Under-Resourced Youth

Berkshire Farm Center

This group is currently inactive.

Organization LiaisonJulie Brennan [email protected]

CLiA staff liaison: Paula Consolini  [email protected]

Williams at Berkshire Farm Center (WBFC) works with at-risk youth both on and off campus. These youth come from Berkshire Farm Center (BFC), a residential treatment center in Canaan, NY. They are males ages 12-18 who have committed some sort of minor infraction and have been court-ordered to stay at BFC for a designated amount of time. In the past, Williams volunteers met with the youth for a few hours on weekends, alternating between visiting BFC and hosting activities on campus. At Berkshire, the club has participated in rope course activities, gone on a nature scavenger hunt, and met the farm animals. At Williams, the group has stepped with Sankofa, learned about the 3-D printer in Sawyer Library, played basketball, and written poetry with Speakfree.  During Winter Study ’16, Williams students Isha Singh ’18 and Skylar Smith ’18 conducted research for Berkshire Farm Center and explored the potential for future collaboration with Williams.  Groups and individuals interested in participating should contact Julie Brennan or Paula Consolini for more information.

Black in STEM+ Student Association

When available, the complete list of active Registered Student Organizations (RSOs) for the current academic year can be found on the Office of Campus Life website. If you would like to contact the student leader(s) of this organization, please email [email protected].


The Black STEM Student Association (BSTEM) aims to create a collaborative and supportive space in which Black and other underrepresented students hoping to pursue careers in STEM+ are encouraged to continue their studies in the STEM fields and can freely and directly speak of their experiences in the STEM fields.

Brayton Elementary After School Tutoring

This group is currently inactive.

Student Leaders: Emma Paquette ([email protected])
Faculty/Staff Adviser: Molly Polk

The objective of Brayton Afterschool Tutoring Program is to provide assistance to the afterschool programming in the North Adams schools, bringing student energy into disadvantaged classrooms. Tutors work with students one-on-one or in small groups to improve their reading skills. Tutors also provide program support for the teachers’ planned activities, such as arts and crafts, board games, dance, or sports.

 

CLiA Community Outreach Summer Fellowship

This paid summer program trains a small team of Williams students to help build better community service and experiential learning opportunities at Williams.  The selected rising Sophomores and Juniors are initially oriented to the Berkshires and trained in key skill areas before spending the balance of their time immersed and leading others in community engagement work.  This 8-week, 35-hour/week position reports to the CLiA Director.

Additional Information & Application:

learning-in-action.williams.edu/opportunities/community-outreach-summer-fellowship

 

Converging Worlds

When available, the complete list of active Registered Student Organizations (RSOs) for the current academic year can be found on the Office of Campus Life website. If you would like to contact the student leader(s) of this organization, please email [email protected].


We work toward prison abolition by teaching and spreading awareness on the injustices of our incarceration system. Activities include inviting speakers, publishing newsletters, hosting penpal workshops between students and incarcerated individuals, etc.

Education Outreach

For 20+ years, Williams has partnered with our local educators to create hands-on programming that serve the needs of the children and their families in a host of Berkshire County schools in the areas of science, writing, mentoring, homework help and more. Currently, more than 350 students participate and serve in K-12 schools in paid and volunteer positions in Williamstown, Lanesborough, North Adams and Pittsfield. We welcome your involvement and ideas, and look forward to hearing from you! Please visit the Education Outreach section of our website for more information.

EOS (Educational Opportunities for Success) Mentoring

This group is inactive as of the 2023-24 academic year.

This student-run program provides mentoring support for under-resourced high school students in the Pittsfield Public School District’s alternative learning facility. The mission of the program, established in 2017, is to build relationships with high school students whose voices are often ignored and whose feelings are frequently invalidated. Mentors strive to serve as consistent, positive role models who listen and show interest in these teenagers. In addition to mentoring, EOS promotes and conducts trauma-informed trainings with the goal of equipping local educators, mentors, resource officers, and student workers with the knowledge and strategies to more effectively serve and support students who have been affected by trauma. To apply or for more information, contact Omar Ahmad ’23 ([email protected]) or Tiffany Park ’23 ([email protected]).

Give It Up!

Students collect clothing, books, & other items from fellow students at year’s end. Donations of appliances, household goods and clothing are sold in the annual Giant Tag Sale at First Congregational Church and the ABC (A Better Community) Clothing Sale in September. Proceeds from these sales typically exceed $50,000 and benefit local charitable organizations and initiatives such as the Barrington Stage Company Playwright Mentoring Program, Berkshire Immigrant Center, Community Legal Aid, Elizabeth Freeman Center, Friendship Center Food Pantry, Louison House, Northern Berkshire Habitat for Humanity, Northern Berkshire YMCA and ROOTS Teen Center. Donated food, personal care products and cleaning supplies are brought to the Williamstown Food Pantry.

