People with clipboards and bright orange stickers have been calling out to students on Bruin Walk, asking: “Have you pledged CALPIRG yet?”
CALPIRG Students, a branch of the California Public Interest Research Group, has chapters on eight University of California campuses, including UCLA. CALPIRG Students aims to push for solutions to different public interest issues, running campaigns each year for environmental protection, hunger and homelessness, among other issues.
The group asks students on campus to pledge $10 per quarter to its statewide and national campaigns. Students are often asked to fill in donation forms on Bruin Walk and other places on campus, or they can sign up online to pledge.
More than half of the $70,000 allocated to the UCLA chapter from last year’s pledge drive paid for campus program costs, including the salary of the campus organizer, who trains and organizes students to run campaigns. Other funds helped pay for overhead costs, advocate salaries and promotional materials, said Baldwin Ngai, a fourth-year student at UC Riverside and state board treasurer of CALPIRG Students.
Pledge drives on the eight UC campuses raised about $470,000 last year, and are estimated to raise just over $500,000 this year. Statewide, about $400,000 of the total funds raised went to the salaries of CALPIRG staff members, including eight campus organizers, two organizing directors and program directors and advocates, Ngai said. CALPIRG Students also pays $25,000 to support CALPIRG’s national advocates, who work on higher education, public transportation, and other consumer issues, and remaining funds are spent on operation costs.
CALPIRG’s lead campaign this year, California Go Solar!, is an initiative that aims to encourage city councils across the state to adopt policies that make solar energy more accessible and affordable, according to the CALPIRG website.
“We’re collecting petitions on campus, holding educational events, getting out the media and meeting with local city council members,” said Ashley Banuelos, grassroots coordinator of CALPIRG at UCLA.
The group has collected about 950 signatures so far out of its goal of 2,000, Banuelos added.
The group intends to present the petition to Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to urge him to implement a policy that would set a goal for the city to get 20 percent of its energy from solar power by 2020, said Brandon Leinz, a fourth-year political science student and a member of CALPIRG Students’ board.
Other CALPIRG campaigns include 21st Century Transportation, Affordable Higher Education, Make Textbooks Affordable, Sustainable U and Water Watch.
Previously, CALPIRG participated in a campaign for the Charge Ahead California Initiative, a joint effort with other environmental organizations like Environment California and the Greenlining Institute. Gov. Jerry Brown signed the Charge Ahead California Initiative (SB 1275) this year.
Most of CALPIRG Students’ lobbying is done indirectly through hired advocates, who are employed to speak to politicians on students’ behalf in Sacramento, Ngai said. Students can also speak directly to politicians once a year at CALPIRG’s student conference in the spring. Students travel to Sacramento to meet with and speak to their state senators.
CALPIRG currently has 3,200 pledges at UCLA, and is looking to gain 5,000 additional pledges from the campus this year, said Jenn Engstrom, assistant organizing director of CALPIRG Students. Statewide, CALPIRG currently has 22,000 pledges, and its goal for the year is to get an additional 20,000 pledges, Ngai said.
“We focus on student donations because we are student-directed,” Ngai said. “We encourage students to become members and take charge of running campaigns.”
Though many UCLA students pledge, some students said they are hesitant to commit to the cause because they are not sure how their money will be spent.
“They talk about a lot of things and have a lot of goals, but I don’t see a complete picture. My problem with it is that I don’t think I understand where the money is going,” said Mellisa Mendoza, a fourth-year political science student. Mendoza said she has talked to multiple CALPIRG members in the past.
The organization also receives some grant money from the state for specific projects if it meets certain benchmarks, Ngai said. This year’s New Voters Project, for example, received an $80,000 grant from the James Irvine Foundation.
All money collected from pledge drives goes to a statewide budget that is drafted and approved by a student board of directors, Ngai said. This board is made up of 33 students from the represented campuses, including five students from UCLA. Expenses for each university chapter are also planned by the student board of directors, Ngai added.
CALPIRG Students will be collecting pledges on campus over the next two to three weeks, Engstrom said.
Thank you Daily Bruin for writing an article about CALPIRG! I have been volunteering with CALPIRG for almost a year now and I have learned so much in terms of empowering students and making changes about issues I care about. We need student support to be able to win our campaigns. The powerful interests we are fighting against to protect the environment, public health, and consumer rights have a lot of money and strong lobbyists. To be able to stand up to them, we need a staff of the same caliber to advocate for us and teach us students how to run effective campaigns in our campuses. Hopefully more students at UCLA will hear about our organization and our campaign and support us as volunteers and pledgers!