Pitzer College students donate over 100,000 hours annually to community work.
The College actively supports student, staff and faculty engagement in the global, national and local community. Much of Pitzer's community outreach is organized through the Community Engagement Center (CEC), which connects students, faculty and staff with local organizations.
A main component ofthe Community Engagement Center's efforts is the Pitzer in Ontario Program, which is a comprehensive, semester-long, community-based education and cultural immersion program that strongly emphasizes experiential education. The program provides internship opportunities for students, integrated with interdisciplinary coursework and fieldtrips.
The Center also fosters strong partnerships for community-based education and research with community organizations like:
- Camp Afflerbaugh-Paige is a juvenile detention camp/high school in La Verne, CA. Pitzer students tutor, mentor and offer enrichment programs.
- The Costanoan Rumsen Carmel Tribe works with Pitzer volunteers on legal rights, health care access, research projects and college mentorship.
- Pitzer volunteers provide mentorship and college counseling at nearby Claremont and Pomona High Schools.
- The Leadership in Environmental Education Program (LEEP) teaches elementary school kids from diverse backgrounds about ecology and environmental concerns.
- The Pomona Economic Opportunity Center (also known as the Pomona Day Labor Center) provides a safe, legal site for day laborers to gather and act to ensure safe, fair working conditions. Pitzer students offer ESL classes, develop health care service networks, negotiate for workers and mediate conflicts.
- Prototypes helps over 10,000 women and children a year. Pitzer students assist at-risk women and their children.
- At the Heman G. Stark Youth Correctional Facility, Pitzer community members work with incarcerated men aged 18-25.
- With Study Buddies, Pitzer community members tutor and mentor at-risk kids in kindergarten through eighth grade.
- REACH LA provides training in health education, media arts and technology. Pitzer students work with youth on a magazine and documentaries.
Pitzer is committed to service learning, and students also volunteer with community organizations like
- Ability First
- Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice
- Claremont Tutorial Center
- Claremont After School Programs
- Community Wellness Partnership
- Foothill AIDS project
- House of Ruth
- Inland Congregations United for Change
- Inland Fair Housing and Mediation Board
- Para Los Niños
- Pilgrim Place
- Project Sister
- Reach LA
- Tent City
- Uncommon Good
- YWCA