P.O. Box 7932, Santa Cruz, California 95061

Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization

P.O. Box 7932, Santa Cruz, California 95061

PLATO Philosophy Fund Application

Thank you for Applying!

Project Title: UCSC Philosophy Outreach______

Dates for Project: June 2017 – June 2018______

Amount of Funding Requested: $4200______

1. Please describe the project, including any work that has already been done to develop it. (500 words max)

The UCSC Department of Philosophy and Center for Public Philosophy support a variety of philosophy outreach programs. Some are funded, but many of them function on a volunteer basis. This application is in support of two volunteer-only programs that I lead, an ethics course taught in the Santa Cruz County Jail CODE 4 unit, and an elementary school philosophy program taught at two public city schools (Westlake Elementary School and Monarch Elementary School). I am seeking funding to reimburse volunteers for their time spent preparing for and teaching in these programs. I am seeking short-term funding that will allow us tobuild these programs in to ones that will be able to secure long-term, stable funding. I have had success with similar fundraising models in the past. For example, I turned short term grants from the UCSC Board and Squire Family Foundation into a successful Ethics Bowl Program that has raised more than $30,000 for this year’s events.

We have been teaching an ethics course in the CODE 4 program since Winter, 2016. I taught the first such course, then I supervised a graduate student who had received a summer research stipend to write about the program for the second course. This fall, a former graduate student taught the course on a volunteer basis. I plan to teach it again this spring on a volunteer basis. I hope to recruit graduate students to continue teaching the CODE 4 program, but this is only possible if I can reimburse them for their time. At UC Santa Cruz, many graduate students must work extra jobs in order to live in our expensive housing market, and they are unable to take on these extra commitments without financial support.

Our elementary school program started in winter 2017 at two local public schools, Westlake Elementary and Monarch Elementary. I will be teaching a weekly after school philosophy program to 4th and 5th graders at Westlake Elementary. A former graduate student is teaching a program at Monarch Elementary on a weekly basis, where she works in a 3rd and 4th grade classroom. These are the first philosophy programs we have run in elementary schools here in Santa Cruz. We hope to continue both indefinitely and develop them into different models we can offer to other public schools in the Santa Cruz area.

2. What is the purpose of this project? (500 words max)

The purpose of this project is to introduce philosophical practice into communities where it is usually inaccessible. Since this project covers two very different communities, I will describe each separately.

CODE 4 is a group of inmates at the Santa Cruz County Jail who opt to live in a designated cell block together and participate in a full, weekly schedule of programming for self-improvement and anti-recidivism. The programming reflects a schedule and commitment roughly similar to a high school block schedule, and the students live together full time. Each CODE 4 group is together for 13-15 weeks, and inmates can participate in the group more than once. Since Spring of 2016, I have been supervising a weekly applied ethics course for each CODE 4 group. The content is modeled on the materials generated for the High School Ethics Bowl. We use cases from the Ethics Bowl as prompts to teach the students about moral philosophy, argument, and informal logic. We also use the class as a mechanism for teaching them the norms of philosophical dialogue, discussion, and debate. We chose the cases most interesting to the students, and we are able to use media and materials that fit their daily lives. For example, when we discussed environmental ethics by debating the merits of Sea Shepherd’s anti-whaling tactics, the students were able to watch entire seasons of Whale Wars before our discussion. They have nothing if not time.

Our elementary program currently runs in two local public elementary schools.

Westlake Elementary is a large (630 students), neighborhood elementary school situated next to UC Santa Cruz. Westlake provides a variety of after school activities for students, but they are generally focused on athletics and STEM topics (and one guitar class). We are trying to provide a serious humanities option for students.

Monarch Elementary is a small (about 100 students), alternative elementary school that emphasizes parent involvement and already uses a variety of inquiry based practices in its classrooms (when I first met the Principal, I was surprised to see Matthew Lipman’s book on her shelf!). At Monarch, we are trying to provide philosophical expertise within the classroom by running weekly philosophy for children activities with a group of 3rd and 4th graders.

