Office of Community-Engaged Learning, Vassar College

09/03/2026

09/02/2026

We’re hiring CEL Drivers! 🚌

Interested in helping students get where they need to go while supporting community partnerships?Join the OCEL team and help make community-engaged learning accessible by supporting transportation to Community Partner locations.

CEL Drivers play an important role in connecting Vassar students with meaningful experiences throughout the community.

Applicants must have held a driver’s license for at least two years with a clean driving record.

Apply today with JobX ID 5500!

08/27/2026

Welcome new students & welcome back returning students! 🌞

If you are interested in social justice and community engagement, come to the OCEL, located in Main Building, North Wing room 165. We are here to answer your questions about how to get involved with Community Partners through CEL, answer your voter questions, and connect with the local school district!

Stop by to make an appointment, or follow the links in bio. We can’t wait to meet you! 🐝

08/20/2026

Hello! My name is Will, and I am a Psychological Sciences major. I worked with the Art Effect as a Community Fellow this summer, a non-profit organization that works to empower young people to develop their creative voice. I was interested in working with The Art Effect for quite some time, and was especially drawn to their use of artmaking as a vehicle for social change, as they promote critical conversations and open dialogue among young people. As an aspiring teacher interested in community building and educational reform, this opportunity felt incredibly meaningful.

This summer, I worked alongside the Poughkeepsie Board of Artistic Youth (PK B.A.Y.) Coalition facilitated by The Art Effect. PK B.A.Y. is a youth-led leadership organization that allows local teens to shape after school programs, design public art installations, and plan community events like the annual PKX Festival. This summer, we had the privilege of partnering with Celebrating the African Spirit to assist in programming and facilitation for the first 4 weeks of the summer session.

Hi! My name is Sadia and I am a Studio Art major. This summer I worked with Celebrating the African Spirit (CAS), a community organization that acknowledges, articulates, researches, and commemorates the lives of enslaved Africans in Poughkeepsie, New York. I worked with Celebrating the African Spirit because of its mission to uncover hidden histories relating to the Black community. I did the summer intensive in the past and I wanted to provide highschoolers in Poughkeepsie the same support I was given and cherished so much.

For our day in the life we will be taking you through a programming day including a workshop with artivist Poet Gold (Gold ) and brainstorming for our students’ posters. Our student workers designed these posters and showcased their knowledge at the annual Frederick Douglass Day celebration, which was celebrated on August 1, 2026. The Art Effect Celebrating The African Spirit

08/19/2026

Hi, I am Jevonni Taylor! I am a rising junior and an STS major. Over the summer, I worked as a Community Fellow at Dutchess Outreach which acknowledges and tackles the food insecurity that exists in our community.

I wanted to work in the City of Poughkeepsie this summer and learn more about the population that lives there. I also found it important to be of service to the residents of Dutchess County, and aligned with Dutchess Outreach’s ideology that “Food is not charity, it is a human right,”

Here are a few things I worked on:

The Food Pantry is open Monday-Friday, except on Wednesdays, from 9 AM-3 PM and serves hundreds of families. Individuals can come every two weeks and shop for the groceries and toiletries they need.

The Lunch Box is open Monday–Friday: 11:15 AM–1 PM and 4:30–5:30 PM and Sunday: 12–1 PM. This program serves both fresh hot meals and cold sandwiches for lunch and dinner. Within the last year, they served close to 100,000 meals. Recently, Dutchess Outreach has partnered with the PODS, leading to the Lunch Box making meals to feed those who reside in that particular homeless shelter.

The Food Pharmacy/FAM is a partnership between Nuvance Health and Dutchess Outreach. Open on Wednesdays from 9 AM to 5 PM, the objective of FAM is to aid in the treatment of food-insecure clients who have been diagnosed with nutrition-sensitive chronic conditions, such as hypertension. I was interested in learning how the social determinants of health lead to disparaging health outcomes for marginalized groups, in which I have gained some insight from working in FAM.

Dutchess Outreach is a vital staple of the Poughkeepsie community as they happily and consistently provide food and aid to our community members!