Donated books are collected and organized at St. John’s Episcopal Church, then bought back by the Williams Bookstore or shipped to Better World Books. Proceeds from the sale of donated books benefit Nyanam Widows Rising, a project founded by Williams students to support widows in Kenya in reaching their goals through a focus on personal development, social change, and justice. Books that cannot be sold are recycled or repurposed by Better World Books, and as of the end of the 2021 campaign, have resulted in the following environmental impact metrics:

  • Over 23,000 books (~32,000 lbs)
  • Nearly 400 trees
  • Over 50,000 lbs of methane and greenhouse gas
  • Over 235,000 gallons of water
  • 51 cubic yards of landfill space
  • Over 75,000 kWh of electricity

Additional Information & Opportunities:

learning-in-action.williams.edu/opportunities/give-it-up

Kier’s Kidz at Williams College

When available, the complete list of active Registered Student Organizations (RSOs) for the current academic year can be found on the Office of Campus Life website. If you would like to contact the student leader(s) of this organization, please email [email protected].


Kier’s Kidz at Williams College is an affiliate of Kier’s Kidz, a NJ-based pediatric cancer nonprofit. Kier’s Kidz is an organization dedicated to furthering oncological research, educating the public about cancer, and helping underprivileged families afford pediatric cancer treatment. KK@WC will provide Williams students with an opportunity to help Kier’s Kidz accomplish these goals while connecting with professionals in both the clinical and research sides of oncology.

Matriculate

When available, the complete list of active Registered Student Organizations (RSOs) for the current academic year can be found on the Office of Campus Life website. If you would like to contact the student leader(s) of this organization, please email [email protected].


Matriculate aims to support high-achieving, low-income high school students (high school fellows) in navigating the college application process by pairing them with college advisors (advising fellows) for one-to-one mentoring and support. Within this organization, advising fellows receive rigorous training whereby they learn the underlying skills to help tackle and alleviate educational/resource disparities in the college application process. Hopefully, by virtue of Matriculate’s mission, this increases the number of high-achieving, low-income students who attend some of the nation’s top colleges.

 

Mohawk Forest Mentoring Program

This group is currently inactive.

Student Leaders: Julia Yarak ’18 ([email protected])

Faculty/Staff Adviser: Paula Consolini

Meeting Time/Place: Monday-Friday 3-5 PM

The Mohawk Forest program takes Williams students most weekday afternoons (3-5pm) to Mohawk Forest, an affordable housing community in North Adams. At the Mohawk Forest Community Center, we help children on their homework, play games, make crafts, and serve as mentors for the kids. It is a great opportunity to get out of the “purple bubble” and interact with children and teens in the community who really benefit from having positive role models in their lives.  For more information, contact the student leaders or the Center for Learning in Action at [email protected].

QuestBridge Scholars Network

This group is currently inactive. For information for QuestBridge-affiliated students, please visit the Williams Admissions website.

Student Leaders: Onyeka Obi
Faculty/Staff Adviser: April Ruiz
Meeting Time/Place: Hollander 101

The primary purpose of the Williams QuestBridge Scholars Network is to provide a coherent support system for entering and continuing QuestBridge-affiliated Scholars at Williams College. However, while the Williams QSN functions as a place of support for low-income and first-generation students, many of its services benefit students from all backgrounds; all students are welcome to participate in the QSN’s events. Through the Williams QSN, students have an opportunity to meet others with similar life experiences through frequent social events and gatherings. With an emphasis on service, community building, and student mentorship, the QSN strives to continue our greater organization’s goal of seeing disadvantaged students thrive and give back.

Racial Justice K-12 Curriculum Development Initiative

This community engagement program, initially run online due to the COVID pandemic during 2020-2021 and in a hybrid format during Summer 2021 and beyond, is designed to serve Williams students’ civic aspirations by providing the opportunity to engage in racial justice work in partnership with local K-12 schools and Berkshire County-based advocacy organizations.  

Additional Information & Resources:

https://learning-in-action.williams.edu/opportunities/racial-justice-community-outreach/

Reclaim Childhood

This group is currently inactive.

Student Leaders: Annie Vanagenen ([email protected]), Allie Holle ([email protected]), Kara Sperry ([email protected]), Julia Diaz ([email protected]), Katherine Rosen ([email protected])
Faculty/Staff Adviser: Christi Kelsey ([email protected])
Meeting Time/Place: Sundays, Paresky

Reclaim Childhood is a non-profit organization based in Amman, Jordan that seeks to empower refugee girls and local women through sport and play. Reclaim Childhood operates regular after-school sports leagues and a month-long summer camp for girls ages 6 – 18, and coaching clinics for local adult women. On campus, we try to devise creative ways to raise money for the organization through dining hall dinners, athletics, and other events. With the money we raise, we send it to the organization which in turn purchases athletic equipment for the girls, as well as funds the summer camps for them. In addition to working during the school year, some of our members have spent their summers in Jordan working as camp counselors at these camps.

