The partnership builds on the existing community resilience and need for justice in the South End of Albany. Amidst ongoing challenges of systemic racism, inequality, climate change and the ongoing pandemic, the aim is to increase local food security and mutual support networks.
Siena has partnered with AVillage, Inc. and other key community stakeholders to gather community input for various AVillage initiatives. While this partnership started to advance a grocery store initiative, it quickly moved to more general wealth building support leading to the expansion of the South End Night Market (SENM) and the creation of the Nascent Black Entrepreneur Fellows Program.
The goal of asset mapping in Albany’s West Hill neighborhood is to heal socioeconomic fractures by engaging directly with local residents. These mapping activities involve community-based research, civic engagement and critical refugee studies. Through this process, the community strengths and needs articulated by diverse West Hill residents will be collected to create a narrative map.
This research focuses on helping to build the Connect Center as a leader in informal learning in multiple ways. The project aims to add a STEM informal learning program to already existing arts and music programming, and to use assessments to better understand what the Cohoes youth are looking for in STEM programming.
This interdisciplinary project used theater, dramaturgy, visual arts, and virtual reality to explore and interpret a unique slice of American history through the lens of Historic Cherry Hill and the van Rensselaer-Rankin family.
The newly formed Siena College Beverage Institute is a research project that aims to serve the craft beverage community in the Capital Region by providing assistance in marketing, social media, design, photography, video, data tracking, and other areas of interest.
The medicinal plant and apothecary garden project focuses on building community partnerships around a deep connection with the earth, human health, and well-being. Our mission is to learn from, share with, and work alongside communities which are interested in the medicinal properties of plants that grow abundantly in our region.
Goals and Accomplishments: In summer 2024, this team built a needs assessment survey that garnered 228 responses to help identify needs in the Rotterdam Community with the Rotterdam Community Center!
Next Steps: A student team in Nonprofit Excellence and Transformation will analyze the results and produce a report for the RCC.
Goals and Accomplishments: This summer, we conducted an herbarium workshop to the community on the benefits of lemon balm to over 10 community members and Created and placed plant tags in Saratoga at the Presbyterian United Church of Christ and at Siena’s garden.
Next Steps: We are working on a research article to share our qualitative research results and will continue to work with our student team members who are actively contributing to our research project.
Goals and Accomplishments: This summer, members maintained multiple gardening sites at Radix and in the South End and supported the summer employment youth program.
Next Steps: We will continue supporting our urban farm and connecting with the community as environment stewards, and we look forward to a potential partnership on climate resiliency and flooding in Albany.
Goals and Accomplishments: We had a productive summer! We visited 28 meal sites and collected more than 200 surveys from children, parents, and program staff, completed a basic nutrition analysis of sponsor menus and provided recommendations for improving nutrition, and a draft of a toolkit for sponsors.
Next Steps: We will continue to conduct a qualitative analysis of interviews conducted with program leadership, analyze the nutritional quality of meals served, and continue developing the toolkit.