SUNY students can engage in paid public service work for 300 hours over the course of an academic year. Selected students are placed in a cohort aligned with their interest areas and will serve at either an on-campus or community-based host site. This opportunity allows New York State students to be paid for meaningful work that can provide lifelong skills as well create lasting impacts in their community.
Applications are now closed for 2025-26.
Empire State Service Corps
Service Cohorts:
Civic Engagement
Students will serve either on or off campus with organizations such as local nonprofits related to civic engagement and civil discourse, including nonpartisan voter outreach, voter registration and engaging campus peers in voter activity.
FAFSA Completion
Students will serve either in local communities (local high schools) or work on campus to support students with completing the FAFSA.
Food Insecurity & Basic Needs
Students will serve on or off campus supporting students / individuals with SNAP outreach as well as basic needs support (could include shifts at campus food pantry) or with other food insecurity aligned work.
K-12 Education
Students will partner with local school districts for tutoring sessions on a regular basis to support recovery from pandemic era learning loss.
Student Success Coaching
Students will work with secondary education level students to combat common challenges external to academics. For example, socio-emotional learning, combating chronic absenteeism, mentoring, mental health support, etc. Alternatively, this corps can also be aligned to other relevant on-campus offices or community-based sites that are non-education related to support students of all ages holistically.
Sustainability
Students will serve in campus roles or off-campus with local nonprofits / State agencies or other organizations focused on sustainability work (such as recycling campaigns, tree planting, pollinator gardens, sustainability outreach, building sustainable civic habits, etc.)