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Erie Community College

ECC in the Community

  • ECC in the Community

    Service Learning is a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility and strengthen communities. It connects students to the community by integrating academic curriculum with active participation in service. It provides real life, hands on learning, while extending the classroom into the community. These opportunities provide students the ability to identify and experience real world situations and acquire the habit of critical thinking.

    It is the mission of the Service Learning Department to create structured opportunities for students through projects and activities which bridge the gap between the classroom and the community. These opportunities are designed to instill the spirit of community and promote an overall sense of global citizenship, shared responsibility and pride for students.

    The connection of academic content to community based projects is a vehicle to engage students in the vitality and future of the Western New York region. Through these activities students can begin to explore and address challenges and solutions within their educational programs. The process of Service Learning does not end with the completion of projects. It provides a vessel for a transformational process where students, educators and communities continue to grow in unison.

    If you are interested in information regarding our Service Learning Program, or would like to discuss possible community engagement opportunities, please contact us.

  • Featured Activities

    4H Youth Development Program Partnership

    The Computer Repair Technology Program has partnered with Cornell Cooperative Extension’s 4H Youth Development Program through service learning activities which focus on encouraging STEM education to local youth. In the Spring of 2015 faculty, staff and students from the Computer Repair Tech Program hosted a series of 4H Tech Wizard workshops at South Campus which introduced participants to the world of electronics. The interactive workshop focused on circuit boards and soldering. During the Fall semester students joined the 4H National Youth Science Day Celebration at the Seneca Babcock Community Center with over 100 grade school aged students attending. ECC shared games that the students designed and built which created hands on experiences to participating youth.
    Computer Repair Technology
    4H Youth Development Program Partnership

    Featured Activities

    Baking and Pastry Arts hosts Boys & Girls Club of Buffalo

    Baking and Pastry Arts students welcomed area youth from Buffalo’s Boys and Girls Club of Buffalo when they gathered for a day of delicious instruction inside the college’s City Campus kitchens. Under the direction of assistant professors Jenny Laney and Kyle Haak and guided as an ECC Service Learning initiative, students and club members participated in a variety of hands-on activities which promoted and encouraged youth to consider career paths in Western New York’s growing hospitality field. ECC’s award-winning students led detailed baking demonstrations, which focused on baking principals including measurement conversion. The visiting Boys and Girls Club faction got some involved career training while baking their favorite cookies and decorating cupcakes, all within City Campus’s comfortable environment for learning.
    Baking and Pastry Arts
    Boys and Girls Club of Buffalo

    Featured Activities

    Home Again Program

    Introduction to Human Services students under the direction of Instructor Lauren Idzik participated in service learning activities with Journey’s End Refugee Services. Throughout the semester students participated in a collection/donation drive for Journey’s End Home Again Program which provides recently resettled refugees with household essentials. In addition, they participated in the Home Again set-up process, where they utilized their donations to transform a barren apartment into a cozy home. Their hard work and dedication could be seen through the abundance of items collected which will benefit many families. Thank you for your commitment to our WNY community.
    Human Services
    Home Again Program

    Featured Activities

    ECC Students Help Brighten Buffalo Middle School

    Building Management and Maintenance students donated their time, effort and expertise to refurbish a classroom within the Nativity Miguel Middle School of Buffalo, located on the city’s East Side. Under the direction of Professor Don Lee (Building Management and Maintenance)— and guided as an ECC Service Learning initiative—students renovated and repainted a large congregation room, as well as installed a series of aluminum religious art pieces, fabricated in class students in the Industrial Technology Program the college’s waterjet technology. The experiential learning opportunities are not only pertinent to the work in each program’s curriculum, but also assisted the middle school, whose faith-based educational mission transforms the lives of underserved students in a secure and nurturing environment.
    Building Management and Maintenance
    Nativity Miguel School

    Featured Activities

    Partnering in City's Strategic Plan

    The Architecture Technology Department partners with the City of Buffalo in an exciting applied learning opportunity for students. Students work closely with the Mayor’s Department of Strategic Planning. The goal is to create reuse concepts for several former industrial sites which sit on the cities Belt Line. Fifteen miles opened in 1883 to circle Buffalo. These brick and concrete structures adjacent to the line are emerging in Buffalo’s economic development and are being rezoned for mixed use. Students meet with City officials, do field measurements onsite and work on designing innovative renderings and layouts for the properties. This sensational opportunity enables students to become engaged in the revitalization of the City of Buffalo.
    Architecture Technology
    Architecture Technology

    Featured Activities

    ECC Starts Summer Gardening with Waterfront Students

    With the start of summer making Buffalo’s Waterfront a hive of activity, students and faculty of Erie Community College’s Culinary Arts Department hosted Waterfront’s elementary students. For the second year Waterfront joined the fray in the Learning Garden an outdoor gardening lab constructed by the college’s Building and Grounds crew. Waterfront’s elementary-age visitors learned about vegetable plants; how to attract different insects and how some are actually beneficial to gardens; and the construction of bug houses, which students were given to paint and place in various plant boxes throughout the garden area. ECC will continue to foster its relationship with Waterfront School with the aid of the Service Learning Department for many years to come.
    Culinary Arts
    Summer Gardening

  • Need Help?

    Service Learning

    Regina Lettieri
    South Campus
    Building 4, Room 4118
    4041 Southwestern Blvd.
    Orchard Park, NY 14127
    P: (716) 851-1475