Wesleyan University
PAE-19: Community Sustainability Partnerships

Connecticut Forest and Parks Association (CFPA) is Connecticut's oldest conservation organization that works to preserve hiking trails, conserve land and forests, and educate the community. Volunteers plan hikes for Wesleyan and the local community, set up events such as film screenings and lectures, create video podcasts that the CFPA use to educate hikers, and work on implementing an educational youth program at the CFPA headquarters located down the road from Wesleyan! Working closely with the CFPA, students will have hands-on experiences and will work to create a strong and lasting community partnership. Wesleyan's Hunger and Homelessness Program provides both direct service opportunities and forums for discussing and addressing the root causes of hunger and housing issues in our community. The program partners with multiple Middletown organizations, including End Hunger CT, North End Action Team, the Middletown Child Hunger Task Force, St. Vincent de Paul and Amazing Grace, and Middlesex County Habitat for Humanity. H&H’s direct service opportunities fall into four different sub-programs, which include: Food Rescue, Bread Salvage, Amazing Grace Food Pantry Program, and Habitat for Humanity Campus Chapter. Through Food Rescue, student volunteers collect food that is normally wasted from Pi Cafe, Summerfields and Usdan and take it to Eddy Shelter, an emergency shelter about 5 minutes from campus. Students also organize, prepare and participate in community dinners at the shelter. The Bread Salvage Program salvages upwards of 700 loaves of bread weekly from the Freihofer’s Bakery Thrift Store in Cromwell to Snow and Macdonough schools in Middletown multiple times a week. The Amazing Grace Program encompasses many activities at the food pantry and at the soup kitchen: cooking classes, soup kitchen volunteering, regular volunteering opportunities, special events and fundraisers, and other opportunities. The Wesleyan Chapter of Habitat for Humanity (HFH) partners with the Middlesex County HFH to assist with local builds, renovations and fundraising. Nearly every Saturday, Wesleyan volunteers join the Middlesex County HFH for their new program, “A Brush with Kindness”, which offers services such as painting, landscaping, and other repairs to homeowners in need. Some weeks, volunteers also help at the local Restore, a resale outlet that salvages furniture and surplus building materials to raise funds for future Habitat builds. The Middletown Food Project pilot program focuses on strengthening Wesleyan’s ties to Middletown, the community, and the land through involvement at the university-owned and student-run Long Lane Farm. Six low-income families are enrolled in the program, all of whom live right up the road from the farm and have children at Snow School, an elementary school a few blocks from the farm . The MFP is a multi-pronged project: part free community supported agriculture (CSA) and part educational program focused on healthy living, nutrition, and everything related to growing, caring for, and eating vegetables. The program’s goal is to make the changes that will help students and the community to take care of their bodies, their communities, and the environment. Middletown Urban Gardens is a coalition of students working with the North End Action Team (a local non-profit) to establish new community gardens and promote healthy eating in low-income areas Middletown. MUG leads the design process and provides the necessary materials for new gardens, but empowers Middletown residents to be the primary stewards and users of the land. About 45% of the Wesleyan faculty, administration and staff participated in the 2011-2012 Middlesex United Way Campaign and contributed more than $125,000 to meet local community needs. This effort places Wesleyan as one of top three contributors in Middlesex County and among the top 4% of colleges and universities nationwide. We have been involved with this community initiative since its inception 76 years ago. The Center for Community Partnerships also offers programs at the Middletown Community Health Center. In collaboration with District 13 (Durham, Middlefield, and Rockfall) and Cromwell, Wesleyan University, through the Offices of Human Resources and Community Relations, supports the Middlesex Transition Academy, which places eight high school students with disabilities in a job-training program on campus. They have worked with athletics, food services, landscaping, and bookstore since Spring 2003. Each year, Wesleyan is a sponsor at the annual Freedom Fund Dinner of the local NAACP chapter. It also supports the efforts of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholarship Committee every year.

Office of Community Service Programs: http://www.wesleyan.edu/ocs/volunteer.html Hunger and Homelessness Program: http://hungerandhomelessness.group.wesleyan.edu/ Middletown Food Project update: http://engageduniversity.blogs.wesleyan.edu/2013/06/25/pcse-seed-grants-in-action-a-note-from-hailey-sowden-15/