UC Links at UC Berkeley
Y-PLAN

Program Name:  Y-PLAN (Youth-Plan, Learn, Act, Now)

Location:  Emery Secondary School, 1100 47th Street, Emeryville, CA 94608

Principal Investigator(s):

  • Dean Harrison Fraker, College of Environmental Design
  • Dr. Deborah McKoy, College of Environmental Design

Contact:  Ariel Bierbaum, Project Coordinator, arielb@berkeley.edu

Site Description:

Y-PLAN works with 9th graders at Emery Secondary School in Emeryville two afternoons per week. Undergraduates mentor the youth on questions of community development and urban design, using hands on and computer-based learning activities that involve community mapping, geographic information systems(GIS) technology, and digital storytelling. Students create multimedia proposals that address a local community development issue and present them to a jury of community stakeholders and professionals at City Hall. Undergraduates participate in the program by enrolling in Community Planning 262 that is cross listed with a course in the Graduate School of Education.

Course:  City Planning 262 & Education 191G: Y-PLAN

Participants (based on 2005-06 data): 

  • Approximately 35 9th grade students per academic year
    • 12% Asian, 79% African American, 9% Latino
    • 40% male, 60% female
    • 15% English language learners
  • 2 undergraduates, 6 graduate students per academic year

Collaborators:

  • UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design, Department of City and Regional Planning and the Center for Cities and Schools
  • UC Berkeley Graduate School of Education
  • UC Berkeley Interactive University Project
  • Emery Secondary School in the Emeryville Unified School District
  • Berkeley Alliance, City of Berkeley
  • Education and Youth Services Advisory Committee, City of Emeryville
  • Professional organizations such as the Architectural Foundation of San Francisco, American Institute of Architects (AIA)in San Francisco, San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR), Westside Redevelopment Corporation

Goals:

  • Provide safe and healthy places after school for children to learn and develop a sense of self as participants in a global world
  • Promote academic achievement and encourage low-income youth to pursue paths to higher learning
  • Increase technology literacy
  • Provide mentoring in community development and urban design to build on core subject areas
  • Prepare youth to be agents of change in their communities
  • Improve the quality of graduate and undergraduate education by connecting academic coursework to practicum field experience
  • Encourage undergraduates to explore the possibility of a teaching career in urban, low-income communities

Activities:

  • Hands-on and computer-based learning activities
  • Multimedia projects and juried presentations addressing local community development issues

Evaluation:

  • University of California Student Academic Preparation and Educational Partnerships (SAPEP) Annual Performance Report
  • UC Links Reading Assessment
  • Survey of undergraduate interest in pursuing graduate or professional school studies

Research Focus:

  • Sociocultural approaches to issues in urban planning
  • The effect of non-formal learning environments and computer-based activities on educational achievement
  • Peer and cross-generational interaction in informal learning activities
  • Youth development through community engagement
  • Effect of community engagement on graduate and undergraduate student learning in the field of urban planning