HAMILTON, N.Y. The Community Foundation of Herkimer & Oneida Counties has given ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ substantial funds to help establish a service learning project in Utica, N.Y.
The $75,500 grant, from the Foundation’s Harriet T. McGrath Fund, will support the university’s new Utica Field School. The university will dedicate similar funding to the project, which will allow students to conduct summer fieldwork in support of community service organizations in Utica.
The Utica Field School will be administered at ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ by its newly inaugurated Center for Outreach, Volunteerism, and Education (COVE). The COVE’s co-director, Associate Professor of Sociology Adam Weinberg, is working with Utica not-for-profit organizations in order to design projects that will both assist the organizations and provide a research experience for ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ students. Each student will conduct 10 weeks of fieldwork during the summer and will present project findings to the sponsoring organization.
¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ students volunteer in approximately two dozen area community service organizations, ranging from tutoring in local schools to building houses with Habitat for Humanity to serving as ‘Sidekicks’ to children from low-income families.
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