Gown-to-town contributions

Published on January 18, 2008

The public information departments of Amherst and Williams Colleges were asked to detail their contributions to their host communities. Here is a partial list of their responses. (For more complete information on Williams College's contributions, see gazettenet.com.)

FUNDING FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION

Williams committed $1.5 million to the construction of a new elementary school and an endowment for it. It has spent $729,000 on science outreach at local schools, and in 2003 it donated $250,000 to the local high school to help it bridge a budget shortfall. In 2005 Williams donated $23,000 to the high school toward new student software and $16,000 toward a superintendent search. The college provides the elementary school with a free Internet link, and donates old computers to local schools. Williams gives three $5,000 grants a year to local teachers.

Amherst has donated a security system valued at $150,000 and given $120,000 to support new computer equipment.

OTHER EDUCATION SUPPORT

More than 100 Williams students tutor in local elementary schools, and students teach an after-school enrichment program at the Williamstown school. The college offers a summer writing program for local middle school students, and AP chemistry and physics classes at local high schools hold labs at the college. The college's former biology greenhouse was donated to a high school. College employees volunteer their time to maintain the playing fields at the elementary school. The college staffs and funds a center at a high school to help teachers and expose students to new opportunities.

Amherst provides buildings for the Woodside Children's Center and the Little Red Schoolhouse, which offer spaces to community children. An average of 28 Amherst Regional High School students a year take classes at the college. Students tutor local youths and adult immigrants. About 50 students are involved in the Pipeline Project (tutoring high school and middle school students) and Students 2 Students (mentoring and tutoring). The new Center for Community Engagement has expanded this involvement and allowed students to link their community service with classroom education.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Williams contributed $4 million toward Berkshires Capital Investors, which was formed at the encouragement of the college to improve the number and quality of local jobs.

The Amherst College Museum of Natural History attracts 25,000 visitors a year, while 13,000 people a year visit the Mead Art Museum. It has spent more than $200 million on construction projects since 1997, and spends about $120,000 a year on local food growers and vendors. Its annual payroll is $72 million.

TOWN PROJECTS

Williams contributed $777,000 toward the $3.5 million cost of renovating Williamstown's main street. In 2002, the college gave the town $50,000 toward the cost of producing its master plan, and in 1995 gave the town $228,000 toward capping the landfill. In 1994, it gave the town library $100,000 to help it move to larger quarters, and it gives the local fire district $15,000 a year (plus $7,500 in 2001 for new equipment). It gives $21,000 annually to the Village Ambulance Service, which is housed in a building built by the college on college land at a cost of $150,000 in 1993.

Amherst spent $813,000 on crosswalks and speed bumps on College Street and then $564,000 for a similar project on South Pleasant Street. It contributed $30,000 to the $735,000 project of computerizing Town Hall maps, and $5,000 toward the $37,000 purchase of imaging equipment for the Fire Department. It gave $5,000 to the town's 250th anniversary committee.

LOCAL CHARITIES

Williams pledged $1 million in 2003 to a regional hospital's capital campaign and an additional $200,000 in 2006. It gave $30,500 last year in matching gifts to the local Community Chest and United Way.

Amherst pledged $50,000 to Cooley Dickinson Hospital in 2006 and donated three acres of land to Habitat for Humanity for building projects, which students worked on. College employees donate about $45,000 a year to the United Way.

CULTURAL PROJECTS

Williams pledged $1.8 million to partner with the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art and Yale on a project, and $35,000 to the Images Cinema capital campaign.

Amherst gave $75,000 to the Amherst Cinema project and $100,000 over four years to WFCR for its renovation and expansion.