This year, the Bronx is getting its first-ever full-service animal shelter, and its staff is counting on Fordham students to help spread the word.
Professor Seoyoung Kim, Ph.D., and her Gabelli School digital marketing students partnered with the Animal Care Centers of New York (ACC) this semester to help publicize their Bronx location, slated to open at Co-Op City.
Where Class Meets Community
It’s the second time Kim has connected students in her Digital Marketing class with ACC, the largest animal shelter system in New York City. The class is one of Fordham’s Community Engaged Learning courses (CCEL), which bring professors and students together with the University’s neighbors to work on projects related to equity and societal progress.
Kim and students in the class recently visited ACC’s Queens location to see firsthand how the organization operates and what lessons they might replicate in the Bronx.
A Cause Worth Working For
Rebecca Fernandez, a junior marketing major, is part of a class team helping ACC develop an app to inform the public about adoptions and volunteer opportunities. She said working with a nonprofit was exciting in part because she hopes to found one herself someday.
She took another CCEL course last semester and said it showed her how theoretical concepts discussed in the classroom can be translated into concrete actions that make a positive difference in the world.
“Working with these kinds of organizations makes the class experience 10 times more valuable. It makes you look at the classwork in a way that makes you feel fulfilled, because you’re able to have an impact,” she said.
Seeing It in Person
Quang Nguyen, a marketing major whose team is researching how ACC impacts communities, was eager to see the facility in person.
“We want to understand how the things we’ve studied on paper are actually done in real life, so we can communicate that better to the public,” he said.
Marketing with Purpose
For Kim, the ACC is an ideal place for students to put their skills to work for a good cause. Students from her fall class helped create the webpage devoted to the Bronx location, and the experience led her to return this spring.
“I want to give students an opportunity to think about broader applications of marketing. They may not necessarily be interested in getting into nonprofit work, but interacting with people who are so passionate about what they believe in and are working extra hard to achieve it is meaningful,” she said.
“Even though we’re in a business school, they should understand how the theories that we learn in class can also be applied to things like saving dogs, which is what the people who work at ACC have dedicated themselves to.”
