Community Engagement Organizations

Explore the organizations below for an introduction to each group. You’ll find contact information for each group’s student leaders.

Community Engagement Organization Board (CEOB)

Our student organizations and continuing initiatives are collectively known as the Community Engagement Organization Board (CEOB), and each member organization of the cluster is supported by the Community Engagement Organization Board (CEOB), a peer-advised council. The CEOB functions as a support platform that provides training, oversight, and funding.

Each year, CEOB hosts a retreat for student organization leaders as well as monthly workshops for program development. Topics include budget planning, leadership transitions, and member recruitment. CEOB also administers the Flex Fund, which grants funding to student-designed community service projects.

Brother to Brother

Brother to Brother is a youth mentorship organization run by male-identifying students from Middlebury College. Our mission is to promote positive masculine character in middle school boys from Addison County, Vermont. We host events for our middle school participants at least once a month during the academic year. Past activities have included laser tag, scavenger hunts, pie and pizza baking, fun engineering challenges, quidditch, movie nights, and more. Most events culminate in a thoughtful discussion moderated by the college mentors. New participants are always welcome and not expected to attend every event, though you will probably want to! There will never be any fees for attending Brother to Brother programming.

Contact Brother to Brother.

Butch’s Team 

Butch’s team is a group of students who act as community friends to Butch Varno by visiting him on a weekly basis as well as organizing special events in his honor. Butch has cerebral palsy and lives at the Helen Porter Nursing Home. Students also drive Butch to Middlebury College sports games.

Butch’s friends practice physical therapy exercises with him, provide trips to campus and other parts of town, take Butch for walks or simply talk and hang out with him. Butch has been an integral part of the Middlebury Community for over 50 years.

Over the years, Butch’s relationship with Middlebury has received significant national attention, including the ESPN Emmy Award winning feature and CBS Eye to Eye with Katie Couric.

Catch up with Butch Varno during the pandemic.

For more information contact the Center for Community Engagement.

Charter House Coalition

Charter House Coalition is a volunteer-based, community supported service organization that provides shelter, transitional housing, free meals and a friendly face to families and individuals in the Middlebury area who need assistance.

Contact CHC’s leaders.

College Access Mentors (MiddCAM)

Middlebury College Access Mentors (MiddCAM) is a one-on-one mentorship program that pairs Middlebury College student mentors with high school juniors who are primarily first-generation and/or low-income college applicants. Mentors help guide their mentees through the college application process by helping them coordinate standardized testing and develop a college list, editing essays and personal statements, and providing information about the college experience. Mentors are provided with training and support by the group’s administrators, Center for Community Engagement, and the Middlebury Union High School guidance department. Contact MiddCAM.

Community Friends

Community Friends is a campus-based one-on-one mentoring program that matches over 130 college student mentor volunteers with local youth.

Read more about Community Friends or contact Community Friends’ leaders.

DREAM

DREAM (Directing through Recreation, Education, Adventure, and Mentoring) is a Vermont-based mentoring organization that seeks to close the opportunity gap and empower youth ages 5-18 who live in affordable housing neighborhoods. Each Friday, DREAM mentors spend time engaging with the youth in fun activities, such as apple-picking, hiking, and making ceramics. Within the larger group mentoring model, the organization’s leaders work with mentors to establish individual mentor-mentee pairs.

Learn more about the DREAM organization and apply to be a DREAM Mentor. Contact DREAM.

First Generation Investors

First Generation Investors is a national organization that teaches high school students in underserved communities the power of investing and brings classroom lessons to life by providing students with real money to invest.

Contact FGI.

Juntos

“In solidarity with local migrant workers, Juntos strives towards a community in which all workers can lead a dignified life.”

The Compañeros programs works with migrant workers to help them acquire English skills and tools that promote independence. Through weekly visits, students and migrant workers share experiences and form meaningful relationships. JUNTOS promotes awareness about immigration issues on campus and nationwide, while also building a sustained movement for just living and working conditions. Juntos also hosts meaningful events on- and off-campus to build a stronger bond between migrant workers and Midd students.

Contact Juntos.

Middlebury Alternative Breaks (MAlt)

MAlt is Middlebury’s alternative break program. Each year, students design and plan six trips during February Break to national and international destinations, and one Vermont-based trip during Fall and Spring Breaks. The goal of the trips is to provide students with opportunities to learn from and work with local people and agencies to improve communities at home and abroad.

“MAlt trips are such impactful ways to spend one’s free time from college because they introduce and seek to counter the injustices that pervade our society. The premise of MAlt is not just to enter a community, allow it to impact the voyeur, and have the individual leave; instead, MAlt really does focus on the intersection of growth through education and action against societal wrongs.” -Zeke Hodkin ‘22

Visit MAlt’s site for more details or contact MAlt’s leaders.

