Groups
A more interactive Dwight Hall webpage for our member groups is launching soon!
Also, please see our Spring 2012 Guide for Service and Advocacy and look for an updated version at our Fall 2012 Bazaar on Wednesday, September 12!
Below is a list of Dwight Hall’s groups. Click on the name of the group for a website (if available) and description, then click ‘top’ to return to the list.
AIDS Walk/ Watch – AIDS Walk/ Watch New Haven is a 5K walk to raise money to provide support services to individuals and families infected and affected by HIV/AIDS in the greater New Haven community.
AIESEC – AIESEC provides students with international internship opportunities and provides local businesses with international interns in order to fulfill the organization’s mission of promoting global cultural understanding.
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) - The ACLU Yale College Chapter is a public-interest organization that works to protect civil liberties in both our local and extended communities by promoting awareness and education, facilitating discussion, and providing a network for coordinated action.
American Red Cross at Yale - American Red Cross at Yale strives to promote service and activism for health-related issues on the Yale campus and in New Haven as part of the national American Red Cross.
Amnesty International - Amnesty International is the Yale chapter of a Nobel Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with over a million members worldwide.
Aprendiendos Ingles Solido
Arab Student Association – The group’s mission is to break down stereotypes, and create a bridge between the Arab and Arab- American community and the Yale Campus.
Best Buddies – The Yale chapter of this international non-profit organization matches Yale undergraduates (called College Buddies) in one-to-one friendships with members of the New Haven community who have intellectual disabilities (called Buddies).
Black Church at Yale – The Black Church at Yale (BCAY) is a multiracial, interdenominational, student-based Christian church that worships in the African American tradition.
Black Men’s Union
Black Solidarity Conference – The Black Solidarity Conference serves as a forum for students of color to exchange ideas and opinions about pressing issues while providing an avenue to network with peers.
Black Student Alliance at Yale – The Black Student Alliance at Yale (BSAY) is a multi-cultural organization dedicated to enhancing the lives of Black students at Yale through political action, community action, and social events.
Bridges – Bridges is a non-profit organization that provides free one-on-one or small group English as a Second Language tutoring to members of the Greater New Haven Community.
Building Bridges – Building Bridges is an undergraduate organization at Yale University that strives to establish connections between Yale and Chinese undergraduates and the Chinese rural students they teach.
Bulldogs at New Haven Reads - They seek to help New Haven Reads (NHR) bring literacy to the children of greater New Haven.
College Council for CARE - The CCC is the first-ever college youth program for CARE and one of the first Yale organizations to focus on international development.
Colleges Against Cancer – Colleges Against Cancer is a nationwide student-led movement to increase awareness about cancer issues, to support survivors and caregivers, and to make the fight against cancer a priority on college campuses.
Community Based Learning - Community Based Learning (CBL) allows students and community organizations to work together to meet both students’ academic requirements and an organization’s needs.
Community Health Educators – CHE members write and teach a health curriculum composed of a series of workshops in local public high schools and middle schools.
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority – Delta Sigma Theta is an international, public service organization. Historically it is an African-American sorority comprised of over 200,000 college-educated women, organized in over 950 chapters.
DEMOS - Demos aims to bring fun and exciting science demonstrations into New Haven elementary schools.
Dwight Hall Academic Mentoring Program at Yale - An initiative that pairs 15 Yale students with 30 middle school students from Wexler-Grant Elementary School.
Dwight Hall Early Childhood Education Fellowship - Fellows train students to be advocates for quality early childhood education.
Dwight Hall Management and Marketing Fellows -The Dwight Hall Management Fellows Program engages Fellows in a paid, yearlong business internship in which they learn about the complex issues involved with non-profit management through hands-on experience tackling a diversity of relevant projects. The Marketing fellows initiative seeks to engage freshmen in Dwight Hall activities and integrate public service into the lives of all undergraduates at Yale.
Dwight Hall Municipal Policy Assistant Program – Policy assistants serve as research aides to legislative committees on New Haven’s Board of Aldermen.
Dwight Hall Public School Internship Program – Public School Interns serve as liaisons between Yale volunteers/organizations and an assigned New Haven public school to ensure that the needs of each school are being met and that volunteers are being used effectively.
Dwight Hall Summer Fellowship Program – Dwight Hall Summer Fellows receive a stipend to spend their summers in New Haven working full-time on a project that they have designed in direct response to a community need.
Dwight Hall Urban Fellows Program – Urban fellows work with New Haven community organizations to address challenges of urban living (i.e. economic development, community building, family empowerment, and public health).
Elmseed Enterprise Fund - Elmseed’s mission is to facilitate the creation of successful small businesses in New Haven.
Engineers Without Borders – Engineers Without Borders is a non-profit humanitarian organization established to partner with developing communities worldwide in order to improve their quality of life.
Fierce Advocates – Fierce Advocates is a social justice organization dedicated to improving the lives of LGBTQ and allied people through community service and political action.
FOCUS – FOCUS on New Haven is a week-long pre-Camp Yale program for rising sophomores that introduces them to the city of New Haven.
Genocide Action Project – The Genocide Action Project (Gen-Act; formerly Yale STAND) is an undergraduate student organization at Yale University dedicated to ending and preventing genocide and related conflicts around the world.
Girl Empowerment Magazine – GEM’s mission is two-fold: 1)To aid female high school students in the production of a magazine about women’s issues whose content is wholly controlled by them; 2)To form strong mentoring relationships between Yale women and motivated female New Haven High School students, enabling both groups to become a more aware and efficacious citizenry.
Girls Run – Girls Run is an after-school running program for fourth to sixth grade girls at middle schools in New Haven.
Habitat for Humanity - Habitat for Humanity (Yale’s Branch) is committed to helping build homes for families in need in the greater New Haven area.
HAPPY (Hypertension Awareness & Prevention Project at Yale) – HAPPY trains dedicated volunteers to conduct regular blood pressure screenings in New Haven community centers.
Harvest – Harvest’s mission is to ease the transition of freshmen into Yale college by running preorientation trips to organic farms around Connecticut.
Hemispheres – The Yale International Relations Association’s (YIRA) Hemispheres program works with 8th-12th grade students from New Haven public schools on developing a thorough understanding of current affairs.
Instrumental Connection - Instrumental Connection is comprised of Yale students dedicated to bringing music to children in the New Haven community who otherwise could not afford music lessons.
Jews for Justice – Jews for Justice is a pluralistic community of Jews united by a commitment to pursuing social and economic justice at Yale, in New Haven, across America, and around the world.
Living Water – Living Water is a Christian a cappella group with the goal of demonstrating the love of God to people through our music.
Luther House Tutoring – Luther House is a small group of Yale students who tutor elementary and middle-school-aged children once a week in the Hill neighborhood around Resurrection Lutheran Church. Our aim is not evangelical and most of our tutors are not Lutheran.
Manson Prison Education Initiative
MATHCOUNTS Outreach – Mathcounts is a national middle school math enrichment program and competition.
