Fatima Zeshan ’28 saw a need in her community: According to the latest U.S. Census data, 30% of Ithaca residents live below the poverty line, a rate two times higher than the state average. 

Zeshan and Calyssa Orellana ’27 are co-presidents of the Homelessness Action Project, a student group supporting organizations that assist people experiencing homelessness. The group launched the “Village Fellowship Project” to provide necessities such as personal hygiene items, first aid kits or moving supplies to young adults in the Village at Ithaca’s transitional housing program.

"We take the time to meet with residents and staff and ask them questions like, ‘What struggles are you facing?’ or ‘How can we step in to help?’” Zeshan said. “We were able to build a curated list of items and help fill in the gaps for them.”

They’ve filled those gaps with funding from the 2026 SUNY Contribution Project, an annual initiative from the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research (BCTR) that provides $400 to 200 randomly selected students to make any contribution they wish.

Zeshan said her contribution was about not just helping unhoused people in Ithaca but understanding their individual experiences. 

“Our committee learned about the systemic barriers, the familial struggles and the emotional exhaustion that comes from unstable housing,” Zeshan said. “Everyone deserves access to basic resources, and everyone deserves a home.”

Students want to make a difference

Zeshan’s project was one of many highlighted during a virtual student showcase on April 24 that celebrated the contributions students made this year.

“In addition to their day job in the classroom, recipients gain meaning and purpose through their projects,” said Anthony Burrow, BCTR director and founder of the Contribution Project. “We’ve loved watching what students from across the SUNY system do with this opportunity from the perch that we have.”

Originally open only to Cornell students, the program has expanded to include five other SUNY schools. Students have made more than 850 contributions since 2019, and the program has expanded to areas including Cincinnati and Lincoln, Nebraska. 

Noah Zanghi, a senior at Buffalo State University, used his funding to support the Buffalo Trans Choir. He launched the group in January, seeing a need for a choir that represented and affirmed trans and gender-diverse people.

“People have come to me so many times and said how my project has gotten them out of bed in the morning,” Zanghi said. “It’s so hard right now to find any kind of support for a project surrounding trans people. The fact that we were able to get off the ground, buy some sheet music, and pay for a rehearsal space is huge.”

SUNY Plattsburgh sophomore Maria Cedeno, a nursing major, chose to use her funds for the “Kindness Keeper Project,” which she created to supply comfort items to pediatric patients at the Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital in Plattsburgh, New York, in connection with the hospital’s existing Kindness Fund.

“They’re some of the toughest patients out there,” Cedeno said. “The amount of procedures and things they go through in order to keep their health, and the things their families see, is so unbelievably tough.”

With the funds, Cedeno bought coloring and word search books, fidget toys and weighted blankets; she also coordinated a drive to collect additional donations from the nursing school’s faculty. 

“This project will hopefully make many of the patients feel comforted and feel understood,” Cedeno said. 

Also participating in the SUNY Contribution Project this year were Stony Brook University, Binghamton University and SUNY Morrisville. 

“On each of these campuses, remarkable students have been pouring their hearts into contributions that have deep meaning for them,” said Burrow, the Ferris Family Associate Professor of Life Course Studies in the College of Human Ecology. “And it means the world to them that these schools are supporting their efforts. It makes all the difference.”

Juan Vazqeuz-Leddon is communication director for the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research.