Student Volunteerism & Community Service

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• Project HELP

  Looking for a way to volunteer in the Plattsburgh community? Project HELP coordinators can connect you with either one-time community service opportunities like volunteering at local festivals, events or campus activities or on-going volunteering where you can make a longer term commitment to local after school programs, retirement/nursing homes, community meals, animal shelters and more.

  Along the way, you will:

  • Gain meaningful experiences
  • Learn about community needs
  • Build friendships and connections

  Annual Day of Caring

  Project HELP also sponsors the annual Day of Caring with the United Way of the Adirondacks during the last Saturday of each April. Students and employees will head out across Clinton County and Essex Counties to lend a hand where it’s needed most.

  Past service projects have included:

  • Planting trees
  • Helping the elderly or disabled with yardwork/housework
  • Assisting at the animal shelter
  • Cleaning up at local children’s camps
  • Collecting food donations for the local food pantries
  • Cleaning up City Parks, downtown Plattsburgh and local paths/trails

  To get involved, check the one-time and on-going opportunities out on Cardinal Link, stop by our office on the 2nd Floor of the Angell College Center or email us at [email protected]. 

• Empire State Service Corps

  If you have a desire to do good and make a difference, you can get hands-on experience and serve your community through paid public service with the Empire State Service Corps. Selected SUNY Plattsburgh students engage in 300 hours over the course of the academic year in a cohort aligned with their interest areas. In addition, a Summer Corps experience is also available.

  Cohort areas include: 

  • Civic engagement 
  • Education
  • Economic opportunity
  • Healthy futures
  • Environmental stewardship
  • Veterans and military families outreach

  Empire State Service Corps is a SUNY-wide initiative that allows students to be paid for meaningful work that can provide lifelong skills, as well as create lasting impacts in their community.

  Applications are available beginning March 1st of each year and can be found at Empire State Service Corps.

• The Contribution Project

  If someone gave you $400 to make a difference in your community, what would you do with it? The Contribution Project, a partnership of SUNY Plattsburgh with Cornell University, allows students to apply for grants to help pursue your ideas to make an impact for the greater good.

  Students have received grants to do the following:

  • Create survivor care kits for a local women’s shelter
  • Develop a music center and a science center for a local after school center for children
  • Create a map sign-in box for a local trailhead
  • Assemble comfort care kits for children in the hospital
  • Purchase pool table equipment for the Angell College Center
  • Make a donation to the local animal shelter
  • Paint a mural in the Student Health Center
  • Purchase playground equipment for a summer camp for children with medical issues

  Applications are available each spring at the Contribution Project  

• Community Service Scholarships

  Each year, SUNY Plattsburgh offers more than $15,000 in scholarships based on student engagement in community service. 

  Scholarships include:

  • Janice Beach Memorial Scholarship for Excellence in Community Service: 
  • UFirst Community Service Scholarship
  • Edward and Susan Zebro Community Service Scholarship
  • College Auxiliary Services Community Service Scholarship
  • Plattsburgh Lions Club Community Service Scholarship
  • Plattsburgh Rotary Club Community Service Scholarship

  These scholarships are announced at the end of the spring semester at the Student Engagement & Leadership Awards Ceremony.

  Applications for SUNY Plattsburgh Community Service Scholarships are typically due by April 15.