April 19, 2024

Martin Discusses Eagle Resource Closet on WVTF

February 22, 2020 by

UMW first-years work with CCE Faculty Director Leslie Martin to stock the Eagle Resource Closet, a food pantry on the fifth floor of Lee Hall. Photo by Suzanne Carr Rossi.

Leslie Martin, faculty director of UMW’s Center for Community Engagement and associate professor of sociology, was recently interviewed by WVTF 88.3 Radio IQ about food insecurity among college students and how the Eagle Resource Closet at UMW is addressing this issue.

Many schools around Virginia try to attract students from low-income families with scholarships, grants and loans – but with the cost of living going up, some of those kids run out of cash. That’s prompted universities to open food pantries.

In the attic of an administration building at the University of Mary Washington there’s a large room known as the Eagle Resource Closet. Professor Leslie Martin says you might not know it was there.

“It does provide a lot of privacy,” she explains.

And that’s by design. When the university questioned students they said anonymity was important, and a food pantry was definitely needed.

“We did a survey of students to see how much need there was, and actually almost a quarter of our student population reported being food insecure at some point,” Martin says. Read more.

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Thank You for Your Eagle Resource Closet Contributions

December 8, 2019 by

UMW first-years work with CCE Faculty Director Leslie Martin to stock the Eagle Resource Closet, a food pantry on the fifth floor of Lee Hall. Photo by Suzanne Carr Rossi.

Hello, UMW faculty and staff:

We wanted to express sincere gratitude for all of the help you have provided to the Eagle Resource Closet this fall. This was our first formal semester being open (though Gwen Hale and Rita Thompson pioneered this effort and served folks who needed help for ages prior; as do many folks around campus).

You all have donated clothes, food, toiletries, and time. THANK YOU. Students also have been pitching in all of the above. And the Alumni Board, Staff Advisory Council, and Dining Services have all run food drives. Parents have asked how they can help and so have alumni – there is interest and willingness, and we are so fortunate in this.

We also want to let you know about impact. Since we opened the ERC this September, over 100 visits have been made (according to our voluntary sign in sheet). We’ve had pages and pages of people expressing thanks and noting how much they actively need this resource. We echo these thanks.

If you want to make donations of goods – drop them at the Center for Community Engagement – UC Suite 320; we will shuttle them to the ERC. If you’d like to make a $ donation, our foundation account can be found here.

Wishing you all a good break. Looking forward to 2020 with you all.

Leslie Martin
Faculty Director, Center for Community Engagement

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Service Project Takes UMW Students ‘Into the Streets’

October 2, 2019 by
UMW students gathered in front of the University Center Saturday morning before heading to service projects throughout the Fredericksburg community. Nearly 200 students participated in various volunteer activities throughout the city. Photo by Suzanne Carr Rossi.

UMW students gathered in front of the University Center Saturday morning before heading to service projects throughout the Fredericksburg community. Nearly 200 students participated in various volunteer activities throughout the city. Photo by Suzanne Carr Rossi.

Early Saturday morning, a wave of 200 blue shirts emblazoned with the words “Little ripples make big waves,”stretched out across the front of the University Center. Wearing the shirts were UMW students gathered for Into the Streets, one of six annual events hosted by UMW’s COAR (Community Outreach and Resources), whose mission is to provide structural support for civic engagement, volunteerism and service.

Into the Streets offers students an array of volunteer opportunities – from landscaping to car washing – and a chance to check out Fredericksburg along the way.

“The goal is to encourage students to explore community service, get to know more about the area where we live, and to give back to the community,” said Sarah Dewees, associate director of UMW’s Center for Community Engagement. Read more.

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Center for Community Engagement Opens at Mary Washington

September 11, 2019 by
Mary Washington freshmen team up with Tree Fredericksburg to mulch trees as part of the CCE’s Day of Service. Photo by Matthew Binamira Sanders.

Mary Washington first-years team up with Tree Fredericksburg to mulch trees as part of the CCE’s Day of Service. Photo by Matthew Binamira Sanders.

On a late August day, Mary Washington first-years were scattered throughout Fredericksburg, mulching gardens, planting trees and cleaning up along the Rappahannock River. Others cared for animals at the SPCA and worked on projects to help area seniors, sexual assault survivors and deployed service members.

These efforts were made possible by UMW’s new Center for Community Engagement (CCE), which officially launches today. Housed in the University Center, it will build bridges – and strengthen existing ones – between Mary Washington and the greater Fredericksburg area, showcase civic and community engagement opportunities and foster partnerships that enhance student learning and encourage positive social change. The Center fits into a larger national movement to make community engagement a top priority in higher education institutions.
Read more. 

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Center for Community Engagement Formal Launch Sept. 9

September 5, 2019 by

The Center for Community Engagement will have a formal launch on September 9. The featured event is a talk by Dr. Andrew Seligsohn, president of Campus Compact, which supports higher education institutions across the nation as they work to increase collaborative relationships with their communities and support their students to commit to lives of active citizenship. Dr. Seligsohn’s talk will be held in the UC’s Chandler Ballroom at 4 p.m., followed by a reception and open house in the Center for Community Engagement suite (Suite 320, University Center). For more information about the launch or CCE, please visit https://academics.umw.edu/communityengagement/.

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Center for Community Engagement Fall Update

August 15, 2019 by

Greetings from the Center for Community Engagement – Happy August!

As summer 2019 winds down, and our thoughts turn to the next academic year, we want to let you know about some upcoming events and opportunities – here at the CCE, and in the community around us.