MEChA – MEChA is a student organization that seeks to promote Chicano unity and empowerment through education and political action.
Microfinance Brigades - Microfinance Brigades (MFB) provides poverty-stricken communities in the developing world with the educational, financial, and organizational resources necessary to sustainably drive their own economic development.
Mind Matters – Mind Matters is the undergraduate mental health awareness and education group on campus. Note: We are not a provider of mental health care or a counseling service, but we can show students a variety of options available to them on campus.
Minorities in Medicine Movement – Students help develop interest in medicine amongst underrepresented minority high school students.
The Musical Cure – Founded in the spring of 2001, The Musical Cure at Yale is a service organization devoted to bringing the healing touch of music to those within the greater New Haven community.
Muslim Students Association – A key part of their mission is to educate both the Yale and New Haven communities about Islam.
NAACP Yale Chapter
New Haven Action – New Haven Action is a non-partisan organization that works on issue-based campaigns in New Haven to empower community members.
No Closed Doors – No Closed Doors (NCD) is a case-management agency run entirely by student volunteers in New Haven.
Nourish International – Nourish International invites students at colleges across the country to be a part of the solution to global poverty.
Operation Smile – Operation Smile is an international, non-profit organization that sends teams of surgeons and other health professionals to over 25 countries worldwide to do free reconstructive surgeries on children with facial deformities.
Panorama Education – Panorama Education helps K-12 educators improve instruction, increase parent engagement, attract and retain great teachers, and foster a positive campus culture.
PALS Tutoring and Mentoring – PALS is a tutoring and mentoring group that allows Yale students to develop one-on-one relationships with children from the New Haven area.
Peace by PEACE – Peace by PEACE volunteers teach non-violent conflict resolution skills to 5th and 6th graders through games, role plays, and discussions.
Public Health Coalition – The mission of the Public Health Coalition is to collaboratively promote public health awareness, education and service in the Yale and New Haven communities.
Reach Out – Reach Out is committed to providing Yale students with opportunities to learn about, travel to, and work in developing countries around the world.
Read the Disc
Ready Set Launch
Roosevelt Institution at Yale – The Roosevelt Institution at Yale is a founding chapter of the nation’s first progressive student think tank.
Rotaract Club – The mission of Rotary International is to provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through its fellowship of business, professional, and community leaders.
RYSA (Remedy at Yale Student Association) – The primary mission of RYSA is to recover unused medical supplies from Yale-New Haven Hospital and other health care centers, agencies, charity foundations, and private practices around New Haven, CT.
Salt of the Earth – Salt of the Earth is committed to exploring the intersection of Christian faith and social justice through fellowship, prayer, discussion and action.
Secular Student Alliance
SMArT – Science and Math Acheiver Teams SMArT promotes an interest in science and improves problem-solving skills by providing each child with a caring Yale student-mentor who will help instill positive values and academic motivation by serving as a role model and friend.
Special Olympics
Splatter Magazine – Splatter! Magazine encourages creative expression in New Haven students by holding writing and illustration workshops in local middle schools and publishing a magazine of student work.
Squash Haven – Squash Haven’s mission is to promote academic, athletic, and personal growth through a program of squash instruction, individual academic support/tutoring, health and fitness instruction, and community service.
Student Global Health and AIDS Coalition
Thi[NK] – Thi[NK] seeks to: advocate for human rights, political and religious freedom, and humanitarian aid for North Korea; empower citizens of the world to take effective action; and bring together and support existing NGOs and other organizations working to achieve the same ends.
TIES (Tutoring In Elementary Schools) – Provides tutoring and special project assistance to children in New Haven public elementary schools.
Ulysses S. Grant Foundation - The Ulysses S. Grant Foundation is an academic summer program for talented and motivated middle school students from New Haven.
Unite for Sight – Raise funds for providing free eye care to people in impoverished regions of developing countries.
Universities Allied for Essential Medicine
Urban Debate League – The New Haven Urban Debate League seeks to promote debate in the New Haven Public Schools in order to increase the researching, public speaking, and critical thinking skills of New Haven students.
Vietnamese Student Assocaition – VSA’s mission is to promote Vietnamese culture and to encourage a strong community among our members and the greater Yale community.
Visions of Virtue – Visions of Virtue is an opportunity for Christian women at Yale to nurture, support and encourage teenage ladies in New Haven and neighboring communities.
Wishing Well: Water for the World – Wishing Well seeks to raise money to build clean water wells in the developing world.
Women and Youth Supporting Each Other (WYSE) – Women and Youth Supporting Each Other, or WYSE, is a national mentoring organization and project of Community Partners.
World Micro Market – World Micro-Market, a committee of the international development organization Reach Out, is a not-for-profit student-run organization which sells handicrafts and artwork from NGOs abroad on Yale’s campus at regular markets.
Yale Bookmarks/ Summer Buds – Summer Buds is reading program which pairs Yalies staying in New Haven over the summer with middle-achieving middle schoolers from New Haven public schools to read with them for two evenings a week for three hours total.
Yale Children’s Theater – YCT is an undergraduate organization dedicated to using creative expression to bring joy to children and Yalies alike.
Yale Hunger And Homelessness Action Project (YHHAP) – YHHAP is a student-run, not-for-profit organization that works on behalf of New Haven’s homeless and near-homeless communities. Through direct service, fundraising, education, and advocacy, we aim to alleviate the immediate effects of homelessness while working to address its root causes and pursuing long-term solutions.
Yale Refugee Project – The YRP serves New Haven’s refugee population by pairing Yale students with refugees to tutor English, help with job searches, and a number of other tasks.
Yale Sight Savers – The Yale Sight Savers Program (YSSP) is a collaboration between the faculty and students of Yale College, the Yale School of Medicine and the Yale Medical Group, united by the common goal of reducing the burden of glaucoma-related vision loss in the community.
Yale Student Environmental Coalition – YSEC is an environmental umbrella organization that runs coalition-wide advocacy and social events.
Yale Undergraduate Philanthropic Society – YUPS (formerly APO) is a community service group dedicated to leadership, friendship, and service.
Yale Undergraduate Students for UNICEF
Yale Undergraduates at Connecticut Hospice – YUCH volunteers serve at the CT Hospice facility, which provides around-the-clock compassionate and expert care to patients and their families, as they cope with an irreversible illness.
Youth Together (Middle School) – Youth Together Middle School is a mentoring and tutoring program.
Detailed Group List
AIDS Walk/ Watch
http://www.yale.edu/yaw/
AIDS Walk/ Watch New Haven is a 5K walk to raise money to provide support services to individuals and families infected and affected by HIV/AIDS in the greater New Haven community. Their goals are to raise money, increase public awareness, promote prevention through advocacy, and unite the Yale-New Haven community against stigma, apathy and infection.