Working at Dutchess Outreach has allowed me to hear the stories of my community members while simultaneously being able to help them, brightening their day overall. Vassar College Dutchess Outreach

08/11/2026

Hi! My name is Sabine (she/her), and I am a senior Urban Studies major. This summer, I am working as a Fringe Cities Fellow for MASS in the Hudson Valley Office! It has been a lot of fun.

I chose to work at MASS because I was excited by the potential of the built environment to impact people’s day-to-day lives, especially in Poughkeepsie, where I have lived and studied for the past three years. Here, I have mostly been working on designing, running, and synthesizing information from community engagement initiatives for Choice, a neighborhood revitalization initiative funded by the US Department of Housing and Urban Design.

I’ve also been working on various grant opportunities for the Poughkeepsie Cistern, an incredible former reservoir and hopefully future music venue. I’ve been very lucky to be doing all this under my lovely supervisors, Chris and Justin. I hope you enjoy my day and follow along with MASS at Model of Architecture Serving Society!

07/31/2026

Fall Community-Engaged Learning (CEL) is almost here!

The OCEL team has been preparing for the semester and checking in with our community partners to discuss Fall 2026 community partner projects. Plus, we’ve opened more CEL #290 appointments to help you get started.

If you’re looking to connect your academic interests with meaningful community engagement or want to learn more about Poughkeepsie, now is the perfect time to explore Community-Engaged Learning.

Through CEL ( #290), you’ll work alongside local community partners, deepen your understanding of social issues, connect your experiences to your coursework with a faculty sponsor, and earn 0.5 or 1.0 units of academic credit.

Whether you already have an idea or aren’t sure where to start, we’re here to help you find a community partner that aligns with your interests and goals. Book a CEL appointment through the link in our bio!

07/24/2026

This summer, our Exploring College Poughkeepsie High School scholars are building the skills to thrive - after high school, in college, in their communities, and beyond.

During our recent sessions, students explored themes of self-awareness and self-management. They reflected on their own stories through writing personal narratives and personal statements for college applications, and discussed Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s powerful TED Talk, The Danger of a Single Story.

Together, they’ve engaged in thoughtful discussions, challenged their assumptions, shared their own experiences, and engaged in creative activities.

We also have an amazing facilitation team that we wanted to highlight! Jayda, Anika, Jhanae, and Anabel have been creating a space in Exploring College that allows scholars to grow as learners, storytellers, and community members.

To learn more about the Exploring College Program, click on the link in our bio.

07/22/2026

Hello!! My name is Sarahi, I’m a Neuroscience and Behavior major with a correlate in Education at Vassar and I use she/her pronouns. As a Community Fellow, I work at DAY ONE Early Learning Center (DAY ONE). DAY ONE offers early learning and a Teacher Apprenticeship Program (TAP) that offers an alternative pathway into the education field.

At DAY ONE, I work with my supervisor, Indra Ong, as a Literacy Research Assistant. She’s the one to my right in the second picture, and to my left is Estefany, the Director of Strategic Partnerships & Workforce Initiatives. I usually walk over to DAY ONE (I’ve seen 4 cats on my walks so far).

This summer, I have been expanding my knowledge and understanding of bilingual immersion at the early childhood level. We attended a conference on bilingual education at Rutgers to learn more about the important qualities of bilingual education and best practices in the classroom. This research will help start a bilingual program at DAY ONE, responding to the large student and teacher bilingual population which is representative of the Poughkeepsie community. I’ve also researched children’ s books with inclusive topics, worked closely with students in the classrooms, organized the children’s library, and joined TAP sessions to learn more about early childhood education.

Another project I’ve worked on so far has been organizing a book fair for the students as I highlight in this post. With the guidance of my supervisor, I categorized books in different themes, organized the space for the book fair, created labels, signs and “Day One” dollar bills to incorporate play-based learning in this book fair. I would say the book fair was a success!! It’s been really exciting working on these different projects and getting to know the DAY ONE community over these past 6 weeks.