UCLA officially opened its new Center for Civil Society Thursday
morning, starting a new chapter in the study of community,
nonprofit organizations and volunteerism at UCLA.
The center, operating in the School of Public Policy, will run
graduate and undergraduate classes, conduct research on NPOs, and
work with NPOs in Los Angeles. It will also sponsor many
international keynote speakers on economics, sociology and
globalization.
The opening was marked by a series of speakers and a guest panel
that focused on how the center would help the study and
understanding of NPOs primarily in Los Angeles, and, eventually,
the nation as a whole.
“What the center wants to do is initiate a debate about
the future of a city like Los Angeles as a community, a place to
live,” said Professor Helmut Anheier, the director of the
center.
“We don’t see that debate going on, and we’d
like to kick-start it.”
Called “a milestone in the School of Public Policy”
by Barbara Nelson, the dean of the UCLA School of Public Policy and
Social Research, the center will become the focal point of
leadership in NPOs, philanthropy, and civil society.
Among those attending the event were UCLA chancellor Albert
Carnesale, the president of the J. Paul Getty Trust Barry Munitz,
and the president of the United Way of Greater Los Angeles Joseph
Haggerty.
Chancellor Carnesale said that it was important to establish a
dialogue between academia and “people in the real
world,” pointing out that between one-fourth and one-third of
public policy students go on to work for NPOs.
“Students in (public policy), when they graduate, their
interest will not be in how much money will you make, but in how
much of a difference can you make?” Carnesale said in his
opening remarks.
Although NPOs are regarded as essential parts of a democracy,
with about 43,000 NPOs in Los Angeles alone, many pragmatic
challenges face them in the future.
The $35 billion hole in the state budget will make it harder for
NPOs to find funding, and the Los Angeles area has traditionally
been a difficult place for NPOs to take root, with a lack of local
corporations to make donations.
In addition, Munitz expressed concern that institutions like
UCLA were primarily driven by “national and international
envelope pushing,” or high-flown rhetoric that amounts to
little actual change.
“Some changes are going to have to be made about where the
values lay and where the anchors will be placed,” Munitz
pointed out, challenging the center to back up its words with
decisive action.
Despite these obstacles, the tone of the event was largely
optimistic, with everyone seeing the opening of the center as a
positive step forward.
“We need to reach out, join hands, and follow the
leadership in this room, so that in five, ten, fifteen years what
we’re talking about is extraordinary accomplishment and
success,” Munitz said.
“There’s no reason in the world why we can’t
do that.”