UCLA in the Community

For the first time in Special Olympics World Games history, cheers are ringing out from the sidelines as 225 cheerleaders from around the country converge to be part of Cheer for LA2015.

In California, where bilingual instruction is largely prohibited, secondary students who don’t speak English quickly fall behind. But a project to create a bilingual online curriculum is being led by UCLA professor Patricia Gándara.

The UCLA Volunteer Center, which is coordinating Team UCLA’s efforts campuswide, estimates that nearly 1,000 Bruin students, faculty, staff, alumni and supporters are lending their time and talents to make the games a rousing success.

The UCLA Center for World Health and the LA5 Rotary Club brought together a panel of experts to talk about the failing health of the Earth and what mega-cities can do about it before an audience of 200 business peoplein downtown Los Angeles.

Caley Versfelt, a Special Olympics World Games global messenger, has gained a lot of self-confidence and important skills through Special Olympics and several UCLA programs geared toward people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

In the 47 years since Johnson helped found the games, the most important change has been in attitudes toward people with intellectual disabilities.

The final leg of the 2015 Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics hit Westwood Thursday afternoon.

Here are just some of the ways the UCLA community has been part of Special Olympics since the beginning.

More than 100 UCLA Health employees will be staffing two clinics to ensure the health and well-being of spectators, Olympians, their coaches and chaperones.

The 2015 Special Olympics World Games are ready to take center stage at UCLA.

Olivia Raynor, director of UCLA's Tarjan Center and a disability rights leader, talks about the significance of the Americans with Disabilities Act 25 years ago and the central role of the late Douglas Martin in implementing its rules and regulations on campus.

The Labor Studies Applied Research Methods course at the UCLA Labor Center introduces students to basic social science research methods by immersing them in a hands-on project to assist community organizations.

Dismissing unrest in America’s cities as aimless violence overlooks the roots of people’s anger, according to the panelists at a UCLA-Zócalo event examining the history of urban resistance.

UCLA’s Dr. Matthew Waxman writes about the two months he spent in Sierra Leone treating people suffering from the deadly Ebola virus.

The nine-day program, in its eighth year at UCLA, covers the basics of business ownership.

The UCLA Fielding School of Public Health team, in partnership with public- and private-sector organizations, is spearheading community action to reduce exposure to smoking in Los Angeles apartment buildings.

Obstacles, ranging from skyrocketing housing costs and insufficient state and federal funding to social stigma, are sending greater numbers of Americans onto the streets, said a UCLA-Zocalo panel of experts on homelessness.

UCLA will host California's first Paralympic-style track and field competition open to civilians and veterans. Clayton Frech, an alumnus whose 10-year-old son will compete, partnered with the university's adaptive recreation program to found the first Angel City Games.

A panel of Angelenos who study and work to improve the city honed in on how best to manage the forces that are rapidly transforming neighborhoods like Highland Park and Lincoln Heights. Participating was UCLA architecture and urban design professor Dana Cuff.

UCLA Anderson alumnus Dan Russ teamed up with his best friend to create Click2Speak, one of the most successful “social good” startups coming out of Israel.

Charles Gold was rescued by Los Angeles Fire Department personnel and treated by staff at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center when he collapsed during March’s race.

Dozens of UCLA staff members celebrated their graduation on June 5 from UCLA's Project SPELL, where they learned English and changed their lives.

From promoting literacy to studying the role of religion in rehabilitation, the Astin Civic Engagement Scholars program encourages students and faculty to leverage teaching and research in the name of service to the public.

The three-year grant will fund an intensive treatment program for service members suffering from mild traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Students, student veterans, faculty, staff and community members came together today to collect 90,000 U.S. flags that were placed at gravesites at Los Angeles National Cemetery on Memorial Day in honor of American military men and women.