When Dylan Kleehammer came to the University at Buffalo three years ago, he wasn’t sure what he wanted to pursue.
It’s been his work participating in the Empire State Service Corps program that’s helped mold his path.
He realized the importance of being part of a campus and greater community, where there’s an emphasis on creating a sense of belonging and celebrating people from all backgrounds, as well as a commitment to tolerance and belonging.
Kleehammer, a philosophy and economics major, just started his second year as a lead diversity advocate for UB’s Intercultural and Diversity Center. He’s one of nearly 500 students from 43 SUNY campuses, including UB and Buffalo State University, participating in the 2025-26 cohort of Empire State Service Corps fellows.
It’s helping students like Kleehammer find their sense of belonging, while they provide service to the community, and get paid for the work.
“It’s become central to my identity and a highlight of my time so far at UB,” said Kleehammer, a Brockport High School graduate who grew up in Spencerport, outside Rochester. “The center allows me to stand on what I believe in and embody that.”
Students participating in the program commit to dedicating at least 300 hours a year engaging in community service and will convene regularly to share and learn from each other’s experiences.
It’s the program’s second year, and the response from interested students was significant. About 1,500 students across 55 SUNY campuses applied for the program, which is funded from $2.75 million from the state. Participating students also receive an AmeriCorps Segal Education Award of up to $1,500 for their service.
Through the program, students have so far contributed more than 112,000 hours of service to communities throughout the state, doing work like tutoring for K-12 students, teaming with nonprofits on civic engagement, peer mental health counseling and outreach for food and housing insecurity.
Some of the areas of service added for this year’s cohort include outreach and assistance for early childhood and outreach centers for veterans.
“Students are contributing to the local community, they’re learning about themselves and they’re serving next to other students who are different from them, so this is exactly the kind of program that will help knit together our social fabric at a time of so much division and strife,” said SUNY Chancellor John B. King Jr.
This effort is personal for King. When he was a freshman at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., he wasn’t sure that he’d find his place either. It was at a volunteer fair where King heard about a service program he could take part in teaching civics in Boston Public Schools.
King volunteered once a week and that turned into teaching conflict resolution and running a summer program in the city for local youths in Boston. It inspired him to become an educator and led him on a path to becoming U.S. secretary for education in 2017.
“I ended up getting very involved in public service during my college career and that led me to decide to become a teacher, and I’ve spent my whole career in public education,” he said. “There’s a level of fulfillment and learning that can be life-changing and it’s helpful in preparing students to become good citizens.”
Valerie Juang of Buffalo, who worked with UB’s Community and Civic Engagement Office as part of the Empire State Service Corps program, said she enjoyed the connection she made with other young people who are civic-minded, as well as getting to meet students in other core sectors. That’s not always easy to do at a campus as big as UB.
She was busy with school and taking on family responsibilities, so having the opportunity to do something service-driven and getting paid for it was a big help. Many of these students might have had to work in retail or at restaurants to make money and wouldn’t have gotten the same experience.
“It’s really important to have that type of support,” said Juang, a climate advocate who graduated in the spring with a double bachelor’s degree in psychology and philosophy, politics and economics.
“There are so many other commitments that you have to make that may not always be transparent to other people,” she said. “You have things that you sometimes need to do on top of other school and work duties, so building in an opportunity for service through paid work is really crucial.”
There’s also an element of resume and career building that’s part of the service work.
Over the summer, Kleehammer was able to go to Mississippi for an internship to help with community organizing through the Southern Poverty Law Center. He wouldn’t have had that opportunity if not for his work in the program.
“It’s an opportunity to show employers where my values lie and the skills that I’ve accumulated,” he said. “It’s opening tons of doors for me.”
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The Buffalo Next team gives you the big picture on the region’s economic revitalization. Email tips to buffalonext@buffnews.com or reach Buffalo Next Editor David Robinson at 716-849-4435.
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