Food & Environmental Justice
The CCCE supports programs that engage students in environmental issues tied to community wellbeing and sustainability. We recognize that food production, waste, energy, and food insecurity are all intertwined, and envision a world of equitable environmental access and responsible stewardship. The Food & Environmental Justice cohort coordinates programming, events, and conversations to realize this goal.
As in all areas of the CCCE programming, the Center’s environmental systems programs are intended to promote student learning, reflection, growth, and development, while encouraging students to become engaged citizens locally, nationally, and globally. We seek to develop meaningful and reciprocal relationships with our community partners that last beyond individual students’ time at Carleton.
Educational Equity
Our education programs focus on students in the Northfield and Faribault public school districts. Both districts are striving to improve the equity of their schools in the context of rapidly changing demographics and the welcoming of thousands of new citizens and residents.
CCCE Fellows and Carleton volunteers actively tutor and mentor students across college access programs, homework help, after-school, community school, and community college collaborative programming.
Health & Belonging
The Health & Belonging cohort strives to connect students with community partners to improve the community’s health as well as bring education about pertinent health and well-being topics to campus.
Medicine and mentorship are the main missions of our programming, and we work to support students involved with groups such as the Northfield Hospital Volunteer Program, HealthFinders Collaborative, Project Friendship and the Red Cross Blood Drive. We provide students with opportunities to participate in healthcare settings and gain the skills and experiences necessary to enter healthcare professions. Past educational programming has included events such as SEXploration, a week of forums, performances and presentations about sexual health, a panel on the opioid epidemic featuring community health workers, and a collaboration with an ACE course about the ebola epidemic.
The work of our cohort supports the UN Health Development goals of Good Health and Well-Being, Quality Education, and Gender Equality. We place a high value on the ideas and opinions of students and our Community Partners and use their input in the creation of new programming.
Peace, Conflict & Democracy
Peace, Conflict & Democracy (PCD) is a cohort that seeks to promote democracy and engender conversation about the root causes of inequality, injustice and violence. We address current local and global issues through speakers/panels, community conversations, and informational workshops.
PCD supports the work of CarlsVote, a student organization that works to promote voter engagement on campus. Throughout the election cycle, CarlsVote helps to provide nonpartisan information about voter registration and absentee voting to students, while additionally hosting events to inform the campus community about local politics and elected officials. CarlsVote also holds informational sessions, ‘write to your representative’ workshops, and various other events that seek to engage students with democracy and the electoral process.
Community conversations are student-led dialogues on issues that impact the Carleton student body. Each term PCD hosts 1-2 conversations, aiming to create more spaces on campus for students to practice active listening, sharing and learning from others about how people’s experiences shape their understanding of issues, and engaging across different perspectives. Some examples of past community conversation topics are, “Does my Vote Really Matter?”, “Censorship and Free Speech in the Classroom”, and “Volunteering as an Outsider.” Community conversations are posted on the Carleton campus calendar.