Community engagement despite the limitations: the Mulvaney Center at USD

Forming relationships with those in all communities no matter what the circumstances may be 

Brooke Tooma / Asst. Feature Editor / The USD Vista

The ups and downs of 2020 have not stopped the staff and volunteers at the Mulvaney Center from serving and forming relationships with the communities in San Diego and across American borders.

The mission of the Mulvaney Center at the University of San Diego has grown from its focal point of community service into its spotlight on community engagement. According to Austin Galy, assistant director of Student Leadership and Learning, the center’s goal is to encompass authentic relationship building, work for social change, and understand the systems of injustice when engaging with different individuals across all communities. 

Galy has been with the Mulvaney Center for about four years now and spoke about his specific role.

“Within my role I work with students that are bridges between the USD community and our off-campus partners,” Galy explained. 

The Mulvaney Center was initially a volunteer office in 1986 but it has since transformed into the Center for Community Service Learning. The Karen and Tom Mulvaney Center for Community, Awareness and Social Action finally claimed its title in honor of its donors — Karen and Tom Mulvaney — in the more recent 2000s.

Galy spoke about the extraordinary impact that the Mulvaneys have made on the center itself.

“They are genuinely remarkable people who care and want to make a difference in the world,” Galy said. “They allow students to have these opportunities that otherwise wouldn’t be there.”

With the support from the Mulvaneys, students have the ability to partner and work with communities in local San Diego areas — also known as “anchor neighborhoods” — as well as across the border with partners in Tijuana, Mexico.

Students can potentially be partnered with organizations that align with what they are studying and are passionate about, while building uplifting relationships of trust and respect with people from communities across the map.

Galy went on to explain the intentions of the Mulvaney Center.

“The bread and butter of the work is building trust and capacity,” Galy stated. 

During these unprecedented times, the Mulvaney Center has not stopped working toward a brighter future and a better community as a whole. Although the hands-on experiences that they are used to have been limited, they are still fulfilling their goal of community engagement. 

Galy shared the way that he views the modifications being made at the Mulvaney Center in response to these unanticipated circumstances.

“It’s definitely been what I call, ‘building the airplane as we’re flying it,’ in this remote community engagement realm that we are in,” Galy said.

This semester, they are partnering with five schools in Linda Vista — Kit Carson Elementary School, Linda Vista Elementary School, Montgomery Middle School, San Diego Cooperative Charter School, and Mark Twain High School — and currently have about 45 undergraduate and graduate students that are working remotely with the different K-12 classrooms through Zoom.

Galy mentioned the discussion he had with some of the principals at these schools.

“We are still trying to figure out some of the kinks and how to work through it because it’s just uncharted territory,” Galy explained. “We are trying to bridge those educational equity gaps and keep students at grade level.”

The USD students working with these K-12 classrooms are offering tutoring and mentoring for Title IX programs in the virtual classroom in order to keep students on track at school despite their potential setbacks. Through doing this, USD students are able to ensure that the Title IX federal law — prohibiting discrimination based on sex in educational programs — is followed, while assisting these teachers that are adjusting to a virtual classroom through Zoom.

The Mulvaney Center has also been focusing on the Local Vendors Initiative during this time of uncertainty and economic setback. Through the initiative they help support minority-owned businesses in local communities by connecting them to USD and encouraging different USD departments to visit and support these local vendors.

Galy went into further detail about this Local Vendors Initiative.

“We work with local mom and pop businesses in Linda Vista and elsewhere and we try to connect them to USD,” Galy said. “Rather than saying, ‘I’m gonna go cater from Starbucks,’ why not order from a local coffee vendor so that we can invest that money and help cultivate that sense of community as well?”

Among their other goals for the future, Galy mentioned his excitement in regard to the center’s upcoming plans for students who are part of their Beyond Border’s Team. Maria Silva, Director of Neighborhood and Community Engaged Partnerships, and Jocelyn Olguin, Program Director with the Mulvaney Center, work with undergraduate students serving and engaging on both sides of the U.S. and Mexico border.

Being the closest four-year university to this border, USD is provided with an abundance of potential civic engagement opportunities to cultivate relationships, provoke learning, and assist those in need.

Galy explained his positive outlook on the future of USD and its relationship with those on both sides of the border.

“I think that you will see a lot of growth in that relationship over the next infinite number of years,” Galy said. 

He believes that it is important for everyone to know that the center’s goal is not to solve, modify, or change anything in the communities that they have relationships with. Instead, they strive to form stronger relationships with both the Linda Vista community and the communities across the border through familiarizing themselves with the ancestral knowledge that remains through storytelling, food, culture, and language in an effort to learn and grow together.

Galy shared his outlook on the Mulvaney Center and the engagement that they take part in.

“It’s not as though we have the answers, but rather through community and relationship building, we can really learn from one another,” Galy said.

To learn more about the Mulvaney Center at USD and how to get involved, visit https://www.sandiego.edu/mccasa/.