Putting Students at the Center of Our 25th Anniversary Year

The KJCC is dedicating donations received during our year-long 25th Anniversary celebration to the funding of programming designed for – and initiated by – NYU students, the people at the heart of its activities.

This Space Is Yours celebrates and expands the open and inclusive environment that NYU students have experienced at the KJCC since the Center’s founding. Undergraduate and graduate students come to the Center for community, cultural nourishment, academic support, and opportunities for leadership and networking. Students hold seats on the KJCC’s Advisory Board, and in year-long internships, they lead the development of new and engaging programming.

This Space Is Yours will create a dedicated fund to ensure the future of programs created by students for students. The funds will support structured, sustainable avenues for student input and participation in every aspect of the Center’s activities as we continue to evolve the KJCC’s rich, layered history and offerings in response to our students’ changing concerns and interests.

The KJCC’s Director, Jordana Mendelson, said: “Throughout its history, the KJCC’s scope and offerings have evolved along with scholarship about linguistic and cultural identities. That evolution is a response to students’ changing concerns and interests, which means that now is the perfect time for our This Space Is Yours campaign, which will encourage an ever-greater number of NYU students to experience the KJCC space as their own.”

Fall of 2021 saw the launch of just such a student-run, student-focused effort: Fridays on the Patio, which brings students to the KJCC’s tranquil courtyard to socialize over activities and snacks.

Devon, an NYU undergraduate, said: “Fridays on the Patio have been a place for me to relax every week, connect with my classmates outside of class, and meet graduate students that I otherwise would not have met. I have loved having a place to talk about my Spanish and Portuguese major and express my passions outside of a classroom context. Having this cultural space has made my interests even stronger to me and introduced me to friends that I will have throughout my college career. The KJCC has given other Spanish/Latinx and heritage students and me a place that is open to all but that we find each other in.”

Please join us in encouraging an ever-greater number of NYU students to experience our KJCC space as their own.

To donate to the KJCC’s This Space Is Yours campaign, please visit this link.