On Feb. 25, the Center for Social Change and Community Involvement (CSCCI) held an open house outside their office on the third floor of Fowler. With churros, hot drinks, music and a variety of games to play, the event gave students a welcoming opportunity to socialize and learn more about what the Center does.
Jorge Orozco-Roller, a graduate assistant program coordinator, explained that the goal of events like this is to spread awareness about how the center can help students.
“We’re looking to engage with students who have ideas for what they want to see enacted in the community,” Orozco-Roller said. “We want students to come in and feel like this is a space where they can hang out, get to know us, spend time studying, form their own missions and goals, as well as just have fun.”
The atmosphere at the open house was bustling and friendly, as everyone snacked and mingled. One of the student employees there was Lily Cahill ’26, whose work focuses on political organizing, such as voter registration and civic engagement.
“We’ve gotten a lot more engagement with the Center in the past year,” Cahill said. “I think that this is a great way for people to just get to know each other and find people with similar interests.”
CSCCI staff spoke to students about upcoming events and opportunities at the time, all displayed on a table of posters. This included a sack lunch making session on March 2 for Blanchet House, a Portland nonprofit that provides meals, clothing, residential assistance, and other resources, and a Housing and Food Insecurity Cohort educational session and discussion. Cristina Morales from Oregon Humanities visited on March 4 to facilitate the conversion titled “Migration: Changes and Transformation.”
“Connecting students to direct, tangible change in the community is by far the most rewarding (part of my job),” Orozco-Roller said. “We’ve got partners in social justice movements, environmental restoration. We’ve got students pioneering houselessness education efforts and outreach.”
Debbie Mukuka ’27 works as the Social Media and Marketing Coordinator and described the impact of bringing student ideas and visions to fruition.
“Maybe you’re passionate about animals and you feel like there’s not enough opportunities that you’ve seen or heard about on campus. You can come to the Center, and we can help connect you to organizations that do that … or we can help you start something like that,” she said. “Nothing is out of the realm of possibility.”
Mukuka hopes that events like the open house will help the resources the Center has to offer reach a wider audience of students. She also pointed out that the center can guide students with outreach projects for capstones, classes or internships, which many students may not know about.
The CSCCI is still relatively new, having only opened in 2021, and those involved are working to build a broader campus presence.
“I would like to see a future where every student knows about the Center before coming to Lewis & Clark, and it can be a reason for why students want to come to Lewis & Clark,” Mukuka said.
If you are interested in making social change and getting involved in the community through a supportive, structured environment, you are in luck: the CSCCI is currently hiring for the 2025-26 academic year. Applications are available through Workday. Make sure to keep up with future events by signing up at lp.constantcontactpages.com for the Center’s newsletter.
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