visionaries, and UTLA to develop student, parent, and educator leadership — especially at Community Schools, Black Student Achievement Plan schools, and schools with Dream Centers to support undocumented students. This year, nearly 200 people participated from 27 schools.

Participants worked in school teams to develop an asset and needs assessments of their school community and a follow-up plan to address their identified issue. 

Kindergarten through grade 5 students focused on environmental issues. They also learned about worker solidarity, role playing as grocery workers taking collective action against a greedy boss.

In Organizing 101, grade 6-12 students learned how to develop a campaign strategy from start to finish. Some former CARP students, like Maya Flores, even returned to help teach.

“I was a student of CARP about three years ago,” said Flores. “Now I teach the younger generation so that they themselves can solve the problems in their school and become more active.”

Maya Flores

Parents, caregivers, and educators learned how to become active in their school’s Local School Leadership Council (LSLC) to address issues impacting their school community.

LaQuica Hawkins is the Community Representative for 74th Street Elementary School.

“I decided to participate in CARP 2024 because I wanted to be able to bring back more information for our families and to better empower them,” said Hawkins. “Also, I wanted to understand how to conduct research in order to better situations at our school and our community.”

LaQuica Hawkins

Many school teams chose to focus their research projects on expanding their Dream Centers and improving school safety through Safe Passage programs. The teams they formed will bring their priorities back to their school leadership councils this year and work on integrating them into the school culture.