Wesleyan has finally found a good use for the huge, abandoned building in the center of campus, home to the previous campus center before that monstrosity Usdan came along last year. The Davenport Campus Center is slated to become Wesleyan's new Center for Social Justice. Last semester an opening was held to inform students about the building's new purpose and invite students to learn more about the new programs it will offer and how they can get involved.

 
Davenport will house several new and current community projects including:

Prisoner Education Project

The Prisoner Education Project will be located on the second floor of Davenport. The Project will offer current inmates the opportunity to obtain accredited degrees from Wesleyan. Prisoners will be able to access a variety of programs through the Project, from distance education to computerized courses. Wesleyan's ITS is helping too, by creating Blackboard Cellblock, an interactive on-line teaching and communication tool modeled after the current Blackboard site. In addition, Wesleyan will provide matching funds to state prisons that wish to purchase video-conferencing equipment so that inmates may take classes with Wesleyan students and professors.

Community Kitchen

The Community Kitchen will be a place where salvaged, recovered, and donated food is cooked and served communally among students and community members at little or no charge to diners. No one will be turned away due to lack of funds at Wesleyan's new Community Kitchen! Wesleyan's student-run chapter of Food Not Bombs will re-open the former Vegan Café on the third floor of Davenport with the help of local volunteers. The Kitchen will be staffed by students and volunteers throughout the year.

Wesleyan SRO

Davenport will be the site of a new program that will coordinate the use of previously un-used spaces on campus during the summer, such as most dormitories, program houses, and senior houses. Middletown is home to growing homeless and low-income populations, but through this innovative and unprecedented program, people who are in need of transitional housing will be able to find shelter at Wesleyan during the summer for up to 2 1/2 months. The City of Middletown is collaborating with Wesleyan and the new program to reallocate applicable city funds and the Social Security benefits of individuals seeking housing on campus to help subsidize the costs of maintaining the dormitories over the summer. Residents who qualify for the program will sign housing contracts with Middletown and Wesleyan agreeing to maintain the quality of the housing facilities.

Center for Hip-Hop Education

The Center will be a space dedicated to exploring the dynamic global medium of Hip-Hop. The project will offer interdisciplinary seminars on the historic elements of Hip-Hop which include: rapping and freestyling, break dancing, graffiti and urban art, and DJing or scratching. Projects associated with the Center will be based on extensive collaboration with Hip-Hop artists working in a variety of fields within the medium. Representing education, activism, community involvement, and social justice work through Hip-Hop will be at the heart of the Center's work. The first floor of Davenport will host History Through Hip Hop, an after-school music program that "uses Hip-Hop culture to teach urban youth History, English, and creative writing skills. The curriculum combines Hip-Hop music, community activism, and technology to provide a stimulating and engaging learning environment."