AIESEC
http://aiesec-yale.co.cc/wordpress/
AIESEC provides students with international internship opportunities and provides local businesses with international interns in order to fulfill the organization’s mission of promoting global cultural understanding. Founded in Europe in 1948, AIESEC is the largest student- run organization in the world, with over 800 local committees in 110 countries worldwide. AIESEC at Yale was founded in 1957, with notable alumni including the late senator John Heinz and senator John Kerry. The students who do AIESEC (pronounced eye-sek) send fellow Yale students abroad on meaningful work exchanges, and develop themselves as young professionals as they network and contract with local businesses. At the same time, they develop their international network by working with ambitious students from 800 universities worldwide. AIESEC believes individuals should look for opportunities to build their global network, expand their worldview, and gain leadership skills. They believe individuals should use their leadership skills and a global perspective to increase international understanding and cooperation. Our belief is that if large numbers of individuals were to act in this way, it could be a solution to a more secure and peaceful world.
ACLU
http://www.yale.edu/aclu/
The ACLU Yale College Chapter is a public-interest organization that works to protect civil liberties in both our local and extended communities by promoting awareness and education, facilitating discussion, and providing a network for coordinated action.
American Red Cross at Yale
American Red Cross at Yale strives to promote service and activism for health-related issues on the Yale campus and in New Haven as part of the national American Red Cross. They work closely with Connecticut Blood Services and our local South Central Connecticut chapter, and seek to become more involved with groups beyond New Haven, including the Harvard College chapter, and are looking into joining national campaigns and conventions with the Red Cross. They organize and run four campus-wide blood drives each year. Other activities include teaching a health and safety education program at local elementary schools, and fundraising campaigns for the local chapter and national Red Cross initiatives. They collaborate with other campus groups to respond to national disasters and raise awareness about health and safety-related issues on campus.
Amnesty International
http://www.yale.edu/amnesty/
Amnesty Interational is the Yale chapter of a Nobel Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with over a million members worldwide. Amnesty International is dedicated to freeing prisoners of conscience, gaining fair trials for political prisoners, ending torture, political killings and disappearances, and abolishing the death penalty throughout the world. They maintain an active presence on campus, with awareness campaigns, discussion panels, movie screenings, letter-writing sessions, and other activities. They are open to new topics and ideas for action. Every week since Spring 2006, they have sent letters asking for the release of prisoners of conscience; at our table at Commons, they typically get 200 signatures per week on such letters.
Arab Student Association
The group’s mission is to break down stereotypes, and create a bridge between the Arab and Arab- American community and the Yale Campus. This also extends to giving back to the larger New Haven community, especially when it comes to the needs of immigrants from the Arab world, and public high schools and institutions that wish for ASA volunteers to represent the Middle East in presentations and informatory campaigns.
Best Buddies
http://bestbuddies.org/
The Yale chapter of this international non-profit organization matches Yale undergraduates (called College Buddies) in one-to-one friendships with members of the New Haven community who have intellectual disabilities (called Buddies). While the emphasis of Best Buddies is always on the one-to-one friendships between Buddies and College Buddies, this chapter also hosts a number of exciting group activities and outings throughout the year, including bowling outings, movie nights, Yale sporting events, and holiday dinners.
Black Church at Yale
The Black Church at Yale (BCAY) is a multiracial, interdenominational, student-based Christian church that worships in the African American tradition. It is their vision to nurture and empower students to walk, talk, and live the gospel of Jesus Christ. They welcome all people; their ministry has taken them outside of the church and into the global community that they inhabit. They recognize that community service and activism are vital to the Christian walk. They have sponsored international service trips, purchased Christmas gifts for orphaned children, visited homeless shelters, and contributed to the fight to save Darfur. As they serve those around them, they endeavor to be examples of Godly love that they might enrich the lives of others.
Black Solidarity Conference
http://www.yale.edu/bsc/
The Black Solidarity Conference was founded in 1994 around the concept of Black Solidarity Day, an event inspired by Douglas Turner Ward’s play Day of Absence. The conference serves as a forum for students of color to exchange ideas and opinions about pressing issues while providing an avenue to network with peers. In the past we have had speakers such as Dr. Na’im Akbar, Dr. Kathleen Cleaver, Aaron McGruder, Spike Lee, Cousin Jeff from Cousin Jeff Chronicles, Tavis Smiley, Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, and most recently, Dr. Cornel West.
Black Students Alliance at Yale (BSAY)
The Black Student Alliance at Yale (BSAY) is a multi-cultural organization dedicated to enhancing the lives of Black students at Yale through political action, community action, and social events. Understanding that the world changes for the better through the determined efforts of concerned people, and that we are strongest when we are united, BSAY exists in order to create that unity and foster that change in hopes of furthering the cause of equality. As a student-run organization, BSAY is responsible for advocating for the students at Yale, taking political stands, and creating the sense of community necessary to unite students to work for positive change. On campus, they strive to meet the needs of the Black community by holding weekly meetings that are pertinent to the lives of Black students on campus and that create a supportive community for all Black students at Yale. BSAY strives create a safe and active community in order to adequately represent and respond to the Black community. This sense of community must come from both current social activities and from a sense of shared history and culture. Their strength comes from not only the collective struggle of our contemporaries but also the cumulative struggles of thousands who have sacrificed before them.
Bridges
http://www.yale.edu/bridges/
Bridges is a non-profit organization that provides free one-on-one or small group English as a Second Language tutoring to members of the Greater New Haven Community. Tutors design their own curriculum but are provided with instructional books and other teaching aids if needed. The program provides several levels of instruction depending on each student’s needs: Survival, Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced. Bridges also publishes an annual collection of the student’s work.
Building Bridges
http://www.bbusc.org/index.html
Building Bridges is an undergraduate organization at Yale University that strives to establish connections between Yale and Chinese undergraduates and the Chinese rural students they teach. As one of Yale’s newest organizations, Building Bridges is a student organization that started at Yale University in 2008 to involve college students in pooling educational resources and capital to teach disadvantaged children in China. Alongside their peers from top Chinese universities, they seek to raise awareness among students everywhere about China’s current state of education and society. Building Bridges opportunities engage the diversity of experiences among American and Chinese college and high school students, migrant children in Beijing, earthquake survivors in Sichuan, cross-cultural NGOs, and other interest groups.
Bulldogs at New Haven Reads
http://newhavenreads.org/
Their mission is consistent with that of the non-profit organization New Haven Reads. They seek to help NHR bring literacy to the children of greater New Haven. They hope to accomplish this by serving as a bridge between Yale University and New Haven Reads.
College Council for CARE
http://careatyale.org/
The CCC is the first-ever college youth program for CARE and one of the first Yale organizations to focus on international development. CARE, which is one of the world’s largest private international development and relief organizations, has been providing sustainable solutions to poverty for the world’s poorest communities since 1945. Care BUDS (Bringing an Understanding of Development to Students) seeks to give students an understanding of their global context, promote learning about poverty, and discuss the basic rights and needs that bring us all together.
