Meet the Connect4Change Project Leaders! AJ Hare ’14 AJ is pursuing a degree in management. After graduation, he plans to attend graduate school and get his Masters Degree in business so that he can become a successful business manager. Abdoulie Jallow ’15 Abdoulie Jallow is pursuing a degree in environmental studies and a minor in political science. He hopes to one day pursue a career in environmental concerns. Kaitlyn Gristina '16 Kaitlyn is pursuing a degree in political science. Kaitlyn is also an AmeriCorps member and a coordinator for the ACE Writing Partnership. Erin Grogan '16 Erin is pursuing a degree in business and a minor in Spanish. She hopes to develop a network, learn essential management and business skills, and make a lasting difference. Katie O'Rourke '17 Katie is pursuing a degree in marketing. She hopes to build connections with organizations and learn essential business skills. Katie is also on the Siena women’s swim team. Caroline Powell '17 Caroline is pursuing a degree in business. She is excited to help bring together business and nonprofit communities to make a positive impact. She is also a member of the Siena women’s swim team. Jenna Potter '16 Jenna is pursuing a degree in business. She is excited to be a founding member of C4C and is looking forward to the networking opportunities the program offers. 16 | DEEP Service
Connect4Change Siena College undergraduates get involved in Connect4Change, a new ACE project management service that connects corporate volunteers with community partners. One of the ACE office’s newest programs is Connect4Change. C4C is a project development and management service designed to benefit the region’s nonprofits and area companies by maximizing the impact of one-day and short-term employee volunteer service in the community. C4C’s project leaders work alongside nonprofits to identify and scope projects requiring volunteer assistance, then recruit, train, and deploy teams of corporate volunteers to meet the need. C4C project leaders manage all aspects of the project from start to finish and are on-site for the duration of each service day to ensure the satisfaction of all involved. A small core group of eight dedicated students meets diligently several times a week to help shape and launch this new program. These project leaders are sharing the struggles and experiencing the learning curve required when launching a completely new “C4C’s project leaders endeavor and have made incredible progress as a whole. Divided into concentrated will work alongside groups of an administrative team of nonprofits to identify organized thinkers and do-ers and a marketing team of innovative and focused and scope projects visionaries, C4C is off to a promising start. requiring volunteer The immediate tasks include market assistance, then research, establishment of project recruit, train, and procedures and protocols, the development of a clientele database, and preliminary deploy teams of meetings with firms and nonprofits. At this corporate volunteers time several organizations have expressed to meet the need.” interest in C4Cs services, and the team hopes to commence a pilot project soon. The C4C members are especially thrilled with the warm reception they have received into the ACE office at the More House and are excited to be included on other member events hosted by ACE. With the continued support of the ACE office and unfaltering commitment of our fantastic team, Connect4Change is making great strides to become a lasting and pervasive member of the ACE family at Siena College! By Erin Grogan ’16