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Four Claremont Colleges students are strengthening the connection between �鶹��ý and its namesake city through the �鶹��ý Community Engagement Center (PCCEC).

Inaugural Draper Center/Hive fellows Lena Abed ’26, Kai Chen ’26, Rebecca Yao SC ’26 and Louisa Calhoon SC ’24 spent six weeks this summer brainstorming with local civic leaders, community members and students. They found “The PCCEC really can act as a bridge between the two communities,” says Abed, a cognitive science major, “because they’re so physically divided and metaphorically divided as well.”

Opened in October, the PCCEC is in the heart of the city of Pomona’s Arts Colony and serves as an innovative and inclusive safe haven dedicated to providing after-school educational opportunities, community collaborations and connections to resources.

With the center still in its infancy, Abed, Chen, Yao and Calhoon applied what they learned last school year in to create an identity for the space as well as programming tailored to the needs of the area.

Collaborating with Pomona residents gave more people a stake in fleshing out the design of a center intended to serve area youth, the students say. Moreover, speaking with dozens of community members provided a wealth of information, yielding better results than a mass survey or questionnaire would have.

Building trust with interviewees was key to getting honest assessments of the void a vibrant PCCEC and engaging programming can fill, Yao says.

“There’s definitely a diverse array of needs,” Abed adds. “One of the main insights we have right now is that many spaces for personal growth and exploration in Pomona feel highly monitored, for middle and high school students, and the spaces where they do have some semblance of independence aren’t designed for them to spend an extended amount of time there after class, and also don’t facilitate meaningful connection.”

Beyond the tangibles that come from this new Draper Center/Hive summer fellowship—new programming, branding, partnerships—Abed, Chen, Yao and Calhoon say the ultimate goal is to expand �鶹��ý’s footprint in the area.

In interviews, Chen repeatedly heard young students mention “the Claremont bubble”—an invisible, contrived barrier insulating Claremont and �鶹��ý from neighboring cities and communities.

These students are practicing what they learned in the classroom and they're using it in magnificent ways.

— Rita Shaw, assistant director of the Draper Center, community engagement

However, Claremont and �鶹��ý don’t stand on their own, says Chen, an environmental analysis major, and creating inclusive programming at the center is a step toward expanding the Claremont Colleges’ reach and strengthening the connection between �鶹��ý and the city down the road whose name it bears.

Rita Shaw, assistant director of community engagement for the Draper Center, marvels at how integrated the collaboration between the fellows and the community was this summer.

“Pomona community members are super passionate and caring people who truly love their community and want to advocate for it and themselves,” Abed says. ArtWalk and the Pomona Kids First Initiative, she adds, are but two examples of community members lifting each other up.

“We hope the PCCEC can play a small role in that in the future and be good stewards of the space we have in the city of Pomona,” Abed adds.

From October to now, the PCCEC has been built slowly to welcome prospective visitors.

“We didn’t want to come in, put down roots and say, ‘This is what we’re offering you,’” Shaw says. “We very much want to know what to present, and that takes a lot of conversations and building the community one organization at a time, one person at a time, one student at a time.”

The Draper Center/Hive fellows presented their design ideas for the PCCEC at the conclusion of their fellowship this month.

“These students,” Shaw says, “are practicing what they learned in the classroom and they’re using it in magnificent ways.”

The �鶹��ý Community Engagement Center, located at 163 W. 2nd St. in Pomona, is open from 2 to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday. For information, call 909-607-1810.