Lisa Ichaber, a growth intern at Travel and Co, presents the company.
Travel and Co is a tech justice mapping platform connecting STEM education with social sciences.
They work with high school, university students, and professional development programs.
They are in their second cohort with California Climate Action Corps, having trained over 250 fellows.
They have partnerships with universities like MIT, University of Michigan, University of Hawaii, and University of Massachusetts.
Students explore issues relevant to their organization and community using geographic information systems (GIS) to analyze data and demographics, seeing things geospatially, including land degradation.
Example Project with California Climate Action Corps
Projects include staff exploring volunteerism across California.
Fellows explored topics like wood fires, composting, and urban green spaces.
Lisa, a former CCAC fellow, learned GIS through community college classes.
One project involved taking count of neighborhoods lacking trees in San Jose, CA, affected by the urban heat island effect.
GIS could have made the process of counting neighborhoods more efficient.
Other projects included composting and examining the urban heat island effect.
Another organization explored social services impact on incarceration and recidivism rates, and the connection between mental health and heat stress.
Travel and Co aims to expand its reach, educating students and bridging the gap between STEM and social sciences, empowering them to address issues they care about.
Discussion on Training Process
Campus Compact is interested in a GIS workshop focused on the intersection of social justice and GIS for their cohort.
Travel and Co tailors workshops to different topics, starting from scratch for students with no GIS experience.
They guide students through the topic, showing how to visualize issues on a map and interpret demographic data. The goal for students is to make their maps and dashboards, and analyse data.
Cost and Software
Travel and Co covers the cost of GIS software. The workshops cost around 2,000 for three months, depending on the number of fellows or students.
Pricing details can be provided after the meeting.
Workshop Customization
Workshops are customizable in terms of length and topics.
Non-tailored workshops can be launched in about two months.
Tailoring workshops can take up to four months.
Potential Partnership with Campus Compact
Campus Compact is interested in pricing for two-month workshops or one-off trainings, delivered virtually.
They have a Newman Civic Fellows program with students working on various issues, skill-based trainings are viewed as highly relevant.
Campus Compact is developing a new project to make resources more accessible through technology.
Alignment and AmeriCorps
Travel and Co had recent conversations with AmeriCorps, and they were encouraged to reach out to Campus Compact.
Campus Compact has a network of 330 university members, representing about 3,000,000 students across the country, creating potential partnership opportunities.
Timeframe and Student Demographics
Campus Compact's student program runs from fall to spring.
Potential training timeframe is late fall or early spring of next year.
The Newman Civic Fellows program includes college students from across the US, aged 19 to 60.
Topics that students address range from voter engagement to climate.
Closing Remarks
Campus Compact will consider Travel and Co for trainings and potential referrals to their members.
Travel and Co will follow up with pricing information and additional details about their workshops.