About the CCP

Our vision is to cultivate inclusive, engaged, community engagement opportunities through active listening, knowledge sharing and collaborative education that results in the shared purpose of creating a more equitable and sustainable world for our partners, students, faculty, staff and alumni.

The CCP:

• is committed to deeply listening as active participants in equitable and inclusive action that further supports and amplifies RISD’s mutually reciprocal and sustained engagement with diverse communities.
• acknowledges the weight of responsibility that community-oriented work carries through its potential to both positively and negatively impact community realities, while foregrounding the needs of the communities we engages with.
• will be transparent in guiding and communicating our work as responsible participants in, contributors to, supporters of and collaborators in sharing RISD’s assets, opportunities, skills and knowledge.

Supported by the Community Engagement Advisory Committee and with input from across the institution, Executive Director Bethany Costello and Assistant Director Claudeline Chery lead the CCP. Together they develop near- and longterm strategies to increase awareness of RISD’s mission, goals and agendas. Additionally they work with internal and external stakeholders to steward new and existing community partnerships in support of RISD’s civic engagement efforts.

• Jennifer Bissonette, Interim Director, Nature Lab
• Marissa Brown, Associate Director, Center for Complexity
• Soul Brown, Director, Research
• Claudeline Chery, Assistant Director, Center for Community Partnerships
• Deborah Clemons, Assistant Director of Academic and Public Programs
• Bethany Costello (chair), Executive Director, Center for Community Partnerships
• CJ Crossett, Associate Director, Center for Student Involvement
• Karen Harris, Internship Manager, Career Center
• Kate Irvin, Curator of Costume and Textiles, RISD Museum
• Jade Johnson, Assistant Director, Diversity Programs
• David Kim, Founding Director, RISD Co-Works
• Rene Payne, Assistant Professor, Graphic Design
• Courtnie Wolfgang, Associate Professor, Teaching + Learning in Art + Design

Student Advisors

• Reem Mustafa Mawlood Al-Ani
• Dorinda Kyeremateng
• Shey Rivera Rios

K–12 Committee

• Lauren Allen, Associate Director, Project Open Door
• Kameko Branchaud, Grant Writer and Administrator, Research
• Soul Brown, Director, Research
• Shana Cinquemani, Department Head of Teaching + Learning in Art + Design
• Andrew Jacques, Associate Director of Strategic Initiatives, Continuing Education
• Mariana Lefas-Tetenes, Assistant Director, School and Teacher Programs