Photo Essay: Isa Ballard Promotes Awareness Through CALPIRG
Comments (0)
Isabel Ballard listens attentively to a speech. Photos and captions by Maria Fornari.
CALPIRG (California Public Interest Research Group) is a statewide student-run nonprofit organization that works on issues that range from environmental and consumer protection to hunger and homelessness. They emerged in the early 1970s, to allow students to voice their ideas and make a difference in the way politics are run.
At only 24, the Pomona alumni has taken over USC’s CALPIRG chapter. As the campus organizer, Isabel’s job is to get the USC students excited and involved in one of the campaigns. Because there are so many and range through so many different subjects, it is likely that at least one of them would touch upon a student’s interest.
Being the friendly, always-there-to-help person that she is, Isabel has managed to get over 30 students at USC involved in CALPIRG. Last semester alone, the chapter managed to register one thousand USC students to vote, using a vast amount of strategies such as the “Trick or Vote” campaign.
Prior to the kickoff event, Isabel, along with all the other CALPIRG interns and volunteers, had to put all their efforts into getting more people involved in the cause.
To have successful campaigns, Isabel must gather volunteers and interns by speaking to classes.
“Our biggest campaign this semester is getting Los Angeles to get 20% of our energy from solar energy by 2020,” said Isabel during the kickoff event. “It is such a shame that, living in such a sunny city, we get less than 2% of our energy from the sun."
it encourages people to sign one of their petitions, or even eventually volunteer for their cause.
“We organize college students to solve some of the world's most pressing public interest problems,” said Isabel.
Training is one of Isabel’s specialties. She believes that, by training other interns to do the skills she has acquired over the years, “we can multiply our impact to change these issues."
“As an organizer, I connect people with the tools they need to make change happen, from working with the media to lobbying elected officials” said Isabel.
Isabel is loved by her co-workers.
At the statewide meeting, Isabel had to present the issues that she and the CALPIRG chapter at USC are working on this semester.
Isabel listens attentively to a speech, in hopes of developing new skills to help the interns and volunteers succeed in their campaigns.
These photos were taken in collaboration with "Views From A Windowless Room," an undergraduate photojournalism lab at USC's Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism. Like "Views From A Windowless Room" on Facebook.
Reach Maria Fornari here.
