Fellows and Projects
The 2022-2023 Rich/Collins Community Leadership and Impact Fellows were the sixth cohort of fellows. Over the course of the spring semester, these 7 fellows successfully implemented seven different projects in the community.
Charlotte Li ’24
Symposium Poster
To address the need for long-term relationships within the LGBTQIA+community. The Peer Mentorship Program was structured as a two-part conversationseries between students in the Waltham High School GSA and Brandeisundergraduates with one goal being to connect people through the power of sharedstories.
Jolecia Saunderson ’24
Symposium Poster
The Crown Initiative project was inspired by the C.R.O.W.N Act which standsfor Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair. The idea is to host sessionsthat connected hair to a multitude of fields in order to host and allow BrandeisUniversity and Africano’s members to engage with conversations and activities aboutblack hair and the multiple intersections it has.
Jovita Bell ’25 & Victoria Adusei ’24
Symposium Poster
Our mission is to cultivate a space for Black & non-Black people of color togain exposure to different literary art forms by Black & Non-Black authors and artistsof color and to embrace our collective differences through discussion and communityservice. In this way, we are able to not only bridge the gap between these two spacesbut to also contribute to building accessible libraries for community members.
Harrison Lucas ’25
Symposium Poster
The Youth Health Initiative, which was a 7-week program partnering with theWaltham Boys and Girls Club (BGC) to facilitate the execution of this project. This projectsought to promote healthy eating, physical fitness and overall wellness among middleschoolers in the Waltham community as the organizations mission perfectly aligned withgoals.
Maria Ioanna Manolioudaki ’26 / YMCA of Greater Boston
Symposium Poster
The Disability Aware Youth Project aimed to raise awareness of disability andpromote inclusion and diversity in our community. The Disability Aware Youth Project tookplace over three weeks and included three sessions. Our community partner was StanleyMiddle School, and our participants included the middle school students and the BrandeisUniversity volunteers.
Yang (Wilson) Wen ’26 / Boys and Girls Club of Worcester
Symposium Poster
BGC Worcester Music Program was a community service project that waspurposed to help expand the musical interests, specifically in violin and music theory, of theBoys and Girls Club of Worcester. These goals were achieved through weekly one-on-onetutoring sessions mentored by students from the Brandeis-Wellesley orchestra. BGCWorcester Music Program is a project aimed at making music tutoring more accessible tothe youths in the Worcester area on a platform provided by the Boys and Girls Club ofWorcester.
Expand All
Fellows and Projects
The 2021-2022 Rich/Collins Community Leadership and Impact Fellows were the fifth cohort of fellows. Over the course of the spring semester, these 10 fellows successfully implemented seven different projects in the community.
Allissa Masse ’23 and Priscilla Appenteng ’23
Black mothers within the healthcare space receive unequal opportunities and are more vulnerable to preventable consequences, such as high child mortality and death after childbirth. Through education on black maternal health disparities, Allissa and Priscilla aim to address the challenges faced by Black mothers in order to protect their lives. They will partner with the Resilient Sisterhood Project to facilitate a five part series addressing the social determinants impacting Black maternity and childbirth within our community. Through a variety of mediums including presentations, panels, and debate, they hope to help facilitate conversation around improving Black maternal disparities and develop strategies to combat this crisis.
Cassipea Stith ’22 and Logan Shanks ’24
Roxbury, a historically redlined city, lacks adequate educational resources and access to books within the Black community. Through a partnership with Frugal Bookstore and More Than Words, Cassipea and Logan aim to provide the community with additional educational resources and sponsor intergenerational opportunities for critical engagement. By hosting book drives and library card registration events, Cassipea and Logan hope to redistribute resources to Black low-income residents in Roxbury. This resource will be sustained through the creation of a permanent free library in Nubian Square. Cassipea and Logan will also host a variety of lectures, workshops, and book clubs in order to cultivate intergenerational dialogue about literature and education in the Black community and provide opportunities for networking.
Chase Malone ’24
Intergenerational disparities in low-income communities adversely affect the physical and oral health of many individuals. With a lack of government support and limited access to dental care, there is a need for multicultural preventive care and education. In partnership with the Waltham YMCA, Chase hopes to spread awareness of and dismantle oral health disparities in low-income BIPOC communities through youth education and community engagement. He will hold a series of workshops encompassing different age cohorts that target various oral health related issues. The program will conclude with a panel of BIPOC dental professionals in order to educate future healthcare professionals on public health limitations and inspire them to work and provide care to underrepresented communities.
Delaine Gneco De La Cruz ’22
Waltham low-income youth of color are disproportionately impacted by a variety of systemic social issues and often lack the resources to express and advocate for themselves through art. Through the artistic mediums of photography, poetry, film and music, ATLA’s primary goal is to create an interdisciplinary journey toward a community engagement social justice goal. Delaine will partner with the Keystone Program at the Waltham Boys & Girls Club in order to provide workshops where students will learn how to employ arts as a platform for tackling social issues. Students will engage with these issues through performing and visual art workshops, hands-on projects, critical dialogues, and discussions.
