The UCSB Associated Students Finance Board granted $1,235 to the campus Sociology Association last night during its weekly meeting.

The group initially requested $1,485 to finance its Isla Vista Culture Week, scheduled for May 21 through May 25. The weeklong celebration is expected to attract between 700 and 800 attendees to participate in a series of service projects.

SA President Shanae Russell, a fourth-year sociology and feminist studies major, said the allocation will foster philanthropic events for community to honor Isla Vista’s unique characteristics.

“One of our main focuses is community service, so we are excited to put on our Isla Vista Culture Week,” Russell said. “It is five days of events, and we’re really lucky to get funded for three days of our events from Finance Board.”

Throughout the week, participants can help preserve various aspects of the area’s culture through activities like cleaning Isla Vista’s beaches and serving breakfast and distributing self-care bags with necessities like socks and toothpaste to the homeless.

SA Vice President and A.S. External Vice President of Local Affairs-Elect Betty Aynalem said the event helps broaden students’ perception of the locale’s diverse demographics.

“There are various other cultural weeks; while we’re outsourcing and raising awareness about other cultures, it is equally as important to embrace our own Isla Vista culture,” Aynalem said. “We need to realize [Isla Vista] is more than just the students that live there. There are families, children, teenagers, teen centers and an elementary school — these are all a part of the Isla Vista community.”

Aynalem, a third-year global studies and sociology major, said the festivities will also provide students with the opportunity to give back to the community through oft-overlooked methods.

“We are all busy students but it is necessary … to be aware and recognize and pay respect to the other nontraditional residents of Isla Vista, and [also] to recognize that through these actions and programs, we are actively being role models to the teens who can potentially go to this university one day,” Aynalem said. “Students have really great intentions and want to get involved, but it is that initiating factor that makes it so difficult.”