How IC Benefits the Community

Since its founding in downtown Ithaca in 1892, Ithaca College has been committed to maintaining a positive relationship with the local community. Here are some examples:

• The College employs some 1,660 full- and part-time people, contributing a payroll of over $77 million to the local economy.
• Continuous expansion on South Hill, including a number of major capital projects, has been accomplished primarily through local architects and contractors, who employ a local labor force.
• The College offers over 300 free concerts throughout the year and invites the public to free lectures presented by internationally acclaimed artists and public figures, including Bill Moyers, Salman Rushdie, Joyce Carole Oates, and Ken Burns.
• From the Community Plunge in the fall to the Celebration of Service every spring, students, faculty, and staff regularly volunteer their time and expertise to local organizations and agencies. Further evidence of the College's concern for the community's social and environmental health is its leadership role in Sustainable Tompkins, a regional sustainability initiative.
• Business school students have participated in the IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program since 1996. They help local residents prepare hundreds of tax returns annually, saving them tens of thousands of dollars in tax preparation fees.
• The South Hill Elementary School–Ithaca College partnership, formalized in 1998, benefits students and faculty at both institutions. The partnership introduces the college experience in positive and encouraging ways so that young children start to see attending college as a goal.
• For over 50 years, music education juniors from the College have been teaching music at Immaculate Conception School to some 200 students in prekindergarten through eighth grade.