Civic Engagement Scholars (CESs) lead programs that take place every week during the academic year. In an average year, over 200 of their peers participate. They work with hundreds of community residents through partnerships with Kalamazoo Public Schools, youth leadership and arts organizations, food justice initiatives, health and legal advocacy groups, and government entities. Students who would like to participate as volunteers or through federal work study must commit at least three hours per week with consistency, critical reflections, and a desire to build relationships. We look forward to working with you in civic engagement.
CCE programs offer paid and/or volunteer positions and require specific paperwork for each program, so be sure you’ve confirmed with the program Civic Engagement Scholar or the CCE’s Operations Manager, Felicia Ford, before filling out the K Student Participant On-boarding Paperwork.
Check out these synopses of the student led programs of the CCE with contact information for the Civic Engagement Scholars of each program. Know which program you’re interested in? Click that link below to slide straight to that program!
Community Advocates for Parents and Students (CAPS)
Community Advocates for Parents and Students (CAPS) is a grassroots, all-volunteer community organization that provides tutoring opportunities to KPS students who live at Interfaith Homes. The program, developed in response to the Kalamazoo Promise, meets at Interfaith Homes Neighborhood Network Center on the city’s north side, where it is open to resident children, Kindergarten through graduation, on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school, and on Saturday mornings. The program attracts about 20 children a week. It offers a structured but fun environment with relationship-based homework help, literacy and math support, field trips, and information about getting into colleges. K students serve either as volunteers, through federal work-study, or in service-learning courses, working alongside community volunteers and Western Michigan University students.
Requirements:
All students, whether paid, volunteer, or in a course, must attend orientation and training sessions, complete appropriate paperwork, and attend reflection sessions throughout the term.
Program Times:
Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4pm – 5:30pm, and Saturdays from 10am – 12pm.
Location:
Interfaith Homes
1037 Interfaith Blvd
Kalamazoo, MI 49007 *transportation provided*
Apply on Handshake: Look for Job #6819978
Contact:
CES Email: Elijah.Mobley21@kzoo.edu
CES Email: Gloria.Jackson22@kzoo.edu
Staff Email: Alexandra.VanHeest@kzoo.edu
Club Grub After-School Program
The purpose of the Club Grub program is “to empower students as citizens while they learn about the importance of food, from what they eat to where it comes from.” Program participants are seven to ten first-through third-grade students at the Woodward Elementary School, where Club Grub takes place.
In Club Grub, hands-on, tangible learning experiences highlight the importance of good nutrition, build food preparation skills from a young age, and introduce to different vegetables and fruit in a fun and meaningful way.
Requirements:
All K students must attend orientation/training sessions, complete appropriate paperwork, and attend reflection sessions throughout the term.
Program Times:
*Varied Virtual Tutoring Times 2020-2021
Mondays from 4:15pm – 5:30pm
Tuesdays 2:30 p.m. – 6 p.m.
Location:
The Woodward School for Technology and Research
606 Stuart Ave
Kalamazoo, MI 49007
Apply on Handshake: Look for Job #6820084
Contact:
CES Email: Kelly.Sanchez22@kzoo.edu@kzoo.edu
Staff Email: Alexandra.VanHeest@kzoo.edu
El Sol Elementary
El Sol Elementary, a Kalamazoo Public School, offers instruction in two languages, English and Spanish. The program model is unique within the district and southwest Michigan. El Sol functions like a magnet school, accepting students from all parts of the district. According to its mission, El Sol students will attain high levels of proficiency in their native language and in a second language, meet or exceed district and state targets for achievement in all core academic areas, and demonstrate positive, cross-cultural attitudes and behaviors.
Working at El Sol as literacy and math tutors and classroom assistants enables K students to hone their Spanish language skills and learn more about local Latinx communities.
Requirements:
Work-study and volunteer positions at El Sol require a 201 level of Spanish fluency. Each quarter, all students attend a mandatory orientation/training session, complete appropriate paperwork, and attend mandatory reflection sessions throughout the term.
