The Berkeley Project

Vital Stats

Sarah N

Berkeley, CA

people helped10000
People Doing It 2000

The Problem

The Berkeley Project was started by undergraduate UC Berkeley students in 2006 in order to build a legacy of service and a strong, sustainable partnership between the students and residents of Berkeley. Problem areas all over the city were converged upon during the first one-day service event, and students worked with community partners on projects such as building playgrounds, planting trees, making meals for the homeless, painting elementary schools, weeding fire hazardous areas, and helping out at senior centers, among many other projects. Since 2006, BP Day has become an popular annual service event every fall semester, bringing thousands of student volunteers and hundred of community members together to improve their environment. BP Month was added during the spring semester; our core Berkeley Project Board finances and puts on these two events with the help of grants and donations from our community partners.

Plan of Action

Our core board has the responsibility of financing, planning, and recruiting for each BP Day and BP Month. Since 2006, we have successfully held four BP Day events, with our number of volunteers doubling in size from 1,000 to 2,000! On November 6, 2010, our fifth annual BP Day is expected to draw over 2,000 volunteers and work on over 50 project sites around Berkeley. BP Month is held annually in the spring on the last three Saturdays before Spring Break; basically BP Day on a smaller scale, during BP Month 100 volunteers converge on several sites that need to be worked on for longer than one day. Since 2006, The Berkeley Project has inspired a positive philanthropic interest in thousands of volunteers, and has benefited any member of our community that chooses to utilize the public spaces we fix up.