For the past three years, the Center for Community Engaged Leadership, Learning, and Research (CCELLR) has been working on a project called the Kindness Campaign. The Kindness Campaign originated in 2020, with the local Evangelical Hospital speaking with Susquehanna Valley regional United Way about starting a positive youth kindness campaign, which they would fund. That year, the campaign lasted for a week with its biggest highlights being at a Bucknell men’s basketball game, where the campaign was shared with the community, merch was given out, and really the core of this campaign was started.  Stacey Piecuch, the Assistant Director for […]

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On March 19th, the Center for Community Engaged Leadership, Learning, and Research hosted its annual Empty Bowls event, which raises funds for a weekly hot-meal program in Milton, Community Harvest.  Attendees purchase a ticket for the event, and with their ticket comes a ceramic bowl made by students at 7th Street Studio and a bowl of soup provided by Chartwells. On top of that, Empty Bowls also had an auction featuring local art and donations from local small businesses, the proceeds of which also go to the Community Harvest Food Program. At each dining table, there were also resources with […]

Continue reading CCELLR’s Annual “Empty Bowls” event raises funds and awareness about food insecurity »

The following are two reflections from the engaged spring break experience of the half-credit CEL course “Food, Faith, and Justice”. The course explores the following questions: why are people food insecure in Baltimore in 2025? How is the community responding (through direct service, grassroots organizing, policy, research, and advocacy)? How do we fit in? And how do we build hopeful, resilient. thoughtful communities of response? To read reflections from more students, please click here. A Journey Toward Belonging Shaheryar Asghar ’28, participant Yesterday felt different; it was a day where coming to Baltimore no longer felt like an adjustment — it […]

Continue reading Reflections from Baltimore: “A Journey Toward Belonging” and “Optimism as Resistance” »

Written by Amira Faden This past semester, I have had the honor of taking a poetry class through the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program. The course took place in a local prison: 8 of the students came from Bucknell (“outside students”) and 8 of the students were incarcerated in the local prison (“inside students”). We met one afternoon each week within the prison for a series of discussions, writing exercises and sharing sessions on the subject of reading and writing poetry. Together, we established a foundation of trust and connection that allowed us to learn from each other. Two conversations come […]

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The following are two reflections from the engaged spring break experience of the half-credit CEL course “Food, Faith, and Justice”. The course explores the following questions: why are people food insecure in Baltimore in 2024? How is the community responding (through direct service, grassroots organizing, policy, research, and advocacy)? How do we fit in? And how do we build hopeful, resilient. thoughtful communities of response? To read reflections from more students, please click here. Finding Solutions in Strength Katie Schadler ’26, participant The Food, Faith, and Justice 2024 cohort spent our first full day in Baltimore meeting the Black Church Food […]

Continue reading Reflections from Baltimore: “Finding Solutions in Strength” and “Years and Small Steps” »

In the most recent SHECP Talks episode, summer 2023 intern Dora Kreitzer ’25 interviewed two other Bucknell SHECP interns, Da’Mirah Vinson ’26 and Lissandro Alvarado ’25 about their experiences with the Shepherd Higher Education Consortium on Poverty (SHECP) internship program. Both Vinson and Alvarado interned at Foundation Communities in Austin, Texas, a non-profit which provides affordable homes, free on-site support services, and community resources such as college application assistance, tax advice, healthcare, and housing. Alvarado was an intern there in 2022, Vinson in 2023. In the summer of 2023, Alvarado was one of three participants in SHECP’s Policy & Nonprofit […]

Continue reading The SHECP Internship: A Conversation Between Three Interns »

The following is a TA reflection from the half-credit CEL course Food, Faith, and Justice.
What a week it has been! I am so glad that I have had the opportunity to come to Baltimore for Food, Faith, and Justice a second time. This week was filled with meaningful conversation, learning, connection, joy, and laughter.

Continue reading A Reflection from Baltimore: The Value of Community »

The biggest change in the language is the addition of points 5 and 6 in the CBL course definition and points 6 and 7 in the CEL course definition. These additions come from the work of the anti-racist pedagogy group, run through the TLC, which met in Fall 2022. The group recognized that the definitions were missing any anti-racism focus and goals, which is a key part of community engaged learning. As a result, members of the TLC course drafted a definition, then took suggestions from current CEL/CBL practicioners as well as members of the Engaged Bucknell Coordinating Council (EBCC).

Continue reading An Update to the Community Based and Engaged Learning Courses Language »