In an attempt to break the Mills bubble and increase campus involvement in Oakland, the Center for Urban Schools and Partnerships, founded at Mills last fall, will be holding a community action fair on Sept 6.
The fair will be the center’s first initiative this fall to bring together Mills and local organizations in an effort to promote a sustainable partnership of Mills students, faculty and staff and the wider Oakland community, said Ingrid Seyer-Ochi, the
center’s director.
“Mills has been doing a lot of this work already,” Seyer-Ochi said. “But it hasn’t always been integrated. We want to make this more sustained.”
The fair on Thursday will host a number of Oakland organizations, including the Alameda County Food Bank and the Bay Area Girls Rock Camp.
The hope is that students at Mills will learn about the ways they can get involved with the surrounding community, Seyer-Ochi said.
In addition to the community action fair, which Seyer-Ochi said will be hosted again throughout the year, the center will be showing a weekly film screenings at Founders Commons. The films will focus on social justice issues around the bay Area.
“We want to put our roots down more into the Mills community,” Seyer-Ochi said. “We want first-years and other students to be excited about being at Mills and about being in Oakland.”