3. Who will benefit from the project, and how? (500 words max)

CODE 4 inmates are a diverse group. They range from men who dropped out of middle or high school to those with college degrees. A large proportion of them (90% or more) suffered from substance abuse problems prior to incarceration. They are generally in CODE 4 because they want to take classes while incarcerated but they are not eligible to be transferred to the general population at the Watsonville Rountree Detention Center nearby, where more extensive programming options are available. This is usually because of gang affiliation or the nature of their crime (for example, if it involves sexual misconduct of some form).All CODE 4 participants must complete an application process, and anecdotally I can say that all I have worked with are very enthusiastic to be able to participate in this program.

We have seen profound anecdotal benefits from this work. In addition to all the ways that philosophy instruction and discussion strengthens the inmates’ critical thinking and academic abilities, the dignity of engaging in theoretical discussion in the midst of a maximum security jail can be transformative. Their programming is generally focused on self-improvement themes, like cognitive behavioral therapy, substance abuse management, mindfulness training, and the like. Ours is the only program where they get to engage in serious, critical reflection on ethical issues that ordinary citizens regularly debate. In addition, all of the instructors in this program have been profoundly changed, in their sense of what philosophy can be, who can do it, and what it means to be an inmate in our culture. The program has garnered wide approval and excitement from a wide range of stakeholders in Santa Cruz, from the corrections deputies who work in CODE 4 all the way up to the Mayor.

The elementary students at Westlake come from the upper Westside of Santa Cruz. A large proportion of the student body are the children of UC Santa Cruz faculty, staff, and students. The population therefore largely reflects the community at UCSC – they are diverse, particularly internationally diverse, and largely privileged children. Monarch Elementary is a small, alternative elementary school created by parents who wanted a non-standard public education for their children. The main component that distinguishes Monarch from other public elementary schools in Santa Cruz is parent involvement. All Monarch parents serve in some official volunteer role for the school. Admission to Monarch is by lottery, and itgenerally draws a more socioeconomically diverse group of children then Westlake.

We are not breaking new theoretical ground in this program, and the benefits of philosophy for children programs are well-known to the granting board. Our goal with this program is to extend these well-known benefits to the Santa Cruz community.

4. What is the plan for developing and implementing the project? Include a timeline.

This application supports ongoing volunteer programs. The CODE 4 program runs quarterly year-round, and we have been providing ethics programming since Winter 2016. We are applying for funding for four CODE 4 classes: Summer 2017, Fall 2017, Winter 2018, and Spring 2018.

The elementary school programs operate on a normal public school calendar.

The Westlake program runs on a 10-week after school curriculum model, and we plan to run one iteration during the fall of 2017, one during the spring of 2018. We are applying for funding for both.

The Monarch program runs during normal school hours, so we are applying for funds for the 2017-2018 academic year.

5. What other funding sources have you explored for this project?

CODE 4: We secured funding for our teacher during the summer of 2016 through the Institute for Humanities Research. Many CODE 4 content providers are paid by the Santa Cruz Sheriff’s Office. We plan to submit an application to the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s office to fund the teachers for CODE 4, and other philosophy programs in the jails, in the next funding cycle.

Elementary Program: We have not secured funding for our elementary school programs. We have general funding for the Center for Public Philosophy, which pays for my time as Assistant Director, a role in which I have developed some of the connections which make this program possible. We have no funds, however, to support teachers in the schools. We hope to leverage funds from PLATO to generate further giving.

6. Please list your budget, including any amounts from other sources.

Our goal is to provide $75 per week in support for the volunteer teachers in either of these programs rather than trying to break down an hourly expense. Each program involves one and a half hours or more of class time per week, and at least the same amount of time preparing for class and travelling to the facility.

Each CODE 4 class lasts 13 weeks, and we run four CODE 4 classes a year. The annual budget for CODE 4 teacher support, therefore, is $3900, or $975 per session.

Our Westlake Elementary Program runs on 10 week schedules, and we hope to run two such courses per year. The annual budget for Westlake teacher support, therefore, is $1500, or $750 per class.

Our Monarch Elementary Program runs continuously during the school year. The annual budget for Monarch teacher support, therefore, is approximately $3000.

The total budget for these programs, for one year, is $8400.

I am requesting 50% of this amount from PLATO ($4200), which we can leverage to raise the remaining funds from other sources.