The Student Volunteer Corps, a new program launching this fall, will aim to connect Fordham University students with the local Bronx community through long-term volunteer opportunities.
Created by Fordham’s Office of External Affairs, the Corps aims to expand service opportunities for undergraduates beyond Urban Plunge — a three-day pre-orientation program where first-years volunteer in New York City neighborhoods. It will foster ongoing engagement in areas like food security, housing and environmental justice, while also maintaining relationships between the university and community partners.
“The Fordham Volunteer Corps is a brand new program that’s really designed to connect students with projects that are both guided by local means and our local community partners,” said Amanda Caputo, FCRH ’23, an External Affairs Division employee. “It’s really about building authentic relationships with New York City communities while also living out Fordham’s mission of community engagement and solidarity.”
Travis Proulx, vice president for external affairs at Fordham, said the goal is for every student to graduate with “some type of real-world experience as part of their broader Fordham experience.”
Another incentive for creating the program was to expand student involvement. “According to survey data, about 90% of Fordham students are already graduating with some type of experiential learning under their belt,” Proulx said.
This program differs from other CCEL opportunities, as students will have the opportunity to see tangible impacts of their work in the community. “Students can continue their engagements, build relationships with the community partners that we’re connecting them with,” Caputo said. “I think it’s also an opportunity for students to make friends … grow as leaders, strengthen career skills.”
This program will also connect students from Rose Hill and Lincoln Center, strengthening “relationships with community partners and to really support and be responsive to the needs of our local community organizations,” according to Caputo.
Caputo said her own service work at Fordham shaped her professional path. “It’s why I decided to stay at Fordham for my career and do work like this,” she said. “I love community work, I love working with students, so it really has more of an impact than folks might think.”
Elspeth Fraser, GSB ’28, said she enjoys the volunteer programs that Fordham has to offer. “With Urban Plunge, I also did community service at a block party where we helped hand out food,” Fraser said, adding that she enjoyed being able to interact with the Bronx community.
But an issue that Fraser experienced with Urban Plunge was the lack of scheduling availability. “It’s tough because it might not line up with your schedule. And like POTS [Part of the Solution], it’s harder to get a shift because everyone from Fordham is volunteering there,” Fraser said. According to Proulx, the Corps aims to address this scheduling issue through its design.
One of its first initiatives will include a partnership with New York City Parks on the 2025 tree count, where student volunteers will identify and measure trees across the city. Other projects “might focus on education, food security, housing, environmental justice, advocacy …” Proulx said.
The Corps will be funded through support from Urban Plunge alumni and the Office of External Affairs, though the exact funding amount is currently undecided, as it depends on student participation.
Proulx said that as of Sept. 15, there were 150 students signed up for the Sept. 16 information session.
“The goal is to launch in November and by the end of this academic year, to hopefully have about 500 students signed up for the first year,” Proulx said.
Eva Verstegen, FCRH ’28, attended the Tuesday information session. As a transfer student, she didn’t have the opportunity to participate in Urban Plunge, so this initiative interested her. She hopes it will hold her accountable to “show up for the [Bronx] community,” and will be “something stable and … recurring” in her Fordham experience.
The corps also has partnerships with other universities, which will “offset the costs associated with the institution,” Proulx said. “Sometimes you have major donors or alumni or foundations that ultimately provide resources to be able to deliver upon projects.”
The corps is “sending out campus-wide emails and giving people an opportunity to actually meet with us one-on-one,” according to Proulx. A social media account is in the works, as well as a page on the Fordham website. Students who want to get involved can email [email protected].
“We want to create an opportunity that every student at Fordham feels comfortable pursuing,” Proulx said. “It’s really why we are here, to be able to help create that connective tissue and those opportunities with the community for students.”
