2023 – Worcester Community Project Center

May 18, 2023August 28, 2023 by mklarrabee

Habitat for Humanity: Developing a New and Sustainable Weight Estimation Method for Habitat for Humanity (MetroWest/Greater Worcester) and Beyond

Project Overview (Abstract) Habitat for Humanity Metro-West/Greater Worcester needed a new method to estimate landfill diversion from their ReStore sales. Finding diversion numbers is important as this aids the organization in applying for grants to support the nonprofit financially. We developed a methodology for finding the average weight of inventory being purchased by customers. We…

May 3, 2023May 9, 2023 by ihmacinerney

Worcester Community Fridges: Weatherizing and protecting fridge enclosures

Project Description Since the pandemic, Worcester Community Fridges has strived to fill in the gaps of food insecurity in Worcester by providing a public communal fridge where anyone can donate and take food at one’s leisure Due to the unique challenge of maintaining a fridge outdoors, our project was meant to explore ways to better…

April 27, 2023April 27, 2023 by nflipka

HECCMA: Connecting College Campuses to the Worcester Community

Project Sponsor The Higher Education Consortium of Central Massachusetts (HECCMA) is an association of public and private accredited colleges and universities in central Massachusetts. HECCMA is committed to working collaboratively to further the missions of member institutions. Current member institutions are as follows: Anna Maria CollegeAssumption UniversityClark UniversityCollege of the Holy CrossCummings School of Veterinary…

April 27, 2023May 2, 2023 by lmmorris

El Buen Samaritano: Implementing Data Collection Software at El Buen Samaritano

Project Description For over 30 years, the El Buen Samaritano Food Program (EBS) has served the Worcester community by providing food and clothing to those in need. Since its founding, the organization has used a pen and paper system to track the resources they provide and collect demographic information on their clients which is needed…

March 24, 2023May 2, 2023 by meruddat

Rep. Keefe: Drug Waste Protocols

Project Description Our project goal was to investigate the impact of drug waste protocols in Massachusetts and look into legislation in other states around this issue. We collected data through interviews with pharmacists, patients, nurses, organizations, and lawmakers. Our findings from this research were: safety protocols, overmedication, and expired medication lead to drug waste. Further…

March 21, 2023May 6, 2023 by jwewen

MassEdCO: Creating an Interactive Resource for Teaching Financial Literacy

Project Description Too many students graduate college with thousands upon thousands of dollars worth of student debt. MassEdCO and our team found that there is a lack of education around financial literacy which leads to students making poor choices out of high school putting them in so much debt. Therefore, we developed a new resource…

March 20, 2023May 9, 2023 by cckneisslwilliam

Habitat for Humanity MetroWest/Greater Worcester: Creating a Homeowner Information Database

Project Overview Our project created a database for Habitat for Humanity MW/GW to organize information on their homeowners. We collected input on the database structure through interviews with the staff and feedback from testing the database. We delivered a Microsoft Access database to track data on homeowners, properties, and mortgages. We found that: Habitat Affiliates…