Sentinels Summer Public Policy Research Fellowship

This U.S. public policy research program supports student research projects focused on contemporary issues in U.S. economic, social, and/or environmental policy, including but not limited to community and regional development, regulation, inequality, and/or processes and powers of the American Government at any level.  Sentinels Fellows are awarded research funding based primarily upon their written project proposal.

Additional Information & Application:

https://learning-in-action.williams.edu/opportunities/sentinels-summer-research-fellowship/

The Inside-Out Course and Positive Pathways Partnership (P3)

The Inside Out Course and Positive Pathways Partnership are programs run with the Berkshire County Jail and House of Correction in nearby Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

The Inside Out Course follows the Inside Out Program model developed at Temple University.  In this model, the course consists of an equal number of college students and inmates learning alongside one another in a seminar taught by a college instructor at the correctional institution. A major goal of the course is to facilitate dialogue across difference,  potentially developing transformative learning experiences for participants.  The program at Williams, begun in 2013 with a course taught by Professor Christian Thorne, was initiated by Gaudino Scholar Magnus Bernhardsson as part of the “Danger Initiative.”  It continues now under the guidance of a faculty advisory team (Professors Keith McPartland, Christian Thorne, Jim Nolan, and Kris Kirby) with administration and financial support from the Center for Learning in Action. For more information on the course, contact CLiA Director Dr. Paula Consolini ([email protected]).

The Positive Pathways Partnership (P3) with the Berkshire County Sheriff’s Office, begun in 2015, supports educational access for those formerly or currently incarcerated in the Berkshire County House of Correction (BCHOC). In fall 2016, when several Williams students attended an orientation and tour of the facility in Pittsfield, some were taken aback by the new environment they had been invited to tutor in. Still, they were inspired to serve by a recognition of the importance of P3’s mission.

From December 2016 to April 2017, Omar Kawam ’20, Diana Sanchez ’17, and Timothy Suh ’18, drove weekly to the 2nd St. Reentry Office in Pittsfield where they taught a recently released individual Writing, Reading, and Math to pass his HiSET exam. Under the supervision of BCHoC staff, tutoring continued through the summer of 2017 in the Pittsfield correctional facility as two inmates sought to work towards their diplomas.

In addition to the tutoring, a small group of Williams students led by Ted McNally ’20, launched a weekly book discussion group at the BCHoC in the Spring of 2017. Within a few years, inmate participation has grown to as many as 16. Williams students facilitate the discussion of books and short stories chosen by the group as a whole. Maus, Legends of the Fall, and Love and War in California have been among the books read and discussed together.

The tutoring and book discussion group initiatives have grown substantially with the addition of another early evening (5:30-7pm) of tutoring to the Thursday slot and more students volunteering to help facilitate the Friday evening book discussions. After additional recruitment to better serve the tutoring needs both in and outside the jail, the Williams’ Director of Quantitative Skills Programs and Peer Support helped the tutors develop tutoring syllabi and a communication system that helps them work more effectively individually and as a team.

When COVID struck, P3 students found a way to continue helping with HISET preparation.  Once they heard from the BCHOC education staff about the most challenging content areas of test preparation, they created a series of  short tutorial videos to aid those studying for the test. The videos were well received and continue to be used now that the program has returned in person. The videos have since been shared with the Northern Berkshire Adult Basic Education  Program.

Even as tutoring and mentoring in this setting may be out of some people’s comfort zone, Williams students and inmates alike are grateful for the rewarding shared learning experiences. Along with the regularly taught Inside-Out Williams course, P3 strives to strengthen relations between the two institutions and offer a larger number of individuals hope in the possibility of new beginnings.

For more information, please contact Ash Bell ([email protected]).

Williams Homeless Outreach

Student Leaders: Julia Cheng ([email protected]), Aaron Maruzzo ([email protected]), Aaron Goldstein ([email protected])
Faculty/Staff Adviser: Paula Consolini ([email protected]), Jingyi Liu ’14
Meeting Time/Place: Biweekly Mondays 5pm, Paresky 112

Williams Homeless Outreach (WHO) is dedicated to raising campus awareness and enacting systemic change regarding the issues of homelessness and economic disparity, especially as they pertain to the local families of rural Massachusetts. Our club meets biweekly to collaboratively create student-led, philanthropic initiatives that are determined by the interests of the current members of WHO. Additionally, we provide a platform for volunteerism at local non-profits such as, but not limited to, Horizons for Homeless Children, Berkshire Food Project and the Friendship Center Food Pantry.

Facebook
WHO Facebook Page

WHO Intro PowerPoint (PPTX)

WRAPS

When available, the complete list of active Registered Student Organizations (RSOs) for the current academic year can be found on the Office of Campus Life website. If you would like to contact the student leader(s) of this organization, please email [email protected].


WRAPS works at the intersection of food insecurity and food waste, employing a two-part model that connects the Williams College campus with the North Adams community. WRAPS packages excess dining hall food into meals that are then distributed to local organizations in North Adams while working to expand our impact through collaboration with on-campus and community partners.