Impacting The Community

Impacting the Community
We answered urgent student requests for assistance with resources for food and other basic needs through 345 emergency fund awards totaling more than $107,000.

RESPONDING TO THE PANDEMIC

The COVID-19 pandemic suddenly took the College community out of our buildings and classrooms in March. Our faculty and staff rapidly responded, shifting campus functions remotely and moving all coursework online in only two weeks. Knowing students would need additional support through these uncertain times, the College established a Virtual Student Resource Center for students to easily access the assistance they needed, and continued to provide support and guidance through the student service CCP Cares. For students who need technology to complete online coursework, the College purchased hundreds of loaner devices. Our Respiratory Care, Biomedical Equipment Technology and Nursing programs donated life-saving equipment to local hospitals and health care facilities, and the West Regional Center parking lot was used for overflow space for the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia testing site. We answered urgent student requests for assistance with resources for food and other basic needs through 345 emergency fund awards totaling more than $107,000.

The College received the Dr. Andrea Mengel Internship grant from the Independence Foundation, which is named in memory of an esteemed former chair of the Nursing department, for 12 intern positions for Nursing students to address the emergent needs created by the coronavirus. The College’s Nursing interns screen for the virus and support vulnerable populations affected by the pandemic for eight agencies, including Project Home and Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium, which provides free COVID-19 testing in Philadelphia. Since the internships began, the Nursing students have completed 754 COVID-19 tests and more than 6,000 screenings.

“The Independence Foundation internship allowed me to witness firsthand the versatility of the role of the nurse and to understand the value of that role in a time of crisis.

Working with different community agencies has renewed my sense of community ties to Philadelphia and kept me engaged with clinical aspects of nursing education while in school during the pandemic.”

— DANIELA, Nursing student intern

Virtual Support Center

Thirteen Community College of Philadelphia students are working among the city’s contact tracers after the Philadelphia Department of Public Health reached out to the College for help in finding skilled candidates. Their duties include calling known contacts of coronavirus patients, warning them about possible exposure, checking on their health daily and asking them to quarantine. The health department sought out CCP students because they wanted to offer employment opportunities at a time when many workers had been displaced. They also wanted to recruit people who live in the communities where the virus spread, knowing that building trust and fostering cooperation are key.

STEM Learning Academy

STEM VIRTUAL LEARNING ACADEMY

Philadelphia middle schoolers learned algebra readiness and coding skills over a few weeks in the College’s Summer Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Academy, designed to encourage and inspire students from underrepresented backgrounds to pursue careers in STEM fields. Rising seventh and eighth graders participated in two sessions of a virtual learning academy that combined live instruction with prerecorded sessions. The lessons centered around the popular video game Minecraft to introduce math and coding concepts, as well as creating mobile apps with coding using the MIT App Inventor.

The STEM Academy was part of a larger initiative from the College’s Division of Access and Community Engagement and was made possible with funding from New York Life’s Aim High grant. Twenty students were given access to each session at a price of $25 per student. Academic advisor Juliet Popiel said she was inspired by the students’ high energy and willingness to explore new concepts during the sessions, with students helping each other work through concepts and solve problems related to their projects.

SALON DINNER

Philanthropic leaders in the Philadelphia community gathered on Oct. 21, 2019, for an evening of dialogue about food and housing insecurity in the city and its impact on the College’s students. The conversation was led by Dr. Donald Guy Generals, president of the College, and moderated by Annette John-Hall, co-host and producer at WHYY. In addition to creating awareness and generating solutions to these issues, this event raised more than $100,000 for students struggling to meet basic needs.