Best of CASE District VII Award
 

Institution: University of California, Los Angeles

Title of entry: Mixin' It Up: Coffee Connections

About this entry: UCLA Alumni signature program Mixin It Up: Coffee Connections, September 09 2023 ventured out of UCLA’s Westwood campus and into the heart of the South Los Angeles community to support South L.A Cafe, a Black and Bruin owned business, while creating a space for our Diversity Network leaders (Black, Latinx, and other identity and or ethnic based communities) to connect, engage, and showcase their unique communities to new alumni. Alumni Association Board Directors were present to connect with the networks and new alumni. Following the impact of Covid-19 and the challenges that arose of maintaining community engagement, UCLA Alumni aimed to create an event that served as a personal and welcoming environment for both those who were interested to get involved as well those in active leadership roles in our various identity based networks. As students graduate, UCLA Alumni created a safe space to encourage constituents from all walks of life to connect with our various diversity based communities for them to stay in community with UCLA in all phases of their life. New alumni received support and information from Alumni Affairs and to find meaningful ways to give back to their alma mater. Following campus leaders sharing some of their experiences being a part of the UCLA community, this prompted a pleasant dialogue where network leaders exchanged ideas from student recruitment to operation planning. From this event UCLA Alumni staff observed event attendees later pursue and secure positions of leadership in the various identity base alumni networks.