JGFA - News Listing

May 2, 2008

Meet the New Fellows!

Back Row (L to R): Sasha Pippenger, Christina Hisel, Lia Marshall
Front Row (L to R): Olga Medina, Debbie Warshawsky, Elizabeth Kersten

Congratulations to the 2008-2009 Gardner Fellows!

Below is a brief description of this year's Fellows and their interests.

Sasha Pippenger (UC Berkeley)

When the levees gave way and contaminated water drowned the city of New Orleans, Sasha Pippenger put her life on hold in service to the struggling residents of that great American city. As a volunteer for the American Red Cross with advanced training as an emergency medical technician, Sasha entered that world of debris, despair, and death to provide as much as she could for those caught in the throes of dire circumstance. In the four weeks immediately following Katrina Sasha worked around-the-clock to deliver much-needed food and supplies. She also provided a human touch to the relief effort. In her words, "The residents of New Orleans desperately needed food and water, but what they also wanted was the comfort of knowing that somebody out there actually cared about them." Having witnessed the connection between global warming and the magnitude of natural disasters firsthand, Sasha later served as student delegate of the Canadian Youth Delegation to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Bali, Indonesia during the Fall of 2007 (she possesses duel citizenship in the US and Canada). In this capacity, Sasha prepared and presented policy solutions to world leaders to untangle the numerous cross-cutting issues involving human rights, equity, and climate change. Moving forward, Sasha will engage the service world as a Gardner Fellow with the Clinton Global Initiative, the Clinton Hunter Development Initiative, the Gates Foundation, USAID, the Aspen Institute, or the International Rescue Committee.

Christina Hisel (UC Berkeley)

In Christina's case, we've been honing in on foundations active in efforts to alleviate poverty, either domestically, internationally, or both. Fortunately there is no shortage of good organizations dedicated to this cause, and the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations immediately come to mind. Christina's desire to fight poverty is a natural outgrowth of her previous public service experiences addressing challenges related to HIV/AIDS, the status of Liberian refugees in the United States, the crisis in Darfur, the provision of community health care, and the alarming increase in the prevalence of autism among America's youth. Christina's depth of experiences in public service made her a natural choice to serve as Assistant Director of the Cal Corp Public Service Center here on campus, but perhaps her daily efforts one-on-one with an autistic teenager over a three-month period is the most telling aspect of Christina's character. Needless to say, Christina's patience and maturity in this effort speaks volumes about her dedication to others.

Lia Marshall (UC Berkeley)

As founder and director of the Shuar Health Project, Lia Marshall managed a twenty-five member team and a budget of $100,000 over a two-year period to provide safe drinking water to ten Shuar communities in rural Ecuador. After surveying the needs of these communities, Lia and her team undertook the construction and distribution of 120 safe water containers to collect uncontaminated rainwater for drinking and sanitation purposes. Working with the indigenous leaders and earning the trust of the Shuar locals was the first challenge. The next step was to transport massive amounts of water and concrete miles and miles into the dense rainforests of Ecuador before final construction of the tanks could be undertaken by her team of engineers. Lia's innovative approach produced dramatic and positive results that can and hopefully will be replicated by like-minded NGOs, especially considering the lethal threat posed by water-borne diseases; bacterial, viral, and parasitic infections continue to plague these populations. Given this and other experiences, Lia is focused on organizations at the cutting-edge of global health policy and our short-list includes the World Health Organization, the Gates Foundation, the Clinton Global Initiative (a component of the Clinton Foundation), the Center for Disease Control, and Google.org (Google's philanthropic division).

Olga Medina (Stanford, Political Science/CSRE)

Olga’s public service record has focused on the advancement and empowerment of underrepresented communities including experience working on civil rights, immigration, voting, and language access issues. She is interested in expanding immigrant access to and opportunities for effective participation in local communities and our nation as a whole. She hopes to work for an organization committed to advancing comprehensive immigration reform and protecting immigrants’ rights: more specifically, an organization that engages in community-based outreach and advocacy work on behalf of immigrant communities, especially the undocumented population. She would like to work on public policy research, engage in public education efforts in immigrant communities, and participate in legal cases or projects that affect immigrant constituencies and, overall, shape the image and debate surrounding immigration.

Debbie Warshawsky (Stanford, Urban Studies)

Debbie plans to dedicate her life to the fight against urban poverty and inequality in the United States - and the promotion of racial, economic, and political justice. She is interested in a community-based, non-profit placement that works to reduce urban poverty and inequality in the United States in minority-majority neighborhoods. She would also consider working in an urban mayor's office with a mentor focused on these issues. Debbie hopes to gain a better understanding about how to engage in effective community organizing, public-private partnerships, and community-based efforts to reduce poverty in low-income neighborhoods.

