Holy Cross students, faculty, and staff connect and engage with the City and its organizations and residents through cultural, civic, and recreational programming, research, and numerous service and volunteer opportunities offered through the following programs, departments, and student organizations.
Collaboration with Community Partners
Holy Cross is fortunate to work with the City of Worcester and cultural, civic, educational, and recreational organizations throughout the area. We are grateful to these agencies for hosting our students in a variety of roles in which they can serve, engage, and appreciate the community and Worcester. View a listing of Massachusetts organizations that have hosted Holy Cross students in recent years (PDF).
Board Membership Directory
Many members of the Holy Cross community lend their time and talent to local area organizations through volunteerism. The Board Memberships @ HC directory lists faculty and staff and the boards on which they serve. The majority of organizations are non-profit; the few that are for-profit organizations are denoted with an asterisk.
City of Worcester
Recreation Worcester
Since 2012, Holy Cross has made an annual donation to Recreation Worcester, a free year-round out-of-school time program run by the City of Worcester. Through afterschool programs, students will engage with program staff and community partners in enriching, athletic, artistic and academic programming. By enhancing these community partnerships through programming, Recreation Worcester aims to develop linkages between youth and community leaders through mentorship. HC students serve as tutors for the program.
For more information, please contact Sue Hunt, associate director of community relations, shunt@holycross.edu
Worcester Common Oval Ice Skating
Part of the exciting renewal of downtown Worcester includes the opening of the Worcester Common Oval Rink. The Oval welcomes the return of public skating on the Common. Since 2014, the College has made an annual donation to support the operation of the rink. HC sponsors a winter intercollegiate skating night for students of Worcester colleges and universities. Learn more about Worcester Common Oval Ice Skating.
Worcester Cultural Coalition
The Cultural Development Office of Worcester is dedicated to promoting and engaging local residents, college students, and visitors in the cultural vibrancy of Worcester County. Learn more about the Worcester Cultural Coalition.
For more information contact Erin Williams at williamse@worcesterma.gov
Internships
The College coordinates internships for students interested in public health, government, and public services with various City of Worcester offices.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central MA/MetroWest
Student-Athletes are committed to serving the community. A stellar example of this commitment can be found with the men’s lacrosse team. Since 2000, the team has participated in the Big Brothers Big Sisters Program in honor of its teammate John Price. Price was named a captain after his junior season but died shortly after. A religious studies major, Price dedicated much of his time to community service and planned on working as a lawyer in the field of human rights. In his honor, the lacrosse team started John’s Brothers, which serves each week at the Canterbury Elementary School in Worcester. Every member of the team works directly with their “little” with whom they play games and tutor. Learn more about Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Mass & Metrowest.
Worcester College Corps
Worcester College Corps, a collaborative project of H.E.C.C.M.A. institutions and community organizations, formed as part of the Worcester Together efforts. (The Greater Worcester Community Foundation and the United Way of Central Massachusetts with the City of Worcester launched Worcester Together in March 2020 to address community needs intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic.) The College Corps capitalizes on Worcester’s geography and abundance of higher education establishments to foster authentic community engagement to provide consistent education on topics such as racial justice, social and health equity, and reciprocity.
The College Corps employs its dense network of college faculty, staff, and community leaders to guide intentional interactions through resources, opportunities, conversation, and training. Through its offerings, the College Corps hopes to build a more equitable community. Holy Cross faculty and staff helped launch the WCC and are active committee members.
United Way of Central MA
Annual Campaign: Since 1989, the College has held an annual United Way of Central MA's (UWCM) fundraiser, its only workplace campaign. Nearly 3 decades of Holy Cross faculty and staff generosity has resulted in campaign donations in excess of $940,000! HC's support enables UWCM to continue its mission work organized around Education, Family Stability and Health. UW provides services to stabilize those of us in our community who are unable to meet the basic needs—helping those that are most vulnerable to the conditions and who are in fact, in survival mode.
UW Day of Caring: For one day each September, HC faculty and staff join 1,000 volunteers as part of UW's Day of Caring. Volunteers rake and clean recreational areas, paint and clean up facilities, restore playgrounds, and perform a variety of other services that Worcester schools and area non-profit organizations often cannot complete due to lack of resources.
Learn more about United Way of Central Massachusetts.
Working for Worcester
A student-run non-profit, Working for Worcester, celebrates community and is a testament to the fantastic students of the City's higher education institutions. Each year, college students across Worcester prepare for a spring "build day," a day in which hundreds of volunteers work at sites across the City to improve or create new recreational, educational, welcoming, and safe spaces for the City's youth and their families. You can get a sense of the scope of their outstanding work by visiting their website's "project results" page. Founded in 2012 by Holy Cross students, the College lauds the commitment and dedication of the students who move the work forward each year. In addition, the office of government and community relations serves as the group's HC advisor.
For more information, please contact Sue Hunt, associate director of community relations, shunt@holycross.edu.