community partnerships

Thirteen student-led groups are the recipients of Jewett Center for Community Partnerships Student Innovation Fund awards. These awards support community engagement projects with grants up to $750 each. “The common theme is that they all want to positively impact the greater Middletown community,” said Rhea Drozdenko, JCCP community participation coordinator. “There is no one right way to do community engagement, and the Innovation Fund supports nontraditional ideas. It's important that our grantees are grounded in the ideas of mutual respect and collective responsibility as they go out into the community." All applicants are required to read the Cardinal Community Commitment —the University's…

This month, the Jewett Center for Community Partnerships announced the grantees of the JCCP Student Innovation Fund. Students from a range of majors and backgrounds—all with shared interests in utilizing resources in innovative ways to positively impact the greater Middletown community—applied to this fund. The Student Innovation Fund provides up to $750 for spring or summer projects that prioritize: Collaboration between student groups, faculty/staff, and/or community partners; Investigation of the impact of our civic engagement efforts; and Sharing of ideas and learnings in civic engagement on campus and beyond. All student efforts are representative of the JCCP’s continued commitment to…

Eleven students from CSPL 239, Startup Incubator: The Art and Science of Launching Your Idea, took turns standing before an audience of their peers and members of Middletown's Chamber of Commerce on the second floor of Main Street Market. Each offered a polished presentation detailing the need for their proposed startup, their mission, target market, and success indicators for the business, nonprofit, or community-based program they imagine. The evening was hosted through Collision-CT and the Middletown Entrepreneurs Workspace Plus (MEWS+). The course was made possible by CTNext and the Newman’s Own Foundation. Taught this year by Visiting Assistant Professor of…

In this Q&A, we speak to Clifton Watson, who joined Wesleyan as director of the Jewett Center for Community Partnerships (JCCP) in February. A New Haven, Conn., native, Watson holds a BA from the University of Connecticut in African American studies, an MA from North Carolina Central in history, and a doctorate from Fordham in history. His dissertation explores the northern migration of African Americans who settled in the Newhallville area of New Haven—which is where he grew up. Q: Please tell us a bit about your background . . . what drew you to Wesleyan? How did you know…

Wesleyan seeks to strengthen sexual assault prevention and response programs by developing partnerships with local community resources. On Dec. 19, President Michael Roth formalized a partnership with the Women and Families Center of Middletown (WFC) and Connecticut Sexual Assault Crisis Services, Inc (CONNSACS) through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). This MOU formalizes the commitment of all three agencies to work together to provide trauma-informed services to student and employee victims of sexual assault and to improve the overall response to sexual assault at Wesleyan and within the greater Middletown community. (more…)

You’d be surprised by what people don’t know about Wesleyan’s community engagement and service programs. Or, what people think they know. “Students and others think that community service at Wesleyan is an individual, versus a university effort, or just one semester for one student, on their own,” said Cathy Lechowicz, director of the Center for Community Partnerships. A new publicity campaign launched by the CCP last month aims to fix those misimpressions. The reality is that Wesleyan has a broad community engagement plan that ranges from hiring local contractors and sourcing local food to providing volunteers to Middletown service agencies,…

Wesleyan jazz musicians have been tooting their own horns to the local community. During spring semester, the 20-member band has performed six times at public elementary, middle and high schools in Middletown. They work under the direction of vibraphonist-composer Jay Hoggard, adjunct associate professor of music. "It's good for the Wesleyan students to get out of their little shell of the universe according to Momma Wesleyan, go a few blocks away and play for young people who may or may not have been exposed to this type of music before," Hoggard says. "We're representing jazz and we’re representing Wesleyan." The…

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The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching recently recognized Wesleyan for its continued involvement in community outreach by selecting the university as a recipient of a 2008 Community Engagement Classification. The university was among 119 institutions (and among two in Connecticut) that received this classification for 2008. The foundation initiated the community engagement classification in 2006. Visit this page for more information and a list of the selected institutions. "The significance of Wesleyan receiving the Carnegie Foundation Community Engagement Classification is major in light of this historic moment we experienced this week in our country," said Sonia BasSheva Mañjon,…

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JCCP Awards 13 Student-Led Groups with Innovation Funds

2020 JCCP Student Innovation Fund Grantees Announced

Startup Incubator Class Pitches Ideas to Middletown Community

Watson Directs the Jewett Center for Community Partnerships

Wesleyan Strengthens Sexual Assault Prevention Efforts by Partnering with Community Services

CCP’s New Campaign Focuses on Little-Known Facts about Wesleyan’s Engagement

Jazz Orchestra Performs for Local Public Schools

Students Cook, Serve Desserts to Senior Citizens

Carnegie Foundation Honors Wesleyan’s Civic Engagement

Wesleyan, Community Design Festive Greens