Middlebury Civics in Action

Middlebury Civics in Action (CIA) gets students to actively engage with various forms of government and civics, especially regarding the legislative process and procedure. Members become self-driven, politically active global citizens who are aware of local community issues and develop their advocacy, communication, and research skills.

Middlebury Collegiate 4-H

Middlebury Collegiate 4-H acts as a bridge between the college and Addison County, promoting student and youth interest in agriculture and STEM. We offer opportunities to help mentor local 4-H youth while also facilitating conversations about and hands-on opportunities to engage with livestock and agriculture on campus.

Contact Middlebury 4-H or visit go/4H.

Middlebury First Responders

MFR is a student organization for student first responders and students who are interested in emergency services. They aim to provide support, mentorship, and training to student first responders including EMTs and Firefighters.

“Engaging with the Middlebury community through the local ambulance service has made Middlebury feel more like a home to me and has given me a whole group of awesome role models to whom I look up. My experiences have also helped me decide what I would like to do after Middlebury and provided me with awesome learning opportunities!” -Giulia Caterina Napoli ‘20

Contact MFR leaders.

Middlebury Music Outreach

Middlebury Music Outreach (MMO) promotes individual and community wellness through both virtual and in-person, music-based volunteer outreach, connecting student musicians with our community partners: EastView Retirement Community and Project Independence Elderly Services.

Email us at mmo@middlebury.edu if you’re interested in performing or helping in any capacity! 

Midd Volunteers

Midd Volunteers engage students as volunteers in the Middlebury community. They plan weekly volunteer worksites and hold annual events, such as trick-or-treating for canned goods on Halloween.

Contact Midd Volunteers.

MiddVote

MiddVote is a nonpartisan student organization that aims to mobilize students to be active participants in our democracy.

“My time volunteering with MiddVotes has taught me just how confusing the voter registration process is and has given me the opportunity to help my fellow students navigate their registrations and absentee ballot applications.” -Nora Bayley ‘21

See Democracy Initiatives for more details.

Contact MiddVote.

Nutrition Outreach and Mentoring (NOM)

Nutrition Outreach and Mentoring aims to create community and connect people through food and food education. Our student-run group organizes volunteering events and classes with the purpose of teaching youth in local schools how to cook healthy food for themselves on a budget and to acquire the independence and knowledge that comes with this life skill. The aims of these initiatives are to establish healthy eating and cooking habits and to raise awareness about nutrition and current food issues.

Contact NOM.

Page 1 Literacy Project

Page 1 Literacy Project aims to foster a love of learning in local elementary school students through weekly book clubs and events in collaboration with other student organizations. As mentors and program leaders, Page 1 volunteers take an active role in promoting literacy in all of its forms.

Go to go/pageone to contact us and to RSVP to our biweekly open meetings!

To read more from Page 1, check out this recent CCE blog post.

Sister to Sister

Sister to Sister aims to support the middle school girls in the area. Mentors interact individually with the girls in an informal and comfortable environment and discuss common issues in the girls’ lives, including school, body image, peer pressure and relationships. Many of the participating girls experience physical or mental disabilities or have difficult home lives. The mentors act as a support system for the girls which has led to participants returning regularly for the monthly events. Monthly events have included log rolling, Zumba, and game night.

The STS Summit is the highlight of the year, and it is on the basis of the Summit that many girls keep returning to the monthly events. It gives a chance for the girls to spend an entire day bonding with other girls from their school and the surrounding area, in addition to learning new skills and talents in workshops and sharing their experiences and challenges of middle school.

Contact Sister to Sister.

Special Olympics Club

To connect college students and individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities through sports and activities to build friendships and cultivate a community of respect and inclusion.

“Through sports, this club has enabled college students and individuals with intellectual disabilities to cultivate a community of respect and inclusion.” -Ellie Greenberg ‘20

Contact the Special Olympics Club.

The Wild Middlebury Project (Wild Midd)

Wild Midd is a student organization for students who are passionate about environmental education, research, and conservation. In partnerships with conservation organizations, like the Middlebury Area Land Trust and the Audubon Society, and youth-serving organizations and schools, like the Bridge School and the Hannaford Career Center, Wild Midd helps students connect across generations to learn about and protect our local environment.

Contact Wild Midd.

The Yellow House Community Club

The Yellow House Community Club aims to provide Middlebury College students with the opportunity to volunteer at the Yellow House Community right here in Midd. Through volunteering, students connect the college community with the greater Middlebury community and learn how to support a group of active young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities in leading interdependent and fulfilling lives. Previous experience working with people with intellectual or developmental disabilities is not required! 

Contact Yellow House Community Club at yellowhouse@middlebury.edu.

To read more about YHCC, check out this recent CCE blog post.