The University of San Francisco’s public policy course on the homeless integrates service, participation in the political process and community needs and concerns. Guided by Professor of Politics, Roberta Ann Johnson, and SIster Marie Ignatius Clune of campus ministry, students serve the San Francisco homeless population for a minimum of four hours per week for eleven weeks in addition to the accompanying 3-unit course. The course also included readings and guest lectures by a government agency representative, shelter coordinators and advocates for the homeless. Students kept journals to evaluate their efforts and to relate their volunteer experiences. According to Professor Johnson, the journals helped students record insights as “”their volunteer experiences stimulate their thinking about general issues touched upon in readings or lectures.””

Contact: Roberta Ann Johnson, Dept of Politics, at (415) 422-6296 or johnsonr@usfca.edu< /a>