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Issue Area Coordinators: Building bridges across Stanford and the Bay Area

The Haas Center's Issue Area Coordinators are building partnerships, leading events, and supporting service projects across key social issues with campus and community partners
Students gathered for the Affordability and Education Friendsgiving Dinner to discuss opportunities for alignment between their groups.

Issue Area Coordinators (IACs) are students who build partnerships among Stanford students, faculty, and Bay Area community leaders committed to particular issues: affordability, civic engagement, community organizing, education, environmental sustainability, and public interest technology. IACs participate in weekly cohort meetings where they receive training in topics such as facilitation, project planning, and connecting with local organizations.

2023-24 Issue Area Coordinators

  • Erin Su, ’25 (Affordability)
  • Emily Handsel, ’24 (Civic Engagement)
  • Dawn Royster, ’26 (Community Organizing)
  • Cameron Pennington, ’24 (Education)
  • Ella Norman, ’24 (Environmental Sustainability)
  • Chloe Trujillo, ’25 (Public Interest Technology)

With guidance from Haas Center advisors, IACs help organize events and service projects, and assist student groups with funding and connections to community organizations. Here are some highlights from the past year.

Ella organized the Earthtones Environmental Justice and Arts Festival, bringing together over 400 participants, including students and community members, to celebrate environmental justice through art, panel discussions, and tabling. The event featured student organizations and community partners, including Vida Verde and Climate Resilient Communities’ Youth Climate Collective, who emphasized the role of youth in environmental activism.

Erin hosted a Winter Housing Summit with 134 total attendees, 21 speakers, and representatives from various community organizations. This event successfully brought together students, community partners, and experts to address housing justice issues.

Cameron collaborated with Erin on the Affordability and Education Friendsgiving Dinner, where students gathered to explore opportunities for collaboration across groups and identify ways to align efforts for greater impact.

Emily assisted the Democracy Day Planning Committee with organizing the Rock the Vote concert and the third annual All Vote No Play event, engaging over 100 student athletes in civic participation. She also helped organize the Dine & Dialogue discussion on Election Day, which brought together 160 students and 25 faculty to talk about topics related to democracy.

Dawn hosted a 2.5-day student activist retreat in Santa Cruz, where participants learned leadership and organizing skills based on the Marshall Ganz curriculum, empowering them to engage more effectively in activism and community organizing efforts.

Chloe organized a speaker event with Chris Piech, who teaches computer science at Stanford and founded Code in Place, an initiative that offers an online introductory course in programming free of charge to any student who wants to apply. Twenty-five students attended a dinner to discuss using computer science for education and healthcare, exploring the intersection of technology and social impact.

Students who are interested in participating in the IAC program can contact Kristy Lobo for more information.

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