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Princeton University Students Engage in Community Action

by Mary Galioto

Next weekend, more than 200 incoming freshmen at Princeton University will kick off their college experience tackling critical social issues with community organizations as a part of Community Action, with the Pace Center for Civic Engagement at Princeton University.

Community Action is a five-day introduction to meaningful service and community building at Princeton. This year, 20 groups, made up of more than 200 incoming freshmen and 54 undergraduate student leaders, will fan out across the region to learn about and take action on a wide range of issues related to hunger, homelessness, the arts, the environment, health, education, interfaith service, law and justice, and more. Two new group topics, community journalism and local history, have been added this year, to emphasize how service is as much about learning about a place and its people as it is about hands-on volunteerism.

“At the Pace Center, we help students learn to do service well and have a positive impact in the community,” said Kimberly de los Santos, Pace Center Executive Director. “Community Action is as much about opening students’ eyes to the community around them as it is about tackling concrete projects. We like to say that CA [Community Action] ‘starts with a week’ – meaning CA is often just the beginning for students at Princeton to learn how to live ‘in the nation’s service and in the service of all nations.’”

Community Action actively partners with more than 50 community partners, nonprofit organizations, and faith-based organizations during the week for students to live and work completely off-campus.

Photo Caption: Who's leading ‪#‎CommunityAction‬ 2015? Let's introduce you to some of our Groups and Leaders! The Environment Group will be led by Julie Chen '17, Brian Chen '16 and Martin Kurian '18, and will examine sustainability initiatives in the greater Mercer County area as they team up with the Lawrence Nature Center, Stony-Brook Millstone Watershed Association and Sierra Club! ‪#‎Princeton2019‬

Photo Caption: Who’s leading ‪#‎CommunityAction‬ 2015? Let’s introduce you to some of our Groups and Leaders! The Environment Group will be led by Julie Chen ’17, Brian Chen ’16 and Martin Kurian ’18, and will examine sustainability initiatives in the greater Mercer County area as they team up with the Lawrence Nature Center, Stony-Brook Millstone Watershed Association and Sierra Club! ‪#‎Princeton2019‬

In Mercer County, Community Action is partnering with the following organizations:

  • Catholic Youth Organization, Trenton NJ
  • HomeFront, Trenton NJ
  • Old Barracks Museum, Trenton NJ
  • Sierra Club of New Jersey, Trenton NJ
  • Trenton Area Soup Kitchen, Trenton NJ
  • The Trenton City Museum, Trenton NJ
  • Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton NJ
  • Mercer St. Friends, Ewing NJ
  • Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton NJ
  • Community House, Princeton NJ
  • Princeton Nursery School, Princeton NJ
  • Princeton Senior Resource Center, Princeton NJ
  • Princeton YWCA, Princeton NJ
  • Enable, Inc., West Windsor NJ

Feature photo caption: ‪#‎CommunityAction‬ 2015’s Hunger Group seeks to understand food insecurity issues in Mercer County. The group will be led by Deana Hamlin ’17 and Divya Seshadri ’16 and work with the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen, Crisis Ministry of Mercer County, Mercer Street Friends Food Bank, and the Rescue mission of Trenton! ‪#‎Princeton2019‬ (Pictured, Crisis Ministry CA 2014)

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