Elizabeth Kersten (Stanford, Human Biology)

Elizabeth’s area of interest is global health equity. She has worked throughout her Stanford career with HIV/AIDS, maternal health, and women's health in general and finds all facets of this broad field interesting. She is primarily concerned with the development of sustainable solutions/health systems that bring comprehensive and quality healthcare to resource-poor settings.

November 19, 2007

Fellowship Reunion Scheduled for September 2008

The Second Reunion of the John Gardner Fellowship is now scheduled for September 13-14, 2008, in Monterey, California. We hope you can join us!

You may recall we sent out a survey of Fellowship alumni regarding the upcoming reunion. Eighty-five of you responded, and here is what you told us:

83% of you are very interested or somewhat interested in attending a Gardner reunion
85% of you liked the Bay Area location option, and the majority of you preferred late summer timing.
Your most desired reunion elements are

– A chance to get to know/catch up with other fellows

– Renewal of the public service spirit

– Hearing from mentors/leaders

Many of you said you would be interested in helping to put on the reunion.
You said that location, date, and cost were most likely to determine your attendance.

LOCATION AND DATE:

Based on your feedback and various site availabilities, we’ve reserved space at the Asilomar Conference Center on the Monterey Bay Peninsula, near Pacific Grove California, for Saturday Sept 13, and Sunday September 14, 2008 (one night's stay).

Monterey is 100 miles south of the San Francisco airport (SFO) and 75 miles south of the San Jose airport (SJC). Southwest Airlines serves SJC. Shuttle service is available for approx $35 each way from SFO and SJC.

For more information or to help plan the event, please contact Liz Butler Steyer at lbsteyer@yahoo.com.

November 15, 2007

JGFA Annual Board and Officers Meeting on September 15, 2007

Front Row (L to R): Jenny Lah, Kathleen Abernethy, Jeanne Halleck, Mike Heyman, Joanna Levitt
Middle Row (L to R): Liz Butler Steyer, Jerry Cacciotti
Last Row (L to R): Linda Yeung, Grant Harris, Sean Fox, Carole Vargas, Ellen Dektar, Waseem Noor

On September 15, 2007, the Board and Officers of JGFA gathered in San Francisco for the second annual JGFA Board/ Officers meeting. The session was very productive and set us up well to think about the priorities over the next few years.

There were five areas where we agreed our focus should lie over the next 3-5 year period.

1. Alumni / Current Fellow Mentoring. Team: Grant (group leader), Carole, and Kathleen

2. 2008 JGFA Retreat. Team: Janet (group leader), Liz, Ellen, Carole, Jeanne

3. Networking of JGFA Members. Team: Sean (group leader), Joanna, Jon

4. Treasury & Fundraising. Team: Jerry (group leader), Jenny, Amanda

5. JGFA Program Management. Team: Waseem (group leader), Linda

The groups leaders are responsible for synthesizing the input from the general session for their particular area, and then presenting a timeline of activities to the main group. We will be sending out specific information about the 2008 Retreat in a few weeks.

We are always looking for support and help on these activities, so if you have even an hour a month to spend, let us know and we can get you involved. Or if you would like to donate some funds rather than your time, you can do so easily by clicking on the JGFA button. Thanks!

November 4, 2007

John Gardner Commemorative Stamp Being Considered

The U.S. Postal Service considers issuing stamps that represent our history and culture, and the personalities who have made our country what it is. The name of John W. Gardner looms on the list of distinguished people who may be featured. The JGFA leadership will send a letter on behalf of the group encouraging the Citizen's Stamp Advisory Committee to select John W. Gardner for a commemorative stamp. Any individual letters of support would also be appreciated.

Write to:

Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee
c/o Stamp Development
U.S. Postal Service
1735 North Lynn Street #5013
Arlington, VA 22209-6432

Please feel free to use the text below:

Dear Committee:

I write to endorse the selection of John W. Gardner as a featured distinguished American for a commemorative stamp.

John W. Gardner (1912-2002) is one of America’s most distinguished public servants – educator, author, former presidential cabinet secretary, and founder of important American civic organizations including Common Cause and Independent Sector.

In his later years he served and taught at Stanford University and touched the lives of students, staff, and faculty alike with the message that community service is a great American calling. Gardner was a man deeply committed to promoting civic responsibility and public service. He wrote extensively on the critical need for talented individuals to take up public service positions, believing the future of the nation depends upon our success in establishing a pool of gifted young people who can be persuaded to take personal responsibility for what happens in our society.