Colleges Against Cancer
Colleges Against Cancer is a nationwide student-led movement to increase awareness about cancer issues, to support survivors and caregivers, and to make the fight against cancer a priority on college campuses. What this really means is that they are fed up with this disease, and they have come together to say so. Too many of their friends and family members have been affected by cancer for them to sit by without taking action. Instead, they reach out to our peers, professors, and fellow community members: educating, supporting, and encouraging their involvement. They advocate for legislation that favors cancer research, access to preventive screenings, and improved patient services. They educate about different types of cancer, their effects, and their risk factors. They build relationships with cancer patients and offer support networks for students on campus. They provide students with an open forum in which to discuss anything related to cancer. And perhaps most visibly, they hold an annual Relay For Life, which has become one of the largest campus-wide events each spring.
Community Based Learning
http://www.yale.edu/cbl/CBL.html
Community-Based Learning (CBL) allows students and community organizations to work together to meet both students’ academic requirements and an organization’s needs. Community nonprofit and government organizations identify projects of research, analysis, or evaluation that would be helpful to them. These projects are then matched to courses at Yale. Students complete research for the community organizations which compliments coursework; in the past, the research has culminated in a paper that serves as the final project for the class and serves as a resource for the organization. The goal of the CBL project is to assist rather than merely study the organizations, although the work that students do for the organization will be incorporated into a final research paper or project for their class.
Community Health Educators
CHE members write and teach a health curriculum composed of a series of workshops in local public high schools and middle schools. CHE was founded in 1999 in response to the absence of health education funding and thereby responds directly to local need. Their members are primarily undergraduates though they welcome graduate and professional students to apply. They reach over 1000 students from over 15 schools each academic year. With a mission to “empower teenagers with the skills, self respect, and knowledge needed to make healthy decisions about their bodies and their futures,” they develop and teach workshops that span the topics of Communication, Contraception, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Nutrition, Drugs and Alcohol, and Relationships and Abuse, as well as Puberty for middle school. They use discussion-based workshops to impart knowledge rather than dictate behavior so that students can make healthy decisions for themselves. CHE works with public school administrators, teachers, and students to create the most effective strategies to respond to the new and challenging needs of the New Haven community.
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
Delta Sigma Theta is an international, public service organization. Historically it is an African-American sorority comprised of over 200,000 college-educated women, organized in over 950 chapters. The Pi Alpha chapter is a city-wide chapter comprised of Yale, SCSU, UNH, Albertus Magnus and Wesleyan. All members of the New Haven community are invited to participate in our community service projects, which include on-going and one-time service in Economic Development, Educational Development, International Awareness and Involvement, Physical and Mental Health, and Political Awareness and Involvement.
DEMOS
http://www.yale.edu/demos/index.html
Demos aims to bring fun and exciting science demonstrations into New Haven elementary schools. Their pairs of volunteers spend one hour per week completing a science experiment and explaining the concepts. They also have teams doing larger auditorium presentations for Demos Assemblies,
and pairs who go out and teach kids about astronomy in an inflatable planetarium.
Dwight Hall Academic Mentoring Program
This is the third year for an initiative that pairs 15 Yale students with 30 middle school students from Wexler-Grant Elementary School. The mentor pairs are sustained through all 3 years, with the goal of providing support to students who have struggled academically at the start of middle school in order to reduce dropout rates. DHAMPY employs a triangular mentoring model that fosters an academics-centered relationship between the mentee, the mentor, and a peer student.
Dwight Hall Early Childhood Education Fellows
Dwight Hall Early Childhood Education Fellows train students to be advocates for quality early childhood education. The program places up to 8 students in high-quality childcare centers that serve mixed-income children. This year’s Fellows provide daycare at All Our Kin, Calvin Hill, Creating Kids, United Community Nursery, and Edith B. Jackson. Fellows gather for a weekly seminar on early childhood development and policy analysis, led by staff from All Our Kin.
Dwight Hall Management and Marketing Fellows
The Dwight Hall Management Fellows Program engages Fellows in a paid, yearlong business internship in which they learn about the complex issues involved with non-profit management through hands-on experience tackling a diversity of relevant projects. Management Fellows have the unique opportunity to work one-on-one with Dwight Hall’s General Secretary, Program Coordinator, and Board of Directors. They have the opportunity to experience the different facets and day-to-day operations of a non-profit organization while completing tasks and projects under the support of a Dwight Hall staff member and an outside adviser. The specific projects on which the Fellows concentrate are flexible, as determined by the interests and expertise of the group, as well as the needs of Dwight Hall. While individual projects may vary, Management Fellows work together on a weekly basis and share a commitment to strengthening Dwight Hall.
Dwight Hall Marketing Fellows new initiative seeks to engage freshmen in Dwight Hall activities and integrate public service into the lives of all undergraduates at Yale. The Marketing Fellows will work to ensure that Dwight Hall remains an integral part of undergraduate student life as it prepares to move its headquarters to 143 Elm Street.
Dwight Hall Municipal Policy Assistant Program
Policy assistants serve as research aides to legislative committees on New Haven’s Board of Aldermen. The program, funded by the Yale Office of New Haven and State Affairs and run through New Haven Action, provides students with a unique understanding of urban policy and the legislative process. Two year placements are desirable. Currently, policy assistants serve the following committees: City Services, Environmental Policy, Community Development, Finance, Legislation, and Public Safety.
Dwight Hall Public School Interns
Public School Interns serve as liaisons between Yale volunteers/organizations and an assigned New Haven public school to ensure that the needs of each school are being met and that volunteers are being used effectively. Run with support from the Office of New Haven Affairs, Public School Interns are available to answer questions regarding the needs and interests of their specific skills and provide an invaluable link between Yale and the school community.
Dwight Hall Summer Fellowship Program
Dwight Hall Summer Fellows receive a stipend to spend their summers in New Haven working full-time on a project that they have designed in direct response to a community need. Former interns have worked with organizations such as CitySeed, Planned Parenthood, and Community Mediation. They have completed projects ranging from the development of a resource guide on homeless health care resources to the development of a 10-year neighborhood plan in conjunction with community leaders.
Dwight Hall Urban Fellows Program
Urban fellows work with New Haven community organizations to address challenges of urban living (i.e. economic development, community building, family empowerment, and public health). The program, funded by the Yale Office of New Haven Affairs, provides a unique experience, training the fellow through exposure to contemporary urban issues. Two year placements are desirable. Recent placements include Empower New Haven, Junta for Progressive Action, City Hall, Ct Voices for Children, CitySeed, and several more.
Elmseed Enterprise Fund
http://elmseed.org/
Elmseed’s mission is to facilitate the creation of successful small businesses in New Haven. By providing access to small, low-interest loans and technical assistance, Elmseed seeks to open the capital markets to motivated entrepreneurs who lack the capital or resources to start or expand small businesses.
Engineers Without Borders
Engineers Without Borders is a non-profit humanitarian organization established to partner with developing communities worldwide in order to improve their quality of life. This partnership involves the implementation of sustainable engineering projects, while involving and training internationally responsible engineers and engineering students. Since our founding in 2004, EWB-Yale has been fortunate to work with communities in Honduras and Cameroon on projects improving water and sanitation systems.