Program Times:
Times vary, depending on teacher/student schedules, usually between 9am-3pm Monday through Friday for the regular school day. The after-school program with Communities In Schools runs Monday through Thursday from 3:50pm – 6:20pm. The school is located a short walk from “K’s” campus in the Vine Neighborhood.
Location:
El Sol Elementary
604 W. Vine St.
Kalamazoo, MI 49008
Apply on Handshake: Look for Job #6820393
Contact:
CES Email: Ana.Ramirez20@kzoo.edu
CES Email: Angeles.MunozHorta20@kzoo.edu
Staff Email: Alexandra.VanHeest@kzoo.edu
Homework Champions Tutoring (HCT)
The Homework Champions Tutoring program (HCT) is an educational support program for refugee students and their families in Kalamazoo Public Schools. We are a student-led program through the CCE in partnership with Refugee Outreach Collective (ROC). Beginning as a virtual program during the pandemic, it expanded to in-person classroom and tutoring assistance in the ESL classroom at Kalamazoo Central High School and at oakwood community center, where we do tutoring, mentoring, and childcare to support newcomer students and their families. Using tailored tutoring approaches, HCT aims to build our students’ skills, confidence, and motivation to learn independently. Fostering reciprocal community relationships between tutors and students is integral to our mission, and we view our students and their families as equal partners in all of our programming. Our tutors are encouraged to reflect on the social, educational, and political systems that resettled refugee students and their families navigate and how that can impact our students’ learning.
Requirements:
Each quarter, all students attend a mandatory orientation/training session, complete appropriate paperwork, and attend mandatory reflection sessions throughout the term.
Program Times:
Depends on the K student’s schedule. Contact the program’s Civic Engagement Scholar for more details.
Apply on Handshake: Look for Job #6825918
Contact:
CES Email: Sydney.Lenzini20@kzoo.edu
CES Email: Makalai.Lasavath20@kzoo.edu
CES Email: Rojina.Timsina20@kzoo.edu
Staff Email: Alexandra.VanHeest@kzoo.edu
Just Food Collective
(Paused Fall 2023)
The Just Food Collective, originally “Farms to K”, was established in 2009 as a student organization and program of the Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Center for Civic Engagement that strives to provide education and awareness to our campus community about the importance of supporting a just, sustainable, and local food system. We seek to build relationships between the college and our greater community, to increase the amount of locally-grown food served on our campus, and to develop and support a local food system that fosters sustainable and humane agricultural practices, safe and fair working conditions, and food access for all.
Program Times:
- Weekly JFC Meeting:
Fridays at 4:30PM at the Hoop House (Fall and Spring, Winter locations vary) - Open gardening hours:
Check with CES or on the GardensatK Instagram page. - Contact CESs for times and locations for conferences, community partner engagement, planting, teaching, and other projects.
Location:
Hoop House and additional community partner sites.
Availability:
Volunteer positions available.
Just Food Collective Program Registration
Join the JFC Microsoft Team for meeting updates!
Contact:
Staff Email: Riley.Gabriel@kzoo.edu
Kalamazoo County ID Program
A partnership between the KCID Advisory Board, Center for Civic Engagement, and Kalamazoo County Government. Kalamazoo College students are working with the Kalamazoo County Clerk’s office to assist people in obtaining an identification card, which extends the parameters of accessibility and belonging.
The Kalamazoo County ID program began on May 3, 2018, and it allows individuals to be recognized as members of the community, especially those who did not have a form of identification before the establishment of this program. More importantly, the Kalamazoo County ID enables individuals to navigate spaces that require a form of identification, such as banks and pharmacies. While this is a step towards increasing access to resources for individuals, it does NOT dismantle all barriers of accessibility and belonging but instead is the beginning of acknowledging the importance of identification.
Program Times:
- Tuesdays & Thursdays: 9 a.m. – 12 p.m., 1 p.m. – 4 p.m.
