Community Engagement
You’ll grow professionally while learning from community partners. Working together, you’ll engage in important issues and build a more just and humane world.
Education in Community
At °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹û, we offer students opportunities for holistic development. Education isn’t limited to the classroom and it isn’t limited to campus. Our Jesuit, Catholic approach sees education as a way of working towards a more just and humane world.
Community Engaged Learning
Community Engaged Learning (CEL) is a process that connects concepts in the classroom to service experiences in the community. The Sundborg Center for Community Engagement (CCE) works with instructors to identify community organizations that offer CEL placements to °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹û U students. Learning in community isn’t charity, but rather an opportunity to engage in social change in the neighborhood.
In the process of cultivating community, students can develop authentic relationships, advocate for social change, and work to redistribute power. CEL asks students to go beyond direct service to examine the underlying social systems that perpetuate inequalities and explore ways to dismantle these systems. We believe that CEL is key to engaging student and community leaders who will positively transform our university and communities. Critical community engagement seeks to “deconstruct systems of power so the need for service and the inequalities that create and sustain them are dismantled” (Mitchell, 2008).
The CCE is enthusiastic about connecting students and faculty to community partner organizations. We work with community partners to determine if opportunities are a good fit for CEL courses and for sharing with our entire campus community. We also aim to connect partners and faculty through site visits, informal events and learning opportunities.
Explore Community Engagement Programs
Sundborg Center for Community Engagement
Sundborg Center for Community Engagement (CCE) plays a pivotal role in establishing strong ties between our campus and the local community. As a national leader in community-engaged learning, CCE is committed to a clear vision for the future. By 2030, we aim to transform °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹û’s relationship with central °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹û by expanding trusting partnerships and deepening learning to advance justice, remove institutional barriers and educate changemakers.
Youth Initiative
The °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹û Youth Initiative (SUYI) is a major strategic initiative that unites the university and the wider °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹û community to support the development of successful children and youth, thriving communities and an engaged campus. 
Ways to Engage
With more than 150 partner organizations and hundreds of community engaged learning courses, we offer many opportunities to get involved.
Find an organization to participate in a one-time or ongoing volunteer opportunity.
Community Engaged Learning
In your classes, you’ll earn course credits and participate in a community engaged learning experience.
Student Employment
Paid opportunities for °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹û U students in community-facing roles.
Get in Touch
We’re here to help. For information about community engagement at °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹û U, contact:
Center for Community Outreach