Fierce Advocates
Fierce Advocates is a social justice organization dedicated to improving the lives of LGBTQ and allied people through community service and political action.- Examples of their activities include: a Generation Equality fall conference on Yale’s campus, where about 80 youth served, a Pride Prom spring event at United Church on the Green, where about 100 youth served, and they hold a biweekly youth group on campus.
FOCUS
FOCUS on New Haven is a week-long pre-Camp Yale program for rising sophomores that introduces them to the city of New Haven. FOCUS participants, along with their upperclassmen leaders, learn about New Haven as a whole, taking part in tours of neighborhoods, discussion panels, and meetings with community leaders. In addition to this general view, FOCUS participants also get to engage directly with individual local non-profit organizations through small group service projects. Having viewed New Haven from multiple perspectives over the course of the program, FOCUS participants gain a better sense of both the city in which they live and the role they can play in it. FOCUS is an excellent opportunity for students who want to expand their knowledge of New Haven and get involved with community service but don’t know where to start. No experience is necessary to attend FOCUS as a rising-sophomore participant or work on FOCUS as an upperclassman leader.
Genocide Action Project
The Genocide Action Project (Gen-Act; formerly Yale STAND) is an undergraduate student organization at Yale University dedicated to ending and preventing genocide and related conflicts around the world. Their goals are threefold: To fundraise in order to provide direct humanitarian aid to the victims of various conflicts. In the past we have donated to many charities that work directly on the ground in Darfur, to advocate for victims of conflict in order to reach political solutions to conflicts. This includes writing to government officials and private corporations to encourage them to adopt policies that help halt the perpetuation of genocide, and to raise awareness about ongoing humanitarian issues and areas of concern around the world. The more people know about these happenings, the more they will be equipped to find peaceful resolutions to them.
Girl Empowerment Magazine
GEM’s mission is two-fold: 1)To aid female high school students in the production of a magazine about women’s issues whose content is wholly controlled by them; 2)To form strong mentoring relationships between Yale women and motivated female New Haven High School students, enabling both groups to become a more aware and efficacious citizenry. At a typical GEM session, they begin with a topic to promote thought and discussion (past topics include: sexuality, self image). During the second half of the meeting, they break down into one-on-one mentoring and workshop sessions, when the girls work on their magazine articles. Also, they organize field-trips for the GEM students to come to Yale to meet with professors and other students who study topics or participate in activities that are of interest to the high school students. This provides the opportunity for the GEM mentors to share the other extra-curricular activities they are involved in with the girls. These trips also help to strengthen their friendships and mentoring relationships.
Girls Run
Girls Run is an after-school running program for fourth to sixth grade girls at middle schools in New Haven. The mission of Girls Run is to encourage girls in the fourth through sixth grades to develop healthy lifestyles through running. They hope to inspire five changes in their participants: 1) Get active, and stay active for life!; 2) Develop a happy lifestyle, a happy outlook, and a positive self image; 3) Increase self-esteem, self-respect, and self-confidence; 4) Be accepting and respectful of others; and 5) Learn to become strong leaders. During each eight-week session of Girls Run, coaches will focus not only on the physical training of our participants, but also their own knowledge of five issues facing preteen girls: tolerance, self-esteem, body image, nutrition, and leadership. At the end of each eight-week session, their participants will run in a local one-mile race alongside their coaches. They hope to inspire confidence in their participants by helping them to complete one goal: to finish the race, no matter how long it takes.
Habitat for Humanity
They are committed to helping build homes for families in need in the greater New Haven area. They help at construction sites near campus (usually south of the Yale hospital.)
HAPPY (Hypertension Awareness & Prevention Project at Yale)
HAPPY trains dedicated volunteers to conduct regular blood pressure screenings in New Haven community centers. Working with clinical advisors from Yale and partner health professionals, they implement training protocols and competency testing to ensure high quality and consistency of screenings by student volunteers. In contrast to the conventional poor practice of one-time community health screenings, HAPPY volunteers establish a constant presence in the communities by providing regular blood pressure screening sessions, helping to monitor the blood pressure levels of community members on a daily basis.
Harvest
Harvest’s mission is to ease the transition of freshmen into Yale college by running preorientation trips to organic farms around Connecticut. They bring groups of 6-8 freshmen to organic farms around Connecticut. They provide volunteer work to farmers, get students thinking about sustainability (as it relates to: environment, labor conditions, health, etc. ), and help them to understand where their food comes from.
Hemispheres
The Yale International Relations Association’s (YIRA) Hemispheres program works with 8th-12th grade students from New Haven public schools on developing a thorough understanding of current affairs. Once a week, for 90 minutes, over 40 students meet in Linsly-Chittenden Hall to discuss the latest world news, practice Model UN debate skills, and engage in in-depth discussions about contemporary international relations. In the process, they try to instill in our students essential life skills such as public speaking, confidence, and discipline. These students have outstanding potential: some, who at one time did not know who Hilary Clinton is or the location or importance of Darfur, have now garnered honorable mentions at national high school Model United Nations conferences that they attend throughout the year.
Instrumental Connection
http://www.yale.edu/ic/Home.html
Instrumental Connection is comprised of Yale students dedicated to bringing music to children in the New Haven community who otherwise could not afford music lessons. The instruments they teach range from voice to violin to the bongos. No child who joins the program is subjected to fees for instruments, music, or lessons. They go to several different schools in New Haven and run every day of the week. At the end of the year, the children and their teachers join together for a small family concert.
Jews for Justice
Jews for Justice is a pluralistic community of Jews united by a commitment to pursuing social and economic justice at Yale, in New Haven, across America, and around the world. Jews for Justice’s mission is to build a Jewish community that envisions a just world and to pursue that vision through reflection and action. As a group, they actively participate in Jewish life and in social activism, and they seek to discover and strengthen the connections between them in order to enrich both their work and their lives. Thus they are committed to exploring their Jewish identities and the role of Judaism in their lives through creative ritual and learning, and they are equally committed to infusing their lives with social justice through reflection and action. They pride their selves on preserving and employing their independent voice, and they do not allow any person or institution external to their community to make decisions for them. They strive to create a warm, supportive, and positive space that reflects their communal values. When they gather, they share good food, powerful song, and thoughtful conversation. Their community is organized around shared work, responsibility, and leadership. They respect each other at all times, and they challenge each others’ ideas openly and without fear of judgment. They make decisions by consensus when possible. They are pluralistic in that we welcome Jews of all backgrounds and denominational affiliations, and we hope to create an environment in which all who wish to join their community can feel comfortable doing so. They do not, however, allow individual concerns to trump our core communal values. Because theirr community is situated at the intersection of several larger communities to which they also belong, they feel a particular obligation to assert their voice and apply their values in these arenas, though their commitment to social justice extends beyond their own community affiliations. As Yale students, they believe that their university can and should proactively serve as a respectful, responsible citizen of New Haven and the world. As members of the American Jewish community, they recognize the need for open discussion about and constructive criticism of the government and policies of the state of Israel, and they advocate for a peaceful resolution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict that respects the human rights and dignity of all affected by it.