Destiny Kluck ’25
Self-esteem and racial identity are prominent issues amongst transracial and inracial adoptees. Destiny’s Family Diversity and Identity Empowerment project aims to address these issues through establishing a community for those impacted by the foster care and adoption system both on campus and in the community. Brandeis students will come together to discuss their experiences and have the option of becoming a certified volunteer for Adoption Journeys. Destiny will spread awareness on campus by recruiting volunteers to create self-empowerment kits for Waltham foster care and adopted youth. Her project will conclude with an interactive Empowerment Day event hosted in collaboration with Adoption Journeys in order to help youth explore their identities, find their purpose, and build community.
Jolecia Saunderson ’24
Many educators, activists, and community members remain under informed about the consequences punitive school policies have on Black girls and the feelings of mistreatment they often experience in academic spaces. The goal of Pushout and Peacebuilding is to shed light on these silenced experiences and to provide an outlet from the trauma caused in these spaces. Jolecia will work alongside the Department of Youth Services and the Brandeis Educational Justice Initiative (BEJI) in order to facilitate reading groups with incarcerated youth and Brandeis undergraduate students. Throughout the experience participants will engage in reflective activities through art and poetry as a tool of liberation. Her project will conclude with a digital and physical Memory Book.
Yohana Otto ’25 and Safdar Mir ’25
There is a severe lack of job opportunities available for individuals within the neuroatypical community and COVID-19 has only exacerbated this issue. The Autism Technology Initiative (ATI) is a specialized program, in partnership with Opportunities for Inclusion, that is centered around improving the basic technology skills needed to enter the workforce for people with autism. Participants will learn different skills and work with their volunteer buddy to master it. Safdar and Yohana hope that by the end of the program their participants will be both better equipped to and feel more confident in their ability to get a job and be successful in their career.
The twelve 2020 - 2021 Rich/Collins Community Leadership and Impact Fellows were the fourth cohort of fellows. Over the course of the spring semester, they successfully implemented nine different projects in the community. Watch 2021 Rich/Collins Community Leadership and Impact Fellowship Symposium now!
-
Annie Wong ’22 and Jacob Krah ’23 - Colorism Healing- Link to Mindfulness: Through Link to Mindfulness, Annie and Jacob partnered with Dr. Sarah Webb of Colorism Healing to hold panels and workshops geared towards educating BIPOC college students about new techniques outside of the typical therapeutic scope in order to kick-start their healing journey and expand their view of personal wellness, as well as begin conversations concerning the stigma surrounding mental health and wellness within the Black community.
-
Audri Bhowmick ’23: Healthy Waltham- Waltham Food Delivery Infrastructure Initiative: Audri partnered with Healthy Waltham in order to provide food to Waltham families in need, through the creation of a community volunteer led food delivery service. Additionally, he hosted a workshop to spread awareness about food justice and delivery management ideas.
-
Emma Ghalili ’22 and Leah Naraine ’22 - Queens Gateway to HS- BaselineMed: Through their BaselineMed initiative, Emma and Leah partnered with Queens Gateway to Health Sciences Secondary School in New York to create a series of workshops for BIPOC high school students to learn about the pre-med and medical experience and gain the necessary tools to be able to enter college as a premed student.
-
Hannah Liu ’23 - Opportunities for Inclusion- Professional Development Tool: Hannah partnered with Opportunities For Inclusion (OFI) to understand challenges in the job application process for people with disabilities. She built a prototype for a platform that will allow job seekers to filter job openings based on environmental conditions.
-
Joanna Xiong ’23 - Community Day Center of Waltham: Buddies for Emotional Support and Transitional Assistance (BESTA): Joanna partnered with the Community Day Center Waltham to connect Brandeis volunteers one-on-one with local individuals experiencing homelessness, in order to provide emotional support and case management assistance.
-
Kyra Frazier ’21 & Shanice Jackman ‘22 - Waltham Black Future Fund- Dream Big Waltham: Kyra and Shanice partnered with Waltham Black Future Fund to create a workshop and visual art piece, in order to give BIPOC youth opportunities to see a vision for their goals, hopes, and dreams, and provide them with the tools necessary to achieve success in the future.
-
Logan Shanks ’24 - Community Teen Coalition- The Sesa Wo Suban Project: Logan partnered with the Community Teen Coalition (CTC) in Atlanta, Georgia to create a culturally affirming college mentoring program that focused on aiding at-risk students in reaching their college and career goals, while simultaneously providing them a safe space in which they could learn about and appreciate their blackness and culture.
-
Matt Bernstein ’22 - McDevitt Middle School- iGen Series: Through a multipart program called the iGen Series, Matt brought together youth and parents from Africano Waltham, Brandeis undergraduate students, and older adults from JF & CS in order to provide every generation a platform to speak, an opportunity to hear the voices of others, and a chance to build intergenerational relationships.