- Shifts are 3 hours long during the office hours given above
Location:
Kalamazoo Administration Building
201 W Kalamazoo Ave., Kalamazoo, MI. 49006
Apply on Handshake: Look for Job #6820677
Contact:
CES Email: vanessa.cardenas20@kzoo.edu
Staff Email: alexandra.vanheest@kzoo.edu
K Votes
K Votes is a student-centered program that began with faculty and staff at the College offering rides to the polls during presidential elections. Now, K Votes is student-led and works on collaborative efforts between students, faculty, and staff that bring about educational events and programming to inform students about their voting rights and election options in Kalamazoo, in Michigan, and beyond. K Votes provides resources, reflection spaces, and opportunities for civic participation. The group strives to create a campus on which everyone can develop their individual politic, understand American political systems, and feel comfortable and confident exercising their political rights. During November elections, K Votes often provides transportation to and from the Kalamazoo polls as well as hosting community watch-parties. Working with K Votes, students, faculty, and staff come together to put electoral knowledge and power into the hands of newly eligible and previously registered voters.
Program Times:
Times vary depending on current opportunities. Email the Civic Engagement Scholars (CESs) to see what the commitment looks like this quarter!
Availability:
Volunteer positions available.
One paid position available for a Democracy Fellowship with Campus Vote Project, supervised in collaboration with K Votes.
Contact:
CES Email: Nikolas.Krupka20@kzoo.edu
CES Email: Lyrica.Gee22@kzoo.edu (Winter & Spring only)
Campus Vote Project Democracy Fellow: Ipsa.Wagle23@kzoo.edu
Staff Email: Riley.Gabriel@kzoo.edu
Language Interpreting (Currently inactive)
We partner with the Kalamazoo chapter of Justice For Our Neighbors (JFON), “a ministry of hospitality that welcomes immigrants into our communities by providing affordable, high-quality immigration legal services, engaging advocacy for immigrants’ rights and offering education to communities of faith and the public”. Additionally, JFON also provides legal services for immigrants with annual earnings less than 200% of the poverty threshold. Students’ role at JFON can be that of an interpreter (speaking proficiency required), or in the departments of intake and/or child care (background check required).
This program was initially established by Frank Powers (K’02) and Bronson Pediatric Oncology to provide interpretation services for Spanish-speaking families & their children undergoing treatment. Subsequently, we partnered with the Kalamazoo Center for Medical Studies (KCMS) now part of Western Michigan University Homer Stryker MD School of Medicine.
This program gives K students the opportunity to interact with members of the Kalamazoo community, broaden their views, improve their skills, and advance immigration rights.
Requirements:
Proficiency in a languages needed for translation, as a heritage speaker, through traditional courses, or a study abroad experience in a language immersion program. Bilingual/bicultural students are strongly encouraged to apply.
Program Times:
Interpreting is on an as-needed basis (more information can be provided by contacting the CES).
Location:
JFON Clinics are located at the First United Methodist Church of Kalamazoo.
212 South Park Street, Kalamazoo, MI. 49007
Students are able to walk to JFON (about one mile from campus).
Availability:
Currently Inactive.
Students For Reproductive Freedom
The Students for Reproductive Freedom is a group that works with the Kalamazoo College and larger Kalamazoo community to achieve bodily autonomy and safety from violence for everyone. We hope to provide a space for all people to face injustice with unapologetic joy, celebration, and hard work.
Program Times:
Times vary depending on current opportunities. Email the Civic Engagement Scholars (CESs) to see what the commitment looks like this quarter!
Projects: SexCon, sex & reproductive education sessions, local reproductive advocacy and activism opportunities through partnerships with Planned Parenthood, CARES, OutFront, and YWCA Kalamazoo.
Availability:
Volunteer positions available.
Peer Educator paid positions available through our Planned Parenthood partnership. Email Riley.Gabriel@kzoo.edu for inquiries!
Swim For Success
We offer swimming lessons for local children two evenings a week. In a partnership between the City of Kalamazoo Parks and Recreation and Kalamazoo College, over 20 K College students are involved in the program, which provides tutoring onsite for one hour followed by swimming lessons.
The partnership intentionally recruits KPS students whose families have traditionally lacked access to swimming instruction. The K College students help increase the number of Latinx and African American children who know how to swim, and also learn more about the barriers that have historically prevented children of color from attaining this critical lifelong (and lifesaving) skill.