Living Water
Living Water is a Christian a cappella group with the goal of demonstrating the love of God to people through our music. Living Water typically sings at several different nursing homes, hospitals, homeless shelters, etc. over the course of the year. Their annual spring tour is split between service work and concerts. Specific work can vary; last year, in Nebraska, they helped to restore a boxcar and served food, sang, and chatted with people at the Salvation Army. The group never charges performances, so even Their concerts can be viewed as a form of service.
Luther House Tutoring
Luther House is a small group of Yale students who tutor elementary and middle-school-aged children once a week in the Hill neighborhood around Resurrection Lutheran Church. Their aim is not evangelical and most of their tutors are not Lutheran. Their program brings a small group of tutors (approximately fourteen) together with the same number of children for an opportunity to tutor and mentor one-on-one in a small group setting. They strive to pair Yale students with the same inner-city children each week, to create a bond that might well be one of life-long understanding and joy. Their arrangement works particularly well for students whose time is limited, yet whose interest in enjoying persons from another social/economic reality is true.
MATHCOUNTS Outreach
Mathcounts is a national middle school math enrichment program and competition. In New Haven, the program is entirely run by Yale students and serves 22 New Haven middle schools. Yale students travel weekly to coach small classes of middle school students. Coaches use applied and creative problems to inspire students to see math as an exciting and ever-present part of the world, and not merely as rote academics. Students train to participate in a New Haven and county-wide competition. Frequent training sessions, a dynamic website with lesson plans and problem sets, and small coaches meetings provide a great community and array of support for the Yale Coaches.
MEChA
http://www.yale.edu/mecha/MEChA/Home.html
MEChA is a student organization that seeks to promote Chicano unity and empowerment through education and political action. MEChA de Yale seeks to foster, empower, and strengthen a community in the Yale-New Haven area through communication and cooperation while respecting all segments of our community. They partner with organizations like JUNTA and New Haven Workers Association in order to meet New Haven immigrants that require assistance in specific labor cases or particular education cases. This includes but is not limited to: boycotts, rallies, college info sessions, individual counseling.
Microfinance Brigades
http://www.yale.edu/mfb/
Microfinance Brigades (MFB) provides poverty-stricken communities in the developing world with the educational, financial, and organizational resources necessary to sustainably drive their own economic development. MFB volunteers help the under resourced in remote villages build their own businesses, ensure against emergencies, and fund community projects. By partnering with other international organizations in microfinance and agriculture, MFB provides the financial backing technical support to create and strengthen independent community banks. As mechanisms for social and economic change, these banks are then empowered to perpetuate other community projects facilitated by Global Brigades volunteers. This grass-roots approach advances communities away from dependence on outside aid and towards self-reliance.
Mind Matters
Mind Matters is the undergraduate mental health awareness and education group on campus. Despite the increasing number of students reporting mental health concerns, there is still a taboo surrounding discussion of mental health issues. Mind Matters has been created for anyone with a social/educational, advocacy-related , or personal interest in mental health issues. Their ultimate goal is to encourage a more open and tolerant atmosphere towards mental health among our college community. Their goals are: To create a forum for open discussion of mental health/illness on campus; To educate students about these issues through guest speakers, information sessions, student panels, and literature; To serve as a liaison between students and the mental health community through volunteer work; To help students get the support they need. Note: They are not a provider of mental health care or a counseling service, but they can show students a variety of options available to them on campus.
The Musical Cure
Founded in the spring of 2001, The Musical Cure at Yale is a service organization devoted to bringing the healing touch of music to those within the greater New Haven community. Specific areas they reach out to are New Haven area hospitals, soup kitchens, school districts, and nursing homes. At these locations, they bring student musicians together to provide about an hour’s worth of music in the form of a small, informal concert. Not only do the residents at the locations they play at enjoy the music, but the opportunities for one-on-one relationship formation are abundant for the student musicians who want to deepen the level of their outreach to members of the community.
Muslim Students Association
http://yalemsa.org/
A key part of their mission is to educate both the Yale and New Haven communities about Islam. This often involves service work such as helping refugees, mentoring New Haven students, and charity and political awareness projects about other parts of the world.
New Haven Action
New Haven Action is a non-partisan organization that works on issue-based campaigns in New Haven to empower community members. New Haven Action provides opportunities for Yale students and New Haven community members to work on projects that are beneficial at local and state levels. To foster leadership and creative experimentation, New Haven action lowers the fixed costs of community projects by building institutional knowledge and opening networks and resources to young activists.
No Closed Doors
http://www.yale.edu/ncd/Home.html/
No Closed Doors (NCD) is a case-management agency run entirely by student volunteers in New Haven. They provide a welcoming and inclusive environment where clients can receive assistance with housing searches, public benefits applications, resume writing, and much more.
Nourish International
Nourish International invites students at colleges across the country to be a part of the solution to global poverty. By running business ventures throughout the year, Nourish Chapters earn money to conduct sustainable community development projects. Over the summer, students from Nourish Chapters travel abroad to partner with local communities in implementing these solutions.
Operation Smile
Operation Smile is an international, non-profit organization that sends teams of surgeons and other health professionals to over 25 countries worldwide to do free reconstructive surgeries on children with facial deformities. Repairing cleft lips and cleft palates are the most common surgeries on the missions, but the surgeons also do a lot of tumor removals and burn releases. The areas Operation Smile medical missions travel to are generally very impoverished, and children with facial deformities in these communities are often seen as cursed. Many of them are not allowed to leave their homes to go to school, make friends, or ever have normal lives. A simple cleft lip operation takes about 45 minutes and costs about $240 on average. For this small amount of time and money, a child’s life is completely changed. Operation Smile at Yale is a college chapter which was founded in 2006 and is dedicated to the five pillars of Operation Smile Student Associations: awareness, leadership, education, fundraising, and service. For the following academic year, we hope to hold fundraising events in conjunction with other student organizations, educate local middle and high school students about cleft lips and cleft palates, and host speakers who represent Operation Smile and like-minded causes.
Panorama Education
http://yei.yale.edu/team-profile-panorama-education-0
Panorama Education helps K-12 educators improve instruction, increase parent engagement, attract and retain great teachers, and foster a positive campus culture. With Panorama, schools and districts easily survey their students, parents, and teachers. Panorama analyzes this data and presents teachers and administrators with clear and constructive feedback they can use to improve their schools.
PALS Tutoring and Mentoring
PALS is a tutoring and mentoring group that allows Yale students to develop one-on-one relationships with children from the New Haven area. At PALS, they make learning fun through educational games, scavenger hunts, and field trips. Every Saturday from 12 noon to 2 p.m., tutors and kids make progress in various subjects and build a connection that can last throughout the year and longer. PALS is a great way to get involved in the New Haven community and to meet other Yale students with similar aims.