Fred Chats! Want to learn more about our area, in an informal setting with engaging hosts? Come join us for our inaugural “Fred Chat.” The first one will feature leaders from the George Washington Regional Commission, talking with us about what it means to live in a region and some of the important features of our region. Bring a lunch and join us on Tuesday August 13th at noon, in the Colonnade Room in the UC.  We hope to host a chat every month – and would welcome your suggestions on topics & speakers. Join us for the first of our Fred Chats!

Launch: We are hosting a formal launch of the Center on September 9 and would love for you to join us. Our featured event is a talk by Dr. Andrew Seligsohn, the President of Campus Compact. Campus Compact supports higher education institutions across the nation as we work to increase collaborative relationships with our communities, and support our students to commit to lives of active citizenship. His talk with be at 4pm in the Chandler Ballroom in the UC, followed by a reception and an open house in the CCE Suite (Suite 320, University Center).

Volunteer Opportunities: Looking for opportunities for yourself or others to engage in the community? We have begun posting opportunities online, through the “MyUMW portal” at the top left of the UMW homepage. Visit our Opportunity Board on the Center for Community Engagement MyUMW page: https://umw.presence.io/organization/center-for-community-engagement (NOTE, you may need to open this link in a Chrome browser). Or visit the COAR website to learn about COAR programs: https://sandcommeng.wpengine.com/community-outreach-and-resources-coar/

Voter Registration: Want to check your voter registration status or register to vote? Want students to come to your class to talk about civic engagement and voter registration? Send an email to sdewees@umw.edu and she can help you find the resources you need.

Time off for Service: Of particular interest to staff – Did you know that UMW gives all full-time employees up to 16 hours of paid leave to participate in volunteer activities? We have a little info, and a link to the policy here on our website.

Of particular interest to faculty: Please keep an eye out for a community engagement-focused community of practice running this fall – Community Engaged Teaching for Beginners – the call will come from Caitie Finlayson and the Teaching Center. Not a beginner? Want to share ideas and experiences? Holler back, and let’s set up some problem solving/solution celebrating brown bags this year!

Also upcoming: COAR’s Into the Streets community volunteering event on Saturday September 28th; and the roll out of a new campus civic engagement initiative, UMW Votes, throughout the fall.

Do you have any questions, issues or comments? We would love to hear from you. Please contact Leslie Martin at lmartin@umw.edu or Sarah Dewees at sdewees@umw.edu.

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Leslie Martin Named Faculty Director of the Center for Community Engagement

September 20, 2018 by

Dr. Leslie Martin has accepted the position of faculty Director of the Center for Community Engagement. Leslie is Associate Professor of Sociology and currently serves as Chair of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, having joined the UMW faculty in 2007. She received a Ph.D. in sociology from Emory University (2003) and has an M.A. (1994) in urban studies from Temple University, and a B.A. (1989) in history from The College of William and Mary. Leslie has a long history of activism around public health and social equality issues and a compelling record of community-based research. She has served on the Fredericksburg Continuum of Care, a regional coalition of homeless service organizations, and on the George Washington Regional Commission’s Affordable Housing Task Force.

At the end of this month, Dr. Sarah Dewees will be joining UMW as the Associate Director in the Center for Community Engagement. Sarah joins us after a number of years working in the nonprofit sector, most recently at First Nations Development Institute located here in Fredericksburg. Previously, she worked in the Center for Civil Society Studies at Johns Hopkins University and the Rural Policy Research Institute at the University of Missouri. Sarah received a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Kentucky (1998), and has an M.A. in sociology from Ohio University (1992), and a B.A. in government from Oberlin College (1990).

In the coming weeks, Leslie and Sarah will be collaborating with the faculty working group on Community Engagement, providing support and guidance to COAR (UMW’s long standing student-run service board); and they will begin planning the mission and strategic vision for the Center which will officially “launch” in the spring.

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Martin Appears on The Source

February 11, 2016 by

Leslie Martin shares her research on Richmond schools, choice and diversity on the website The Source.

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UMW Community Raises More Than $3,500 for Local Homeless Families

November 26, 2013 by
The University of Mary Washington community has raised more than $3,500 to help provide permanent housing for local homeless families. UMW’s efforts, spearheaded by Associate Professor of Sociology and Anthropology Leslie Martin, are part of a statewide initiative to get 740 Virginia families housed in 100 days. Professor Leslie Martin reached out to UMW faculty, staff and students to donate to the “Home for the Holidays” campaign of the Central Virginia Housing Coalition. UMW’s donations go through the “Home for the Holidays” campaign of the Central Virginia Housing Coalition, the Fredericksburg region’s answer to the state initiative. It aims to place 35 area families in permanent housing, just in time for the holiday season. For each $3,500 raised, CVHC covers a first month’s rent, a security deposit and utilities deposits for one area family. The agencies working with the homeless, including the Thurman Brisben Center and Hope House, will then provide services aimed at keeping the families in the homes long-term. “I am constantly struck by how giving and concerned all of the members of our UMW community are,” said Martin, who researches the rhetoric of homeless service providers and serves on affordable housing and homelessness task forces. When senior sociology major Kimmy Slater heard about the initiative, it reminded her of the residents at the Thurman Brisben Center, where she has been a volunteer for the past two years. With the help of fellow students, Slater decided to ask students to donate to the campaign. “Homelessness has always been near and dear to my heart ever since [I took Professor Martin’s] freshman seminar on homelessness and housing,” Slater said. Students have raised more than $300 through solicitations in residence halls and at the annual Thanksgiving dinner in Seacobeck Hall. Slater hopes the students can contribute at least $500 by the end of the semester. To make an online donation, visit http://www.centralvahousing.org/. UMW students, faculty and staff can drop off checks, made payable to Central Virginia Housing Coalition, or cash to Leslie Martin’s office in Monroe Hall.
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