UC San Diego Extension Teams Up with Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights

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San Diego, CA — University of California San Diego Extension signed an Intent to Collaborate letter with Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Speak Truth to Power earlier this year.

The esteemed human rights organization has selected UC San Diego Extension’s Department of Education and Community Outreach as its first partner on the West Coast. Both entities have agreed to a proposal that will expand the reach of Speak Truth to Power’s resources into more classrooms across the United States, infusing valuable tools for building a more equitable society into UC San Diego Extension’s teacher training programs and a broad range of efforts to advance students’ human rights education.

The letter of intent to collaborate, signed by Adnan Karim, managing director of RFK Human Rights Education, and Edward Abeyta, Associate Dean of Education and Community Outreach at UC San Diego Extension, specifically calls for three ambitious tactics:

1. Building educator capacity: Develop systems and structures to aid the ability to build educator capacity weave human rights education into the fabric of their pedagogy by leveraging Speak Truth to Power’s program, assets, and resources. This may include educator training and development of human rights-focused lessons, activities, and resources. The primary demographic is high schools in the greater San Diego area.
2. Addressing social and emotional learning: Collaborate to effectively incorporate social and emotional learning standards and processes into the human rights education framework and Speak Truth to Power materials and support the creation of an effective impact evaluation framework to measure social and emotional learning outcomes.
3. Taking action to “Becoming a Human Rights Defender”: Develop toolkits, workshops, and resources to help educators train the next generation of human rights defenders. This includes aspects of community organizing, advocacy, and individual acts of service in the local and global community. In addition, supporting an “Action” framework that is explicitly tied to the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Sustainable Development Goals.

“We are excited to explore ways in which we can best support efforts and infuse Speak Truth to Power throughout our ongoing work with teachers, students and parents,” said Morgan Appel, assistant dean of UC San Diego’s Department of Education and Community Outreach. “RFK Human Rights’ resources offer unique opportunities for reflective engagement and for the organic development of vital metacognitive skills across the lifespan.”

Appel said he looks forward to developing comprehensive programming that embodies the spirit of Robert Kennedy by championing equity and civil rights through the personal and professional endeavors of the population served by the UC San Diego Extension’s Education division.