Labor Studies at UC Davis is generously supported by the University of California Miguel Contreras Labor Studies Program. This initiative strives to promote a vital labor studies community at UC Davis that is comprised of scholars and labor activists through a community scholars program, labor studies certificate and a labor studies symposium. The community scholars program brings regional activists to campus for a quarter of reflection and project-based learning with the Community Development Masters students. Current and past community scholars are:

• Rafael Aguilera: Rafael co-founded the Verde Group in 2007 and began offering his consulting and lobbying services to progressive non-profits who shared his vision of starting a clean energy revolution in California. He has focused on three broad areas of policy advocacy: 1) reducing toxic impacts to EJ communities from incinerators, power plants, refineries, and goods movement-related diesel emissions; 2) promoting public and private investment in “Green Assets” for disadvantaged communities such as urban parks, low-income energy efficiency and renewable energy programs, and localized economies; 3) popularizing the clean energy revolution amongst Latinos and people of color through the promotion of “green” cultural and ecological values, grassroots community activism, and applied ecological economics.

• Vee Govender: Vee is founder of California on the Move, an organization committed to bringing sustainable, green jobs to local economies. V.Govender continued his journey in activistism and community leadership when he co-founded The Sacramento Civil Rights Network. Their goal was to empower their communities statewide by bringing them together to impact the political front. Having mobilized a political base statewide against Prop 209 (Affirmative Action), Prop 1A & 5 (Tribal Sovereignty) as Regional Director, and Obama 08, he saw the need to mobilize this statewide base into playing an active role to create green sustainable jobs here in California.

• Frances Gracechild: Frances is executive director of the Resources for Independent Living; an organization in Sacramento providing services to people with all forms of disability.

• Beth Barker-Hidalgo: Beth Barker-Hidalgo is responsible for the coordination, implementation and management of Paratransit, Inc.’s Mobility Management Center. Beth has been involved with the development of a pilot in-person eligibility assessment project under contract with Spokane Transit Authority, and assisted with the development of an in-person eligibility assessment center for Oahu Transit System and the City of Honolulu. She has served on several councils relating to risk management and emergency preparedness. She is a graduate of the City of Sacramento’s Planning Academy, and holds a Transit, Paratransit Management Certificate from the University of Pacific Eberhardt School of Business.

• Rev. Tim Malone: Rev. Malone received a Masters of Divinity from the American Baptist Seminary of the West, and attended the Harvard University Community Builder Training Program. Today, Rev. Malone is the Campus and Community Outreach Minister for the University of California at Davis. In 2004, Rev. Malone organized a Martin Luther King, Jr., Scholarship Fund program to assist students from the greater Sacramento area with funding for their college educations. Rev. Malone has given countless hours of volunteer service as a board member for Davis Mutual Housing, a non-profit organization to develop quality low-income housing. He also volunteers for the Sacramento Branch of the NAACP, was vice chair of the City of Davis Human Relations committee, and is a member of the Interfaith Council of UC Davis. Rev. Malone was a driving force in founding the West Sacramento Resource Center, a comprehensive, one-stop social service center designed to reach the most underserved and needy persons in the area. Rev. Malone has been honored with the Roberto Clemente Award (1974), as one of the Outstanding Young Men in America (1979 and 1984), and with the Board of Directors Award from the Council of Yolo County. He has served on the general board for international ministries of the American Baptist Churches, USA., was named one of 2000 Outstanding Scholars of the 21st Century, and received the Civil Rights Advocacy Award from the City of Davis in 2002. In 1988 Rev. Malone served as a consultant to the United Aboriginal and Island Christian Congress in Australia, and helped them form the North Regional Council Congress, giving them a voice in government. In 2010 he published his first book titled "How to Succeed in Life".

• Lindell Price: Lindell is an El Dorado County advocate and project coordinator for WALK Sacramento, a nonprofit community organization working to create walkable communities with communities of walkers throughout the Sacramento metropolitan region.

• Constance Slider: Constance is a community activist/organizer and the program director for the Coalition on Regional Equity a project of the Sacramento Housing Alliance and advocates for regional change that is equitable and sustainable and promotes public health for lower income people and communities of color in the greater Sacramento Region.

• Mike Thorton