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This Spring, uAspire continued its innovative partnership with CivicCapstone, through which we placed 4 community college students to serve as fellows in uAspire’s California policy team to provide input on our policy agenda informed by their research and experiences, as well as go to Sacramento to participate in an advocacy day in which fellows pitched bills to the California Senate and Assembly.

What is CivicCapstone?

CivicCapstone is an organization that pairs community college students with policy-focused or philanthropic non-profits to participate in a semester-long consulting engagement. CivicCapstone recreates the work-based capstone model typically found in Master's in Public Administration and other graduate programs for community college students. This provides community college students with hands-on learning experience and networking opportunities that are otherwise inaccessible at the junior college level. The program prepares students for future internships and involves them in the world of public policy to ensure a plethora of diverse student voices remain heard at various levels of government. uAspire is proud to be a founding partner in this program and will continue to use the program to introduce our student participants to a host of coalition partners, including NextGen Policy, Coalition for California Welfare Rights Organizations, and the Student Senate for California Community Colleges in future cohorts.

CivicCapstone was founded by Nathaniel Stephen, a former community college student who transferred to the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. Reflecting on his time at community college, Nathaniel recognizes how important it is for students to gain work experience even at community college, as it enables them to be competitive in the job market for future internships, fellowships, and full-time roles. Community college students are often overlooked by employers in favor of those who attended a four-year university, leaving many without work experience before they transfer. CivicCapstone bridges this gap as an innovative program to prepare community college students for what comes next in their careers. The program, run by Nathaniel, sources both semester-long clients and handles the application process to admit community college students.

Learn about our program participants:

Stephanie Rouleau - Stephanie's experience in financial advising and her efforts in under-resourced communities have led her to expand this into the CivicCapstone uAspire program.Building practical work experience, her bill analysis on AB 2766 (Ahrens), which intends to postpone fees for foster youth until financial aid is received, was selected to be presented at a California State Capitol meeting. Continuing this work, she and the team presented on behalf of CivicCapstone at Irvine Valley College to educate peers on pertinent legislation, financial aid, and facilitated a Q&A with transfer alumni from UC Berkeley and UC Irvine. The invaluable lessons gained through working with Nathaniel Stephens and Parshan Khosravi will guide her transition to UCLA, where she will continue expanding access to resources and empowering students in her community.

Muhammad Ismail - Through CivicCapstone, perhaps the greatest achievement was that I learned about how an invisible process of policymaking and lobbying actually works. As someone pursuing an adjacent career, these skills are vital to learn, especially at such an early stage. Nathan, the founder, taught me immeasurable lessons regarding professionalism and productivity, which I would not have learned had I not participated. Through these combined aspects, I will take these skills and connections to my next institution.

Daniel Lee - I learned so much from CivicCapstone, especially hearing and telling not only mine, but the stories of many others who benefit from the work that uAspire does. This experience helped me understand the challenges students face in accessing higher education and motivated me during our trip to the state capitol. Nathan has helped me so much with my journey as a student who wants to transfer to a UC, and I would not have known about this opportunity with uAspire had I not joined CivicCapstone. I plan to take the many lessons learned and apply them to my future career.

Wendy Fuentes, a first-generation Latina student, gained a deeper understanding of policymaking through her experience with CivicCapstone, especially while analyzing AB 1871 (Fong), a bill focused on expanding access to dual enrollment and reducing barriers for students. As a dual enrollment student herself, she was able to connect her own experiences to the challenges the bill addresses, which made the work more meaningful and personal. Through this experience, Wendy understood the power of her voice and her ability to advocate for students who share similar backgrounds. Moving forward, she plans to continue her education at College of the Canyons, where she will pursue a degree in Business Administration and filmmaking while continuing to speak up and work toward greater educational equity and access for underrepresented students.

uAspire and CivicCapstone are excited to continue this partnership for a third cohort to run during the Fall 2026 semester.