Peace by PEACE
Peace by PEACE volunteers teach non-violent conflict resolution skills to 5th and 6th graders through games, role plays, and discussions. The curriculum teaches such skills as overcoming bullying, communication, cooperation, problem-solving, negotiation, and overcoming stereotypes. Students will gain valuable teaching experience and first-hand knowledge of New Haven schools. For just a short time each week, students can make a difference and have a lot of fun getting to know New Haven youth and teachers, as well as fellow volunteers from Yale!
Public Health Coalition
The mission of the Public Health Coalition is to collaboratively promote public health awareness, education and service in the Yale and New Haven communities. They build awareness of opportunities and events through their weekly electronic newsletter to 1000+ Yale students and faculty. They educate students about public health issues through their weekly lunch discussions, masters teas, film screenings, and panels. They foster interdisciplinary discussion of public health topics through our blog and advocacy campaigns. They encourage collaboration between public health related groups on Yale’s campus through liaison support for our 50+ member groups, coordination through our website’s master calendar, and a semesterly member conference to bring groups together. They promote health-related volunteer and service work in New Haven through their position as a network of Dwight Hall, their semesterly booklet of volunteer opportunities and participation in campus service volunteer trips.
Reach Out
http://www.yale.edu/reachout/
Reach Out is committed to providing Yale students with opportunities to learn about, travel to, and work in developing countries around the world. The organization is founded on the belief that experience in developing countries can empower students to help alleviate the difficulties faced by developing countries. Reach Out’s activities fall into the following four categories: organizing service and research projects abroad during spring break and summer, publishing Development Magazine, helping students find internships in developing countries, and hosting campus outreach events.
Roosevelt Institution at Yale
The Roosevelt Institution at Yale is a founding chapter of the nation’s first progressive student think tank. We connect students’ ideas of how to improve public policies with those in government and non-profits who can implement that change. Their organization provides students a chance to make meaningful, action-based contributions to public policy while still an undergraduate, and to get a practical education in politics.
Rotaract Club
The mission of Rotary International is to provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through its fellowship of business, professional, and community leaders. Rotary International is the governing body of Rotary, Rotaract, and Interact. Rotaract is comprised of college students and pre-professionals. This mission is carried out through service activities conducted within their community as well as within the international community. These activities are chosen by each club. International service activities are conducted through Rotary Clubs in the sponsoring nation working with Rotary Clubs in the place where service is being provided.
RYSA (Remedy at Yale Student Association)
The primary mission of RYSA is to recover unused medical supplies from Yale-New Haven Hospital and other health care centers, agencies, charity foundations, and private practices around New Haven, CT. Student volunteers receive formal safety and professional training following peer-reviewed REMEDY protocols in order to sort and recover medical supplies with REMEDY. All student volunteers receive volunteer service hour certification from Yale-New Haven Hospital upon completion of their volunteering duties. RYSA aims to promote the awareness of REMEDY among students and medical professionals. We will establish public liaison teams to publicize our REMEDY program and coordinate medical supply requests for donation to international clinics and disaster reliefs. REMEDY has a longstanding commitment to international natural disaster reliefs. RYSA members will actively engage other campus and professional organizations and charity programs to promote the donation of medical supplies to disaster-hit regions. RYSA will also collaborate with Dwight Hall and other Yale student programs to implement innovative fundraising efforts to establish fellowships and funds to support student international mission trips and sponsor the creation of international clinics by Yale medical professionals. In the long term, RYSA endeavors to consolidate the success and experience of this pilot student program of REMEDY, and by sharing our training protocols, previous peer-reviewed journal publications on REMEDY, and service accomplishments on a new REMEDY student initiative website, create a national university chapter system to engage more university and medical students to contribute to the cause of solid waste control and international medical relief.
Salt of the Earth
http://www.yale.edu/salt/
Salt of the Earth is committed to exploring the intersection of Christian faith and social justice through fellowship, prayer, discussion and action. SALT is a fellowship centered around engaging social justice issues at Yale and beyond from the perspective of the call to justice in the message of Jesus. They meet every week to study scriptural texts, get involved with other justice activities on and off campus, and come together as a community of friends to share in their life at Yale.
Squash Haven
http://www.squashhaven.org/
Their mission is to promote academic, athletic, and personal growth through a program of squash instruction, individual academic support/tutoring, health and fitness instruction, and community service. Team members participate in Squash Haven activities three hours a day, three days a week throughout the school year in Payne Whitney Gym. The squash program consists of oncourt practices at Yale in addition to team matches, tournaments, and fitness training. The Squash Haven academic program focuses on individualized homework help, academic enrichment, and preparation for the Connecticut Mastery Tests.
Ulysses S. Grant Foundation
http://www.yale.edu/usgrant/
The Ulysses S. Grant Foundation is an academic summer program for talented and motivated middle school students from New Haven. Since 1953, U.S. Grant has drawn on the experience and enthusiasm of Yale undergraduates to challenge students so they can acquire the academic preparation and skills they will need to enter and succeed in college and excel in their current school environment. The program is designed for bright students who might have limited opportunities and resources to participate in academic enrichment activities.
Unite for Sight
http://www.uniteforsight.org/
Unite For Site’s goal is to raise funds for providing free eye care to people in impoverished regions of developing countries. They also provide education about eye care and free services to local school teachers and community center leaders.
Urban Debate League
The New Haven Urban Debate League seeks to promote debate in the New Haven Public Schools in order to increase the researching, public speaking, and critical thinking skills of New Haven students. The New Haven Urban Debate League partners with the National Association of Urban Debate Leagues in order to achieve these goals.
Vietnamese Student Assocaition
http://www.yale.edu/visa/
VSA’s mission is to promote Vietnamese culture and to encourage a strong community among our members and the greater Yale community. They have Cultural Dinner at the AACC in the spring semester to educate and showcase various foods, and about 100 people attend. In the fall, they host Pho Night at the AF House and served both meat and vegetarian pho to about 150 people. They also host our annual Cultural Show in Morse/Stiles theater to educate the community about certain aspects of Vietnamese culture in a fun setting. Admission is always free. There is a donation box, and each year they chose an organization to donate. Last year they chose an organization that helps Vietnamese refugees. They also invite various speakers to come to Yale and discuss topics related to Vietnam. In their most recent event, they co-sponsored Charles Bailey who talked about Agent Orange and its effects on Vietnam.
Visions of Virtue
Visions of Virtue is an opportunity for Christian women at Yale to nurture, support and encourage teenage ladies in New Haven and neighboring communities. Visions pairs young women (13-16) with Yale mentors for a 12-week mentorship. Each week, this Christian sisterhood meets for sessions on different topics such as sex, nutrition, education, and relationships. However, unlike existing Yale programs, Visions addresses these issues in a biblical context. Visions of Virtue is an opportunity to share a vision with little sisters in Christ, create lasting bonds with fellow Yalies and enhance personal growth.
Wishing Well: Water for the World
Wishing Well seeks to raise money to build clean water wells in the developing world. They also seek to raise awareness about the gravity of the water crisis and what students can do to help solve it. The primary beneficiaries of their efforts are people in the developing world, primarily villagers in rural Rwanda. One well, which they installed in Rwanda over the summer, services about 2000 people.