-
Sabrina Sakhai ’23 - Waltham Fields Community Farm- Waltham Produce Prescription Program: Sabrina worked to address the interaction issues of food insecurity, health, and justice through her partnership with Waltham Fields Community Farm and at the Brandeis community. She is working to develop resources necessary to pilot a Produce Prescription Program through recipe creation in multiple languages. Sabrina also worked to engage the Brandeis community by featuring multicultural cooking demonstrations and creating a webinar featuring different local food justice organizations.
The seven 2019-2020 Rich/Collins Community Leadership and Impact Fellows were the third cohort of fellows. Over the course of the spring semester, they began the process of implementing six different projects in the community. Unfortunately, due to challenges presented by COVID-19 and the early closure of campus, these fellows were unable to successfully complete their projects. Two fellows, Nicholas and Han, have chosen to continue and complete their joint project during the fall of 2020.
Please see below for a brief overview of all seven fellows intended projects and where they left off last spring:
- Aishwarya Khanna partnered with Leland Home to create Waltham Against Alzheimer’s, a program aimed to raise youth involvement with Alzheimer’s disease, build intergenerational bridges with Waltham community youth and residents at Leland Home, and increase overall awareness on Alzheimer’s disease and elderly care.
- Renee Korgood partnered with WATCH CDC to create an Anti-Eviction Housing Program in order to strengthen housing instability at every point in the process; from giving clients the resources and knowledge to self advocate and avoid eviction, to providing resources and assistance before the eviction proceedings, to easing the process of going to housing court, and finally supporting clients who face eviction and need to move.
- Nicolas Greco and Han Kang partnered with Waltham Public High School to create the Cornerstone College Advising program, in order to provide college admissions mentorship and advising services to 11th grade students on topics such as financial aid, essay writing, resume building, college choice, and scholarships.
- Maddie Hayman partnered with Waltham Public High School to create a FoodShare program in order to address two documented needs; food insecurity at Waltham Public High School and the school’s environmental footprint.
- Gabe Trevino partnered with Land's Sake farm in order to increase volunteer engagement, provide a safer enclosure for their rabbits, and improve the farm’s sustainability through the creation of a volunteer service day at the farm.
- Kim Ligon partnered with Prospect Hill Kids Club in order to increase Prospect Hill parental involvement and engagement in their children’s education and lives in the after-school program through informative sessions on topics including; connection through reciprocal learning and teaching, connection through community building, conversations, and culture, connection through collaboration with educators and capitalization of resources, and the creation of a parent advisory committee.
Read more about each project by downloading our 2019 - 2020 Rich/Collins Community Leadership and Impact Fellowship Annual Report.
The seven 2018-2019 Rich/Collins Community Leadership and Impact Fellows were the second cohort of fellows. Over the course of the spring semester, they successfully implemented seven different projects in the community.
In one semester these seven fellows:
- Completed 28,000 minutes of service
- Invested over $16,000 in the local community
- Formed 50 new campus partnerships and supporters
- Attended 20+ hours of leadership development per fellow
- Recruited 40 Brandeis volunteers
In addition, these seven students completed seven incredible community impact projects which included:
- A series of free health clinics for Waltham citizens to offer free blood pressure/sugar readings to enhance local public health (Ariella Levisohn, Family Van).
- A college access and preparation workshop series and college tour field trip for first-generation students of color at the Boys and Girls Club (Melissa Nicolas, Boys and Girls Club).
- A digital technology workshop to establish long-term technological skill support for people experiencing homelessness (Ryan Shaffer, Community Day Center).
- A conference focused on self-care for women, non-binary, & femme youth of color from Waltham who are going into the STEM field (Marleny Nunez, Waltham Partnership for Youth).
- A legal translation training series for Brandeis students to become translators who provide weekly immigration legal support for Spanish-Speaking immigrants (Alejandra Bonilla, The Right to Immigration Institute).
- An enhanced series of Brandeis-supported art, science, and cultural programming for youth as part of "We Own Fridays" program (Lucy Wingard, Boys and Girls Club).
- Construction of the first-ever multilingual and multicultural library, as well as leadership training and a free library card for local high school refugees and immigrants (Gabriel Fontes, Boston International Newcomer's Academy).
Read more about each project by downloading our 2018-2019 Rich/Collins Community Leadership and Impact Fellowship Annual Report.
The seven 2017-2018 Rich/Collins Community Leadership and Impact Fellows were the inaugural class of Rich/Collins Fellows. Collectively, they successfully implemented six different projects over the course of the spring semester.
In one semester, these seven fellows:
-
formed 12 new campus partnerships
-
worked with 35 different community partners
-
invested $7,010 in the local Waltham community
-
finished over 1,000 minutes of leadership development
-
completed over 700 hours of community service in one semester
In addition, the seven students completed six incredible community impact projects which included:
Read more about each project by downloading our 2017-2018 Rich/Collins Community Leadership and Impact Fellowship Annual Report.