For his many accomplishments, he is deserving of a commemorative stamp.

Thank you for your consideration,

September 9, 2007

Megan Swezey Fogarty Named Stanford's Fellowship Administrator

Stanford recently named Megan Swezey Fogarty as the new administrator for the John Gardner Public Service Fellowship. Welcome to the JGFA Community, Megan!

Megan currently serves as Postgraduate & Alumni Programs Director at the Haas Center for Public Service. This includes managing the John Gardner Public Service Fellowship and Tom Ford Fellowship in Philanthropy Programs; overseeing the Partnership for Public Service government leadership and evolving postgraduate initiatives; and expanding the involvement of alumni in Haas Center programs. Most recently, Megan worked as advisor to the Call to Serve initiative to expand government recruitment at Stanford. She also recently worked with the City of Palo Alto City Manager's Office on planning for libraries and a possible pandemic flu and as nonprofits liaison for State Assemblyman Joe Simitian (now State Senator). She continues to host Senator Simitian's government access show, Capitol Focus. Megan has worked for 20 years in non-profit program development and management primarily with organizations focused on involving young people in service learning.

Professional experience includes: City of Palo Alto teen coordinator, Constitutional Rights Foundation project director, Youth Community Service founder, Haas Center for Public Service assistant director, Youth Service California director, and outreach coordinator for the Service Learning 2000 Center in the Stanford School of Education. Megan has also worked as an independent consultant supporting non-profits with event planning, fund development, research and writing. Present and past community involvement includes service with Palo Alto Community Child Care, Adolescent Counseling Services, Palo Alto Community Fund, Leadership Mid-Peninsula, Family Resource Center Implementation Team, City of Palo Alto Comprehensive Plan Committee, Mothers' Symposium, Palo Alto Community Fund, Youth Community Service, Partners in School Innovation, Partners in Education, YWCA of the Midpeninsula, and local youth sports teams, parent associations, and political campaigns, among others. Megan lives with her husband (Mike) and three children (Matt, Molly, and Michaela) in Palo Alto.

June 23, 2007

JGFA Members Participate in Summer Service Events

People's Grocery of West Oakland

JGFA members in two regions – the Bay Area and the Greater DC Metro area – came together in June for service projects. Here are summaries of the events from the organizers, Joanna Levitt (Bay Area) and Brian Bergmark (DC Metro Area). Thanks to Joanna and Brian for taking the lead on these service projects.

The Bay Area Gardner Fellows gathered for a reunion and day of volunteer work together on June 23rd, with Peoples' Grocery of West Oakland. Peoples' Grocery is a local non-profit that promotes community health and food sovereignty through urban agriculture initiatives and farmers markets in underserved neighborhoods of Oakland. (www.peoplesgrocery.org) They also recently opened a plot at Sunol Farm just outside of Oakland. Bay Area Gardner fellows joined staff and volunteers from Peoples' Grocery for a day of planting, mulching and weeding at Sunol Farm. Four fellows participated--Priscilla Olivas, Linda Yeung, Sandy Tesch, and Joanna Levitt. (Many others wanted to participate, but it's a busy time of year, especially for families!) All four fellows brought family and friends, and we ended up with an outstanding group of 14 people of all ages! Peoples' Grocery gave us a warm welcome and shared about their nationally-known work, and each of the fellows shared about where they did their fellowship and what they are up to currently. Friends and family introduced themselves as well. There was great energy among the group, and it was a beautiful day of getting dirt under our nails, (and playing in the mud for participants under 6), reconnecting and meeting new people, all the while surrounded by golden hills and blue sky. A great event, and special thanks to the participants and Peoples Grocery for making it happen.

The Washington DC area Gardner community supported the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life in Fairfax, VA on Saturday, June 23rd. Relay for Life, which was founded in the mid-1980's, is a tremendously successful public service campaign that raised over $375 million in 2006 to support cancer research, prevention, and awareness. Four current and former fellows participated - Felipe Perez '06, Regan Johnson '06, Brian Bergmark '06 and Chanthip Phongkhamsavath '02. The Gardner party helped the Relay organizers prepare for the all night event by greeting and directing Relay participants, making and placing signs, preparing informational materials, et cetera. The Gardner support in the final hours before the event opened was much appreciated, and the perfect weather topped it all off. We followed the service event with lunch at nearby Silver Diner. Four milkshakes and one lively discussion later, we carpooled back to the District fat and fulfilled.