In the Community
The greater Hamden area is blessed with a diverse population and a rich cultural environment. Quinnipiac is proud to be part of that environment, and the partnership between the University and the surrounding towns provides immeasurable social, aesthetic and economic benefits to both. Community spirit is woven into the fabric of Quinnipiac's culture.
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Quinnipiac students are engaged in community service programs, volunteer work and fundraising that benefits the local community.
Quinnipiac is continually involved in projects that benefit the people and organizations of the greater New Haven area. Faculty, students and staff raise money for charity, spend time with seniors, visit schools, coach youth sports teams, invite children to campus for social and educational events and provide free legal service through our law clinics.
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Quinnipiac students make an impact on the local community
At Quinnipiac, students don't just learn and grow in the classroom. They go out into the community for their education - and to make a difference.
The University believes in learning by doing, an approach that includes involvement in programs and organizations that actively reach into the community to help others. For Quinnipiac students, the community is an extension of the classroom as well as a place to live, work and make friends.
Quinnipiac students' community work in Hamden has included donating food baskets for Thanksgiving to Hamden's Youth Services Bureau; donating new toys to the Toy Closets drive sponsored by Hamden Professional Firefighters, Local 2687; and inviting the Children's Center of Hamden to campus for a holiday party.
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Quinnipiac's economic impact on the local community
Quinnipiac has a $259-million annual impact on the state's economy, and the focus of that impact is Hamden. The University attracts 500,000 visitors per year, including prospective students, parents, attendees for cultural events, and fans of NCAA Division I games. Quinnipiac's students, faculty and staff number more than 8,000, and they patronize local restaurants, retail stores and other businesses. In addition, the University's direct expenditures in Hamden, North Haven and surrounding areas provide a significant economic boost. Here are some of the groups that benefit:
Hamden Taxpayers: Because of Quinnipiac's presence in Hamden, the town receives approximately $2 million every year from the Payment in Lieu of Taxes Program and Pequot Funds.
Hamden Youth: For more than 20 years, Quinnipiac has awarded 12 academic-achievement scholarships annually to incoming freshmen who graduated from a Hamden secondary school. The scholarships pay half a year's tuition and are renewable until graduation. For many, the scholarships represent a material improvement in the quality of their educational experience.
Low- and Moderate Income Residents: Quinnipiac offers free legal service to local residents through clinics at the School of Law.
Senior Citizens: Our law school legal experts have provided free advice to local seniors about issues important to their future, such as long-term care and estate planning, and answered questions to help local seniors make sound decisions.
North Haven Schools: Our education students work in the North Haven school system as both teacher candidates and interns, saving the town more than $160,000 a year in substitute teacher expenses.
A large number of our undergrad juniors and seniors are placed in the North Haven schools for their field study experience. Our teacher candidates get to observe and learn from some excellent classroom teachers and in turn those teachers have a teacher candidate in their classroom for minimally 20 hours each semester to assist with teaching and work one-on-one with students at no cost to the district.
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Quinnipiac supports local schools
Over the years, through a variety of volunteer educational programs, Quinnipiac and its students have built and maintained a close relationship with schools and schoolchildren in the local community. These efforts by Quinnipiac's students reflect the highest fulfillment of the University's dedication to service learning. Student-athletes work closely with Hamden schools and Youth Services by reading to children and donating books and school supplies each year to area elementary schools.
"Quinnipiac has been doing this for a few years," said Susan Rubino, child care director for Hamden Youth Services. "Our kids are getting to know the student-athletes. The kids get excited. They love the attention."
Quinnipiac's Undergraduate Physician Assistant Club members have regularly read to children at Alice Peck Elementary School. To encourage them to read on their own, University students have given first-, second- and third-graders books and candy canes for the holidays.
"The children enjoy seeing young adults in the classroom interacting," said Hamlet Hernandez, Alice Peck's principal. "There has been a tremendous amount of initiative on Quinnipiac's part to adopt us."
In addition, Quinnipiac helps foster relationships with young people in the local area through programs like the Big Brothers Big Sisters Campus Kids program, the University's 36 scholarships for residents of Hamden, North Haven and New Haven to attend Quinnipiac and the Physical Therapy Club's Annual Special Athletics Day.
The Office of Admissions hosts groups of area middle school students on campus for its 'College Awareness Program,' designed to foster a "college-going" mindset, to demystify the college environment and to help students view a college education as a beneficial and attainable path for their future.