Hampshire College
EN-10: Community Partnerships

Overview Community Partnerships for Social Change (CPSC) serves as a resource for students and faculty who want to integrate their academic interests with social action/community-based experiences forging a link between the classroom and community. CPSC maintains active partnerships with many organizations with a varying degree of foci, including housing justice, environmental justice, workplace organizing, and community health. Additionally, CPSC has several full-time and part-time staff dedicated to maintaining these connections, and supporting relevant programming on campus. Community Engaged Learning CPSC oversees the school’s Community Engaged Learning (CEL) program. CEL is a requirement in the Hampshire curriculum that combines formal classroom study of an issue with direct real-world exposure to the issue in a community setting. Students must complete 40 hours of work in their division 1 and another 40 hours in their division 2, in the CEL program. About half of students complete their CEL off campus, engaging with local community organizations, and local activists. Social Justice Summer Grants CPSC funds a grant program to support students who pursue internships with community organizations, or design projects to work with community organizations. The CPSC Social Justice Summer Grant program awards 10 grants of $3,000 to students to pursue work with community organizations, and local activist groups. Transportation CPSC has a fleet of vans that they use to transport students to events hosted by community groups. Here is a link to the CPSC program website: https://www.hampshire.edu/cpsc/community-partnerships-for-social-change https://www.hampshire.edu/corc/social-justice-summer-grants https://www.hampshire.edu/academics/cel-2-requirement https://www.hampshire.edu/sites/default/files/cpsc/files/Lead_Student_SNOL_Summer_2013.pdf

Hampshire College's campus is home to the Yiddish Book Center, Eric Carle Museum, and the Hitchcock Center. Through the Cultural Village, independent organizations not directly affiliated with the College, but which share similar educational and programmatic values, are located on or adjacent to campus. The Hitchcock Center (relocated 2016) - https://vimeo.com/39028562 This outdoor education center host programs designed to give people the skills, aptitudes and attitudes needed to care for our planet’s ecological systems, build durable economies and create sustainable communities. Programs are available to all ages and all members of the community. https://www.hampshire.edu/news/2016/10/01/hampshire-college-welcomes-hitchcock-center-for-the-environment-to-its-cultural Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art (est. 2002) - https://www.carlemuseum.org/ This non-profit organization inspires a love of art and reading through picture books. Their goal is to support and engage all visitors regardless of their level of familiarity with art and art making, encourage visual thinking, and to provide children many avenues for thinking and expression, regardless of ability or background. Yiddish Book Center (est. 1980) - https://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/, https://youtu.be/2hAFi9kiRAU This non-profit organization, established by a Hampshire alumnus, works to recover, celebrate, and regenerate Yiddish and modern Jewish literature and culture. The million books recovered represent Jews' first sustained literary and cultural encounter with the modern world. Each of these organizations support one or more of the three dimensions of sustainability, and is independent in their strategic planning, decision-making, and implementation.

The Sugar Shack Alliance, a coalition of people from the Northeast dedicated to the nonviolent disruption of the fossil fuel industry and working towards renewable energy and climate justice, was co-founded by 2016 Hampshire graduate Dineen O'Rourke. She was one of seven young leaders nationally to be named a Brower Youth Award winner for 2017, recognized for service in the environmental movement for her organizational work as a student at Hampshire.