Eastern Connecticut State University
EN-10: Community Partnerships

The Center for Community Engagement maintains partnerships with a wide range of non-profit organizations, schools, and government offices in the greater Windham area. The CCE provides volunteers at more than 72 program times each week with 26 different entities during the academic year. We also provide volunteers for nearly 100 one-time events for community partners such as community events, fundraising events, school programs, and more. The CCE has sustained these partnerships for nearly ten years and many have become fully integrated into the community. Examples include Day of Caring in the fall and Town Pride, Town Wide in the spring provide a large number of volunteers for community clean ups, including raking, picking up trash, gardening, etc. We work with a large number of partners on these projects. We work very collaboratively with the local Chamber of Commerce to promote and support local businesses through development of community-based internships, volunteer activities and promotion of events. The CCE supports service-learning courses that provide students with opportunities to engage with local for-profit and non-profit businesses to gain skills and experiences for future employment. http://www.easternct.edu/cce/ http://www.easternct.edu/cce/elderly-and-special-populations/

The Windham/Eastern Community Action Network, (W/E CAN) is a collaboration of residents of Windham, town government officials, University administration and faculty, students, community organizations, and other interested individuals who meet throughout the year to discuss issues of importance in the community and to work to develop positive relationships between the University and the community. Created in 1991, the original Town-Gown Committee was established at the direction of Eastern President David G. Carter to address student-related issues with local neighbors. The Committee was facilitated jointly by Eastern’s Vice President for Student Affairs and Windham’s First Selectman. In 2002, the Town-Gown Committee embarked on a strategic planning process, to develop a vision, a mission, and long-term goals. At that time, the Committee changed its name to the Windham/Eastern Community Action Network, keeping “Town-Gown Committee” as a subtitle. The name change reflects the collaborative, active nature of the organization while aligning with its original purpose. In 2013, we celebrated our 21st year as a dedicated partnership working to improve the quality of living and learning of all community members. http://www.easternct.edu/towngown/

This information was completed with information provided by Kimberly Armstrong Silcox, Director of The Center for Community Engagement, and the TownGown website.