Support Hands-On Learning for Social Justice

Since 2001, the Alternative Breaks program at UC Berkeley has partnered with local organizations across California to provide students a meaningful way to connect classroom education with service opportunities. The program offers a variety of different service-learning trips, each delving into a different social justice issue. Students explore in-depth the history, causes, and impact of their issue area through a 2-unit student-led class (known as a DeCal) before cohorts embark on their Spring Break service trips. Over the past 20+ years, students have traveled to Southern California, Arizona, and Puerto Rico--or have stayed as local as Oakland and San Francisco--to work with community partners in hands-on service work.

This academic year, Alternative Breaks is supporting 6 different trip cohorts: Immigration Rights in San Diego, Environmental Justice & Food Justice in the Bay Area, Farmworkers Rights in the Central Valley, Urban Health in Los Angeles, Economic Justice in San Francisco, and Sustainability & Community Building in Puerto Rico. We are excited and proud to continue partnerships and build new ones with Common Vision, Camp Tabonuco, Latino Equity Advocacy & Policy Institute, and Border Angels.

A tenant of this program is to make service accessible for all. While we implement participant fees to help cover food, housing, and transportation expenses, it simply is not enough to meet all our needs. The reality is, raising participant fees would make Alternative Breaks a burden at best and a complete impossibility at worse for a group of university students. Your donation will directly contribute to food and transportation costs, just compensation for the work of our Community Partners, and cultural and community experiences.

Our community at Alt Breaks would be incredibly appreciative of any and all donations. If you would like to contribute to our program, here are some common expenses you can sponsor:

$15 - a cultural/community experience for a participant

$25 - a participant's food for the day

$50 - a participant's trip stipend

$100 - supplies for an entire trip

$375 - a participant's entire trip fee

$500 - car rentals for a trip

$1000+ - round-trip plane or Amtrak tickets for a California trip

We are beyond grateful for all your support.

In community,

The 2024 Alternative Breaks Leadership Team