Volunteer for the African American Initiative Scholarship

Make a greater impact in the lives of Black and African American students at Cal.

group of african american scholarship scholars and volunteers

Keegan Houser / UC Regents

The Cal Alumni Association (CAA) and the African American Initiative (AAI) Scholarship selection committee manage the annual AAI Scholarship selection process. We are calling on Cal alumni to volunteer as scholarship application readers, phone bankers, and finalist interviewers.

We are excited to continue the African American Initiative Scholarship in 2024, allowing us to make a greater impact in the lives of Black and African American students at Cal! Serving as an AAI volunteer is a great way to make a direct impact on the lives of African American students at Cal, meet and network with alumni, and promote positive change at UC Berkeley.

About the AAI Scholarship

Funded by the San Francisco Foundation and in partnership with UC Berkeley and the Cal Alumni Association, the African American Initiative (AAI) Scholarship provides African American students with financial support to help make their Cal education more accessible.

The AAI Scholarship is one part of the campus-wide African American Initiative, led by the Division of Equity and Inclusion at UC Berkeley, as a comprehensive effort to address the underrepresentation of African American students, faculty, and staff at Cal.

Scholarship Details

Keegan Houser / UC Regents

Volunteer Details

Eligibility

UC Berkeley alum

Identify as Black, African American, or African

Cannot be a relative of a current AAI Scholarship applicant

Commit to a full season of volunteering

Cannot be a current UC Berkeley employee

AAI Season

Online Application Reading
April 4– 8, 2024

Virtual Finalist Interviews via zoom
April 20, 2024

Phone Banking
May 1 – 15, 2024

Roles and Duties

Phone Banking
Call AAI-qualified applicants to encourage them to apply, and/or call recipients to encourage them to accept their award.

Application Reading
Application readers are assigned a number of applications to read, evaluate, and score through our virtual portal and will be provided a step-by-step guide detailing the entire evaluation process.

Finalist Interviews
Interview panels are conducted via Zoom. Interviewers assess and rank candidates based on criteria provided by CAA. AAI Scholarship chairs organize and coordinate interviews with local alumni.

Cal Culture

‘A New Day’: One Alumna Finds Cal Pride, 40 Years After Graduation

“It is refreshing and healing—liberating, actually—to see a new day, a new message to African American students, and to all of us,” Dana shares. “When I told one of the students that assisted in the interviews how much I appreciated her presence, she responded with, ‘Yes, but I am standing on your shoulders.’”

Volunteer Today

With your help, Black, African American, and African students will know that they belong at Cal.

Why I Volunteer with CAA

“As an alum, it is refreshing and healing—liberating, actually—to see a new day, a new message to African American students, and to all of us.”

Dana Lang MBA ’77, AAI Scholarship Chair
“My favorite volunteer highlight was an exchange between an incoming student from Kenya and an African American alum who worked in the country post-graduation. It was a perfect example of Cal’s global reach and the amazing connections between past and future Berkeleyans.”

Damon Moore ’86

More Ways to Volunteer

There are so many ways you can give back to the UC Berkeley community—from local Alumni Chapters to advocacy to career mentorship. Come join your fellow Golden Bears!