Although they're new to the area, by the time they've completed their first week on campus, some freshmen will be able tell their classmates about the historic neighborhoods, ethnic restaurants and many opportunities for community service awaiting them in the city that is now their home.
Those students will be participating in CityScape, an intensive one-day orientation to the city of New Haven being held on Saturday, Sept. 6. Now in its second year, the program gives up to 150 new students the chance to spend time in and learn about Elm City neighborhoods through extensive tours, hands-on participation in community service projects and conversation with New Haven residents. This year's CityScape program, which has as its theme "Breaking Through to the Other Side," is sponsored by Dwight Hall and the Office of New Haven Affairs with additional support from the Bank of Boston.
CityScape participants will begin their activity-packed day at 10 a.m. by taking a four-hour tour of Elm City neighborhoods. The freshmen will be divided into 15 smaller groups for the tours, which will be led by an upperclassman and a New Haven resident whose livelihood is entwined with the city. The latter will include New Haven aldermen Josh Civin '96 and Gerald Garcia '94; Robert Leeney, editor emeritus of The New Haven Register; Frances (Bitsie) Clarke, director of the Arts Council of Greater New Haven, Inc.; and Liz Gambardella, director of Farnam Neighborhood House.
Following the tours, CityScape participants will enjoy lunch at ethnic restaurants throughout the city and then spend three hours working in one of 10 community service projects at local parks or organizations. Among these are the Columbus House and Immanuel Baptist Church homeless shelters, the New Haven Ecology Project, the New Haven Public Library, Christian Community Action, the New Haven Register, the Audubon Street Arts District, the New Haven Land Trust Community Gardens and the Habitat for Humanity Collegiate Build.
This component of the program is the one that left the biggest impression on many of last year's participants, according to Chi Tschang '98, who helped found CityScape with other students who served last summer as President's Community Service Fellows.
"Last year, for one of our service projects, we cleaned up a green space in the Fair Haven neighborhood, says Mr. Tschang, who is helping direct this year's CityScape. "While we were out there weeding, a lot of the neighborhood residents came by to ask what we were doing and eventually started pitching in. A lot of conversation began between them and the students about the neighborhood, its schools and the city in general. Everyone learned a lot from that, and students were really grateful for the chance to experience that interaction."
Also helping to organize CityScape is Michael Morand, assistant secretary for education and development in Yale's Office of New Haven Affairs, which in the past sponsored an orientation program called "New Haven 101." CityScape expands on that program, which is not being offered this year, by really engaging students in the life of their new "hometown," he says.
"As President Levin has often noted, New Haven is not merely the site of a Yale education, but a part of it," Mr. Morand says. "CityScape is a wonderful way for the newest citizens of New Haven -- Yale's incoming class -- to learn about the ways they can participate in the life of the community which is their new home. In the process, CityScape helps deepen and broaden the ties between Yale and our neighbors in New Haven."
After completing their community service projects, CityScape participants will gather for a dinner, where they will be welcomed by Andrea Jackson-Brooks, assistant to New Haven Mayor John DeStefano Jr. In addition, Ms. Clark will discuss opportunities in the arts and in the cultural life of the city, and Mr. Civin will encourage the freshmen to take full advantage of their new status as Elm City citizens by involving themselves in New Haven's civic life.
By the end of the orientation, freshmen will feel less like newcomers and more like New Haven residents, and they will have learned about aspects of the city that it "sometimes takes students months, or even years, to discover," says Mr. Tschang. "They won't just hear about the city, they'll learn about it hands-on."
Freshmen interested in participating in CityScape can sign up through their freshmen counselors or by calling the CityScape office at 432-8264.