Joint Forum on Inequality to Focus on Hunger and Homelessness and Debut MCC’s On-Campus Food Pantry
MANCHESTER, Conn. (March 11, 2016) – Manchester Community College is sponsoring a Joint Forum on Inequality on Thursday, March 17, from noon to 3 p.m., in the Auditorium, SBM Charitable Foundation Building, as part of the college’s participation in The Democracy Commitment’s (TDC) Economic Inequality Initiative. The event will focus on the issues of hunger and homelessness. It is free and open to the public.
The agenda includes presentations by MCC students, faculty and staff, and members of the community. Students will report on their own research with presentations entitled, “Student Voices: Experiencing Homelessness through Cardboard City”; “Foodshare: Hunger in our Backyard”; “Working in and for the Community: Satisfying Hunger”; and others.
In addition, MCC’s Institute for Community Engagement and Outreach (ICEO), led by Professor Meg Finley, who currently serves as community engagement faculty fellow, will report on “Service Learning and the Broad Reach of MCC in our Community.”
The agenda will close with a National Issues Forum discussion moderated by Professor Rebecca Townsend, along with MCC student Gordon Plouffe, who is chair of the Connecticut Board of Regents for Higher Education (BOR) student advisory committee (SAC).
T.J. Barber, director of student activities, will make a presentation on the recently introduced MCC food pantry and career clothing closet.
TDC’s three-year Economic Inequality Initiative is designed to understand the impact of economic inequality on U.S. democracy. The goal is to help students think about and take action to confront the complex causes of growing economic inequality. Participating institutions work together to study the relationship between public policy, economic inequality, economic opportunity and social mobility to prepare undergraduates for lives of informed civic engagement.
About The Democracy Commitment: The Democracy Commitment (TDC) is a national initiative providing a platform for the development and expansion of community college programs, projects and curricula aiming at engaging students in civic learning and democratic practice across the country. The goal of TDC is that every graduate of an American community college shall have had an education in democracy. This includes all of our students, whether they aim to transfer to university, achieve an associate degree or obtain a certificate. For more information, visit www.thedemocracycommitment.org.
