Swarthmore College
EN-10: Community Partnerships

Harvest Circle, started in Spring 2016 and going at least until 2018, will promote the development of an equitable, sustainable, and nourishing local food system in Chester, PA. Harvest Circle aims to increase food sovereignty, support healthy nutrition and to stimulate a community-based food economy through investing in small farmers, offering a flexible marketplace for consumers, supporting the startup of new residential gardens, and delivering educational programming.

Serenity Soular is an initiative made up of Swarthmore students, a Swarthmore professor, N. Phila community members as well as a solar non profit organization- REvolv, based in San Francisco. Serenity Soular addresses the compounding threats of gentrification, food deserts, joblessness, housing deterioration, and climate change. To do so, Sustainable Serenity has several main goals and functions: 1. Host community discussions on various topics of social and environmental sustainability. 2. Maintain a community garden, 3. Make solar affordable for low-income households, 4. Train North Philadelphia residents for solar jobs, 5. Grow new solar jobs in North Philadelphia. It has so far been successful with several community projects: creating a community garden, employing two community members trained and hired by a solar company, installing solar panels on the roof of the Serenity House (community house in North Philadelphia). It is currently training two more "solar apprentices" and working to solarize a church near the community house. http://serenitysoular.weebly.com/about.html (website not as up to date as above info)

Dare 2 Soar is the largest and oldest tutoring program at Swarthmore College, and is the largest student-run group under the administration of the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility. Dare 2 Soar sends approximately 70 tutors into nearby Chester, Pennsylvania to give homework help and educational assistance to students grades K-12 each week during the academic year. For more information, visit http://www.swarthmore.edu/dare-2-soar.

Project Blueprints: is a tutoring program similar to Dare 2 Soar. The Lang Center and Swarthmore’s Black Cultural Center have collaborated with The Crozer-Chester Wellness Center, Chester Upland School District, The College Access Center of Delaware County, and The Chester Youth Collaborative to implement the program. Project Blueprints engages at-risk minority youth from Chester, PA with opportunities for academic support, life skills training, personal development, cultural enrichment, and career exploration. The program provides after-school programming for more than 40 students who are supported 8th through 12th grade. Additionally, Swarthmore hosted a Project Blueprints intern this past Summer, 2016. Let's Get Ready: Let’s Get Ready is a registered non‐profit organization which provides low‐income high school students with free SAT preparation, admissions counseling, and other support services needed to gain admission to and graduate from college. Swarthmore students volunteer to assist with this program. Other: At least 10 other student initiated projects (in addition to the Harvest Circle program detailed in the response) that are supported by the College's Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility. These projects all cover at least 1 of the identified 3 dimensions of sustainability. For brief descriptions of each, visit http://www.swarthmore.edu/lang-center-civic-social-responsibility/lang-scholar-profiles. Other resources: Project Blueprints: http://www.swarthmore.edu/lang-center-civic-social-responsibility/project-blueprints Other Lang Center Initiatives- Older: http://www.swarthmore.edu/news-events/new-class-lang-opportunity-scholars-named Recent: http://www.swarthmore.edu/lang-center-civic-social-responsibility/lang-scholar-profiles Most Recent: http://www.swarthmore.edu/news-events/meet-newest-class-lang-opportunity-scholars

Jennifer Magee, Associate Director of the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility, jmagee1@swarthmore.edu