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Student Association’s Community Engagement Committee is hosting Spring into Action Week from April 3 to April 10. 

The week, which will include both in-person and virtual events, will encourage students to get involved in the community and learn about issues that are affecting the city of Syracuse, said Brittnee Johnson, co-chair of the committee. 

“It’s just an opportunity for students to come together and serve the on- and off-campus community,” Johnson said.

The week will focus on three specific topics: poverty in the local community, refugee engagement with the university and giving back to the medical community. SA will host three virtual panels that will address refugee experiences in Syracuse as well as environmental justice and entrepreneurship.

The environmental justice panel, set for April 6, will include discussions about Interstate 81, a highway that cuts through downtown Syracuse and has been linked to air pollution in the city, as well as concerns about Onondaga Lake and how racism has impacted the Onondaga Nation. 

Another panel, scheduled for April 7, will feature entrepreneurs from on and off campus who will discuss starting a business and what entrepreneurship means. 

“We’ll be featuring Black student entrepreneurs on our Instagram page to get their businesses out there and talk about what inspires them to be business owners and entrepreneurs,” Johnson said.  

SA will also host a panel on April 5 that will focus on the refugee community in Syracuse and include discussions from people at InterFaith Works, a Syracuse-based organization that provides programming for low-income and refugee residents in the city. 

“We will talk about what it means to be a refugee in Syracuse, that transition and how students can be involved and be mentors for refugees,” Johnson said.

SA will also host several in-person community service events to help students get engaged with local organizations and residents.

On April 9, students will make 150 care packages for doctors and nurses at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Syracuse and 50 packages for residents at Loretto Community Residences, an assisted living facility in Syracuse. 

The organization will also hold a community clean-up on and around SU’s campus on April 10 in partnership with the New York Public Interest Research Group as well as a gardening event at the Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ. 

Johnson hopes to encourage students to get involved in the local community in any way they can, especially given how the pandemic has impacted the city. 

“This year, especially with COVID-19, we just wanted to try our best and to encourage students that even in a time of a pandemic, you can still go out and impact your campus community, whether it’s virtually, whether it’s educating yourself to educate others or actually going out and doing the work,” Johnson said.  

Published on March 28, 2021 at 8:49 pm