• Community service initiatives are a vital part of the Providence College experience. During this academic year, approximately 2,000 students volunteered over 45,000 hours at more than 85 community agencies, schools, and other non-profit sites in the greater Providence area. Volunteer service is provided through the Office of Campus Ministry, Feinstein Institute of Public Service, Student Athlete Advisory Board, and scores of student clubs, organizations, and classes.
• Among the most notable are the following programs that included collaboration with the City of Providence:
  • This fall, 173 members of Providence College's freshman class spent their first days in Providence participating in the College's 17th annual Urban Action program. Joining 24 upper-classmen leaders, they volunteered 3,500 hours of labor at six sites throughout Providence during the three-day effort.
    • Students worked with the City of Providence at Neutaconkanut Park to clear brush, construct trails, and perform a general clean-up.  Beyond the city, volunteers cleaned, planted, and restored two charitable Rhode Island farms: Casey Farm in Saunderstown, RI--part of the Community Supported Agricultural Program--and the Urban Edge Farm in Cranston--a part of the Southside Community Land Trust. On the final day of the project, the entire group united to plant trees, landscape, and clean the neighborhood streets surrounding the College.
  • Providence College is an enthusiastic and committed member of the local coordinating council for the North End AfterZone of the Providence After School Alliance (PASA). The College has set the standard for participation by institutions of higher education in the program, which is dedicated to presenting quality after school programs to the city's middle school students.
    • College representatives serve on the North End Coordinating Council.
    • The College is providing on-campus office space and program support to the North End AfterZone's full-time coordinator. This has resulted in rental savings that have been redirected to program activities.
      " Forty student volunteers assisted in the development and presentation of a number of AfterZone programs at Esek Hopkins Middle School, Times2 Academy, and the Charles Street After School Program. PC students facilitated the board games program and assisted providers with their programs.
    • PC will host a city-wide end-of-year outdoor celebration for all PASA students and their providers in early June on the campus.
  • More than 50 Providence College student and alumni volunteers worked with staff members of the City of Providence's Parks Department on the second phase of a $1 million project to restore the historic Esek Hopkins Homestead -- a site which dates to 1754 and served as the residence of the first admiral of the U.S. Navy. These Friars United for Service In Our Neighborhood (FUSION) volunteers focused on the restoration of the adjacent soccer field for use by multiple neighborhood sports leagues. Working with City employees, the volunteers laid sod and completed related landscaping tasks.
    

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