The Draper Center for Community Partnerships
The Draper Center for Community Partnerships fosters mutually beneficial exchanges among community members, students, faculty and staff in support of educational outreach initiatives, community-based research and learning and other community engagement activities.
On campus, the experiences, ideas and new perspectives that emerge from community connections expand the classroom, enhance critical thinking, encourage students to view themselves as change agents, develop student leadership and support the recruitment and retention of diverse students, faculty and staff. The experiences also establish mentoring networks among diverse individuals and help students refine the values and skills that will support lifelong practices of social responsibility.
Off campus, these activities support the College’s responsibility and commitment to contribute to the surrounding communities in which we live and from which we receive intellectual, academic and staffing resources. The Draper Center reinforces existing ties and forges new ones between the College and other community organizations, ensuring dynamic, mutually educational and constructive partnerships. Current educational outreach programs include Learning In Collaboration (LInC), Next Level, K-12 campus programs, the Pomona College Academy for Youth Success (PAYS), Leadership Engagement in Gender & Sexuality (LEGS), and Pomona Partners. Community engagement programming includes alternative spring break trips (Alternabreak), Sontag Rooftop Garden Project, English as a Second Language (ESL) and the Hunger & Homelessness Initiative (HHI), including Food Recovery Network (FRN) and Sagehens Engage. Through these programs, the Draper Center offers episodic, weekly volunteer opportunities as well as long-term opportunities for students, faculty and staff to engage with surrounding community-based organizations. With the Draper Center’s support, faculty offer community partnership courses including, for example, Theater for Young Audiences, a partnership between the Draper Center, the Department of Theatre and Dance, and Fremont Academy in the Pomona Unified School District.
The Draper Center for Community Partnerships was founded with a generous gift from Ranney E. Draper ‘60 and Priscilla Draper and the Draper Family Foundation.
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