Students sorting clothing collect for the Somali Refugee Center during MLK Week.
First-Year Orientation Outreach Program
Max A. Shacknai COVE sponsors a three-day pre-orientation service opportunity for first-year students called Outreach. “Outreachers” work in small groups on a variety of community projects designed to assist local organizations and agencies with their significant efforts.
This year, 18 upperclassmen led 32 first-year students in service experiences throughout the Hamilton and Utica communities. After each day of service, students reflected and discussed what their service experience might mean for their impending four years at Colgate. Overall, the program contributed more than 650 hours of service work in the short three-day span.
Brown Bags
Brown Bag luncheons are open to all students, staff, and faculty, and are a means by which Max A. Shacknai COVE teams seek to increase knowledge and activism on issues related to their service work in the community. These luncheons take place weekly in the lounge and highlight a wide array of topic areas. During Fiscal Year `15, we hosted 17 events.
9/11 Day of Service
Last fall, the Max A. Shacknai COVE joined the national network of more than one million Americans who serve their local communities in remembrance of the tragic events of September 11, 2001. The event encourages people campus-wide to volunteer in the community as a means of paying tribute to the victims and heroes of 9/11.
Through our service we remember the remarkable way that our nation rose up in unity and service following the tragedy of the attacks. Last September, more than 65 students, staff, and faculty participated in the afternoon contributing 280 hours of service to 12 local community organizations.
Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration Events
We think Martin Luther King Jr. Day should be a day on, not a day off. Our goal is to bring people of various ages and backgrounds together to move our local community and nation closer to the “beloved community” that King envisioned.
This year, we organized a number of events to honor the legacy of Dr. King. On January 23rd, we joined the national commemoration of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy by hosting an MLK afternoon of service. Our students served at various community sites in Hamilton, Madison, Clinton, and Utica. This year more than 75 volunteers worked at 14 community organizations, combining for 300 total service hours.
In addition, four students who led the ‘sit-in’ on campus in the fall delivered reflections on “Civil Resistance and Coalition Building” to a crowd of more than 80. One attendee noted in response, “It was nice to have the chance to hear from student leaders about the struggles and rewards of working within a movement to improve a community for all. It was a reminder that this road is not always easy or without sacrifice.”
Finally, we partnered with ALANA and Residence Life to collect winter clothing and school supplies for children of Somali refugees living in Utica. Each week a group of volunteers tutor and lead after-school activities with these children. But the volunteers recognized additional immediate needs and organized resources to help meet those needs.
Finding Money for Social Change Grant Writing Class
In the 10th year, the 12-week, certificate-based grant writing course brought together campus community visionaries, grant writing experts, and local nonprofit leaders to deliver weekly lectures to 37 Colgate students and local community member participants.
At its core, the course offers insight into the architecture of a grant. Concurrent to the weekly lectures, students were paired with six local nonprofits and charged with crafting a preliminary proposal that would serve as the foundation for a fully formed grant proposal in the near future. By working closely with the nonprofit partners, students were able to see the class theories and lessons play out in real time.
We just learned that one participant was successful in receiving a $5,000 grant from the National Environmental Education Foundation to fund environmental educational programming in our local community as a direct result of the work completed in the class.
High School Seminar Program
In its 54th year, the High School Seminar Program continues to use Colgate’s resources to benefit the region by introducing area high school students to college-level topics that are not available at their schools. Meanwhile, it encourages college attendance by providing the high schoolers with the opportunity to experience a taste of life on a college campus. This year, 13 area schools/programs sent 390 students to participate. During each session, students engage in three seminars taught by Colgate faculty and staff.
Salvage Program
The Max A. Shacknai COVE staff organizes an effort to repurpose items that students donate in the residence halls at the end of the academic year as they move off campus. Volunteers spent more than 400 hours collecting and sorting the items in Starr Hockey Rink for pickup by 26 nonprofit organizations located throughout Central New York.
The estimated worth of all salvaged items put into the hands of people who need them amounted to $30,000. Our partner organizations report that the individuals they serve receive much -needed supplies to furnish transitional housing, provide warm clothing, bedding, and educational materials, and stock food pantry shelves.