Student Funding Opportunities

Community Engagement Experiential Learning Stipend (CEELS)

Over the summer, CCESR launched the Community Engagement Experiential Learning Stipend (CEELS) Program. Our Center encourages all students to engage in experiential learning opportunities but understands that not everyone has the financial resources available to take on unpaid roles. As a result, the CEELS program was created. Students were able to apply and receive $18/hr with a maximum of $3,000. Priority was given to students with financial barriers and those with internships engaging with local communities. 

Due to the success of the program, CCESR will continue to provide these stipends each semester. We are currently accepting applications for the Fall 2023 semester. For more information about the stipend and how to apply, click here! 

John Lewis Institute Scholars

Central Connecticut State University launched the John Lewis Institute for Social Justice on Feb. 25, 2022, which is now housed under the Center for Community Engagement & Social Research & O’Neill Chair. The Institute seeks to empower a new generation of leaders to follow Lewis’s call to build a better and more just world, one that is marked by hope and focused on liberation. Their collective work is designed to create intellectual and civic spaces to allow for a deeper understanding of the roots of injustice, while also fostering and nurturing efforts to eliminate it.  

Working with cohorts of student Social Justice Scholars, the Institute’s goals include developing their leadership and advocacy skills, while helping them to explore public service careers. The wider goal of the Institute is to engage with the campus and the local community around Social Justice issues.

Students can apply to be a part of a JLI cohort and, if selected, will receive a scholarship of $750 per semester. During their two years as a JLI Scholar, they will attend a retreat, participate in seminars and scholar development, complete an internship, create a Central Social Justice Program or Initiative, and participate in a free spring break service trip.  At the end of the two years, JLI Scholars will be recognized for their work and receive a Presidential medallion to wear at commencement.

If you are interested in becoming a JLI Scholar, click here.