Requirements:
Coaches are required to have some swimming knowledge (can be basic) and tutors should have prior teaching or coaching experience. All participants are required to attend all orientations/training sessions and reflections (3 per quarter). Students are also expected to make and honor a weekly, quarter-long commitment to tutoring and/or coaching.
Program Times:
- Mondays and Wednesdays, 5:30-7:30 p.m.
- Tutoring 5:30-6:30 p.m.
- Swim lessons 6:30-7:30 p.m.
Location:
Kalamazoo College Natatorium
Swim For Success Program Registration
Apply on Handshake:
- Swim Coach: Look for Job #6826162
- Tutoring (Federal Work Study): Look for Job #6826133
Contact:
CES Email: Virginia.Matta22@kzoo.edu (Taylor Matta)
CES Email: Rylie.Kipfmueller20@kzoo.edu
Staff Email: alexandra.vanheest@kzoo.edu
Parents and families interested in registering their children for Swim for Success: Please call the City of Kalamazoo Parks and Recreation Office at 269.337.8191 or visit their “Programs” page for more information.
Woodward Elementary School
The goal of the Woodward program is to engage Kalamazoo College students in the broader community of Kalamazoo through direct collaboration with students at Woodward Elementary School, a K-5 boundary magnet school located just two blocks from K. Kalamazoo College participants in the Woodward program are interested in addressing issues surrounding educational equity and social justice in Kalamazoo Public Schools, and provide opportunities for Woodward students to engage in additional academic enrichment programs and possibly influence their decision to attend college.
K students can work alongside Woodward staff in classrooms during Daytime Program, can assist staff in the cafeteria, playground, and Lunch Clubs during Lunch/Recess Program, and/or provide general support during After-School Program. Each participant in the Woodward Program commits three or more hours a week throughout a 10-week quarter, and participates in additional reflective exercises on K’s campus.
We began our partnership with the Woodward school in 1997, which to this day remains our most complex partnership. Every year, Woodward’s 350 – 400 pupils welcome over 125 K students in critical service-learning courses, about 30 volunteers, and 40 earning federal work study.
Requirements:
Each quarter, all students attend a mandatory orientation/training session, complete appropriate paperwork, and attend three mandatory reflection sessions throughout the quarter.
Program Times:
- Literacy tutors: 8:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. depending on student and teacher schedules
- Lunch/Recess: 11:00 a.m.-1:50 p.m.
- After-school program: 3:00-5:30 p.m.
Location:
Woodward School
606 Stuart Ave.
Kalamazoo, MI 49006
Woodward School is in walking distance from Kalamazoo College.
Woodward Elementary Program Registration
Apply on Handshake: Look for Job #6830322
Contact:
CES Email: Adam.Cornier-Bridgeforth22@kzoo.edu
CES Email: Rhys.Koellmann19@kzoo.edu
CES Email (Winter and Spring): Isabel.Reyes22@kzoo.edu
Staff Email: alexandra.vanheest@kzoo.edu
Young Adult Program
The Young Adult Program (YAP) takes place on campus once a week and we pair young adults with disabilities (18-26 years old) with a K student. Together the group plays in the gym, visits the cafeteria and the game room, and makes art, music, & friends. This partnership with the Young Adult Program at Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service Agency (KRESA) affords everyone the opportunity to be themselves in a friendly and open environment.
Requirements:
A passion for inclusivity and neurodiversity! Consistent program attendance required, and attendance at three mandatory reflection sessions each quarter.
Program Times:
Once weekly, Tuesdays during lunch (time changes per quarter, but usually between 11am-12:30pm)
Location:
Kalamazoo College Hicks Center, and other on campus sites.
Availability:
Volunteer positions available.
Young Adult Program Registration
To volunteer with YAP, please contact the Civic Engagement Scholar via email below.
Contact:
CES Email: Alyson.Kemery22@kzoo.edu
CES Email: Lucy.Cripe21@kzoo.edu
Staff Email: Riley.Gabriel@kzoo.edu