“The Urban Fellows is a 10 week fellowship that places students in community organizations with the goal of not only educating them about urban issues but also figuring out ways that they can be agents of change,” said Jenna Dell, assistant director of the RCCL and director of the Urban Fellows Program.

With fellowships in area non-profits and civic organizations focused on urban education, crime and justice, access to food, housing, and community arts in addition to weekly seminar discussions, students will develop an understanding of the city of Rochester that goes beyond abstract discussion. Junior Jonathan Johnson, a political science and anthropology major and current Urban Fellow, looks forward to the opportunity to actively engage with the issues covered in the program.

“There is a vast difference between reading about an adventure in a book and actually going on the adventure. The Urban Fellows Program supplements the theoretical knowledge I have, and that drive, with the frustrations and the challenges of going into a community and learning hands-on,” said Johnson.

This year’s Urban Fellows are placed in a variety of organizations in Rochester: Writers and Books, the Legal Aid Society of Rochester, the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York, the Southeast Neighborhood Service Center, and Flower City Habitat for Humanity, to name a few. Johnson will spend his summer at Community Place, an organization that provides social services and programming for the Northeast quadrant of Rochester.

“My focus is on youth ages two to 10 in conjunction with their parents through the SEEDS program (Strengthening, Eating and Exercising Daily Successfully). We try and promote activities that encourage families to work together and to learn about nutrition, education, and health in a holistic way,” said Johnson. Throughout the fellowship, Johnson will work with Community Place planning, organizing, and assisting with youth development programs.

“We sponsor programs like Urban Farming where community members can receive free fruits and vegetables as well as learn to grow their own. We also sponsor other initiatives from mountain biking programs to walking clubs to free cooking classes,” said Johnson.

Junior Jordan Shapiro, a history and international relations major, will complete her Urban Fellowship with the Genesee Land Trust and Project Hope.

“I am very interested in sustainability as well as land preservation and protecting the earth, so I have been interested in a lot of the projects the Genesee Land Trust is doing,” said Shapiro.

During her fellowship, Shapiro will be specifically working to encourage citizen use of a park on the corner of Clifford Avenue and Conkey Avenue, built by Project Hope.

“We’re trying to boost the neighborhood and get people to feel like the park is really theirs,” said Shapiro. “There’s going to be a camp with a landscape apprentice program, as well as an after school program for kids in the neighborhood.”

Shapiro hopes the Urban Fellows program will prepare her for a potential career in civil rights law.

“I think the Urban Fellows Program is really beneficial for students because it gives you the opportunity to be forced out of your comfort zone. One of the things that I hope to improve is my ability to communicate with all different types of people,” said Shapiro.

As director of the Urban Fellows program, Dell strives to build a lasting connection between students and the city of Rochester.

“The broader goal is to have students continue being involved with their communities in some way,” said Dell. “We were intentional this year in recruiting underclassmen for Urban Fellows in the hope that this would be a formative experience for them and they would continue it throughout their college career.”

Now several weeks into the program, this year’s Urban Fellows are beginning to appreciate the unique opportunity they will have this summer.

“At the University of Rochester, we are a sphere of very intellectual, very driven, and very motivated individuals who have a variety of interests. It can be very challenging when you’re situated at the University to connect with the community. The Urban Fellows program is not only necessary, but essential to actually developing a relationship between the University and the Rochester community, as well as helping students understand that relationship and why it is so important,” said Johnson.

Article written by Erica Messner ’12(T5), an intern in University Communications. Messner, who majored in political science and music, was a member of the Urban Fellows Class of 2010 and also served as an Election Fellow, also a RCCL program.

Photo: Urban Fellows Jonathan Johnson, a University of Rochester student, and Alaura Daniels, a Nazareth College student, participate in a discussion during an Urban Housing seminar at the Charles Settlement House in Northwest Rochester. Photo courtesy of Erica Messner.

VIDEO: YellowJackets Recieve Key to City, Perform with World of Inquiry School

“The YellowJackets have spent countless hours working with youth here in our city and have taken their mission across the world to Kenya,” said Richards, who also is a University Trustee. “We are proud that they are making lives more fulfilling through their commitment to music and education. That’s why it is an honor to present the University of Rochester YellowJackets with a key to our city.”

For Pittsford native Aaron Sperber ’11, who has been a member of the YellowJackets for five years, receiving a key to Rochester is an unparalleled honor.

“We have had the privilege of traveling far and wide to share our music and our message, and while being on national television was an honor that we only dreamed of, nothing is quite like home,” said Sperber, an international relations major in the College and a vocal performance major at the Eastman School of Music. “As proud Rochesterians, we found that more exciting than the glamour of Hollywood is the knowledge that we are representing all the people who have supported us and made us who we are.”

Jamal Moore ’11, also a voice performance major at Eastman and a four-year member of the YellowJackets, agreed.

“Being given a key to the city is an amazing honor that few people receive,” Moore, a native of Augusta, Ga., explained. “I am so grateful that we were selected as the latest recipients of it.”

The YellowJackets, who recently competed on NBC’s hit reality television show The Sing-Off, have a history of community service in the city. Over the last decade, they have performed concerts and hosted workshops throughout the Rochester City School District.

In 2009, the group organized the Harmony for Hope concert in honor of one of its members, Alexander Hunter, who was undergoing treatment for lymphoma. Through a benefit concert, the YellowJackets raised funds for the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center.

This past summer, the group traveled to Maseno, Kenya, on a goodwill tour and musical exchange. The group spent three weeks in the African village, where they conducted workshops in the village schools, learned traditional native songs from local children, and taught students popular songs from the United States. Additionally, the group participated in community outreach, working with victims of AIDS through the nonprofit organization Joining Hearts and Hands. For the group, the trip underscored the importance of music programs in schools as a way of providing students with a fun, creative way to engage in learning, said Sperber.

This fall, the YellowJackets took that message to heart and teamed up with the Rochester City School District to create an extra-curricular a cappella group at the World of Inquiry School. Nearly 100 students at the school spend two hours every Thursday with the YellowJackets, learning a cappella arrangements and vocal performance tips. The group, called ROC-appella, will join the YellowJackets on stage at two sold-out concerts on Dec. 11. See a video about the partnership here.

Article written by Melissa Greco Lopes, editor of The Buzz and student life publicist in University Communications. Photos courtesy of University Communications.