Women and Youth Supporting Each Other (WYSE)
Women and Youth Supporting Each Other, or WYSE, is a national mentoring organization and project of Community Partners. Since its inception, WYSE has been dedicated to strengthening the lives and communities of women and girls of color through a curriculum-based, group and one-on-one mentorship program that strives to address all the issues that can contribute to their disempowerment. Since 1992, WYSE has grown dramatically from one branch at one university to thirteen branches at 12 universities nationwide. In 1997, they developed a nonprofit resource office to provide their college-based programs with guidance, training and support. Over the last decade, they have enabled over seven hundred college women to gain the insights and skills necessary to become life-changing mentors and provided over 1,000 girls with the resources and support necessary to make informed, healthy decisions and take leadership roles in creating community change.
World Micro Market
World Micro-Market, a committee of the international development organization Reach Out, is a not-for-profit student-run organization which sells handicrafts and artwork from NGOs abroad on Yale’s campus at regular markets. By providing a market in the U.S., WMM enables Yale students to economically empower impoverished artisans and directly contribute to the alleviation of global poverty. World Micro-Market also educates students about the artisans, about their socio-economic situations, and about the challenges they face. WMM hold regular markets managed by volunteers in order to sell the international goods. Furthermore, the activities of the market will aim to promote advocacy and awareness of international development issues and to provide information about how students can become involved.
Yale Bookmarks/ Summer Buds
http://dwighthall.org/summer-buds/
Summer Buds is reading program which pairs Yalies staying in New Haven over the summer with middle-achieving middle schoolers from New Haven public schools to read with them for two evenings a week for three hours total. The Yalies serve as mentors, tutors, and friends to kids who really benefit from the extra attention they are denied in the large classroom setting. Neither extremely gifted nor remedial students these kids have never benefitted from extra tutoring or much one-on-one attention with a mentor or authority figure. Yalies are extremely passionate as well as talented tutors and role models and quickly inspire their charges with a love of learning and dedication to study. In the past two years, some kids reading abilities have jumped as much as three levels. Many Yalies remain in New Haven over the summer for various internships, jobs, and research projects. Yet the Yale community service organizations don’t seem to really carry over into the summer months. Summer Buds serves as an option for community service for Yalies in New Haven over the summer. It also provides a strong service oriented community for many Yalies, especially for those whose friends may be back home or abroad. Summer is also a prime time to explore and interact with a New Haven that most Yalies never venture too far to see. Summer Buds gives Yalies an in depth look into their adopted hometown and it gives kids a chance to succeed and grow during a summer they might otherwise spend simply watching television. Finally, Summer Buds provides a healthy and productive community for the kids and their tutors who come together twice a week or more to read but also for field trips, field days, and group activities.
Yale Children’s Theater
http://www.yalechildrenstheater.org/
YCT is an undergraduate organization dedicated to using creative expression to bring joy to children and Yalies alike. YCT runs theater and games workshops, preforms 5 shows a year, runs a traveling improvisation and story troupe, and a school play program where children write and perform a major production. YCT reaches hundreds of children a year. No experience necessary – just a love for children, enthusiasm and a willingness to play.
Yale Hunger And Homelessness Action Project (YHHAP)
YHHAP is a student-run, not-for-profit organization that works on behalf of New Haven’s homeless and near-homeless communities. Through direct service, fundraising, education, and advocacy, we aim to alleviate the immediate effects of homelessness while working to address its root causes and pursuing long-term solutions.YHHAP oversees the operations of nine service projects, which include: 1) No Closed Doors, a walk-in case management agency located downtown where clients can receive assistance with public benefits applications, housing searches, and more; 2) Bringing Relief Every Day (BRED), a group that brings leftover bread products from dining halls to nearby halfway houses; 3) Hunger Heroes, which serves dinner at the Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen on Friday and Saturday nights; and 4) Kitchen to Kitchen, a food recovery project that delivers leftover food from dining halls and restaurants to local soup kitchens. Other projects provide services ranging from publishing a newspaper written and produced by New Haven’s homeless population (the Elm City Echo) to providing free tax preparation services to low-income residents (Yale VITA project). In addition, YHHAP has board projects, some of which involve organizing on campus fundraisers (such as the YHHAP Fast) and awareness events, engaging local youth to be aware of the issues of homelessness (YoutHHAP), and organizing events at which New Haven residents can take advantage of free and much-needed services, like dental care (Project Homeless Connect).
Yale Sight Savers
https://sites.google.com/site/yalessp/home
The Yale Sight Savers Program (YSSP) is a collaboration between the faculty and students of Yale College, the Yale School of Medicine and the Yale Medical Group, united by the common goal of reducing the burden of glaucoma-related vision loss in the community.We promote vision education, health, and research through community glaucoma screenings and research projects. They have conducted over 10 glaucoma screenings since 2010, screening over 300 people. Their screenings take place from the New Haven Green to Hartford and other areas around Connecticut.
Yale Student Environmental Coalition
http://yaleysec.wordpress.com/
YSEC is an environmental umbrella organization that runs coalition-wide advocacy and social events. We strive to educate the Yale community about current environmental challenges and debates, and to advocate for environmentally conscious behavior, responsible consumer choice, sustainable university policy, and environmental justice. YSEC oversees flexible environmental project groups that focus on specific issues. Through general weekly meetings, they not only facilitate these groups with their goals, but also plan coalition-wide action and events. YSEC seeks to partner with campus organizations, other colleges and universities, non-profits, and major international initiatives in order to bring our objectives to light at Yale, within New Haven, and around the world.
Yale Undergraduate Philanthropic Society
YUPS (formerly APO) is a community service group dedicated to leadership, friendship, and service. Past projects have included reading at the Book Bank, volunteering with a local soccer team, fundraising for St. Jude’s Hospital, and running Communiversity Day (an annual festival) in the spring. Social events have included everything from bowling to sushi nights to Mexican fiestas.
Yale Undergraduates at Connecticut Hospice
YUCH volunteers serve at the CT Hospice facility, which provides around-the-clock compassionate and expert care to patients and their families, as they cope with an irreversible illness. The most important aspect of YUCH as a volunteering opportunity is that it allows undergraduates to provide real, hands-on care to patients. It is not easy to find volunteer positions that offer direct contact, communication, and caring relationships with patients. This is a powerful experience.
Youth Together (Middle School)
Youth Together Middle School is a mentoring and tutoring program. Each tutor works with the same middle school student at Fair Haven K-8 each Friday. The tutors all go over to the school together on the New Haven city bus around 12:45, and we return back to campus between 3 and 3:30 PM. Since many of our students’ first languages are not English, our tutoring focuses on developing language arts skills and expressing oneself through creative writing. Besides weekly tutoring, we also have one field trip each semester. In the past this has involved bringing the kids to Yale’s campus, having a scavenger hunt in an art museum, going to a pizza parlor and bowling.
