Service-Learning For Community Partners

Service-Learning practitioners at the University of Cincinnati collaborate with nonprofit partners to deal with some of the most complex issues facing our communities: food insecurity, housing affordability, substance abuse, poverty, health inequity, educational barriers…the list goes on.

As an urban-serving, public university, UC is positioned to assist in addressing these issues and to help our students develop a sense of social responsibility in the process.

Through our Service-Learning program, your organization can connect with diverse student and faculty leaders who can support your organization's goals. Together, we can make an impact in our communities.

• Connect with students across multiple majors through a semester-long, faculty-led course, where students are learning theory and practical skills they can put to work for you.
• Gain new awareness and energy for your mission. 
• Grow your volunteer base and expand your capacity.
• Work with engaged young leaders. 
• Propose a project to help address a real-world problem your organization faces, for student teams to work on collaboratively.
• Take it to the next level with our Service-Learning Co-op Program. 

You can find just a few examples of Service-Learning projects UC students have worked on below. Plus, check out these Service-Learning Testimonials from students, faculty, and partners. 

Cross Over Community Development:

• Cross Over Community Development (COCD) is a small nonprofit whose mission is to function as a resource center for immigrants and refugees in the Dayton area, as well as to raise public awareness about immigrants and refugees to increase their visibility and change public attitudes for the better. 
• In Fall 2022, an Industrial-Organizational Psychology course worked with COCD to develop a stragetic planning process and to create financial planning goals, an operating budget, and a funding plan. 

Digital Transformation: Advancing Communities:

• To help adult learners prepare for careers in technology, students worked on researching, designing, and implementing practical solutions.
• Students developed new digital skills and explored leadership, teamwork, collaboration, social justice, and social change.

Saturday Hoops

• Saturday Hoops in Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine neighborhood lets kids be kids: Every Saturday morning, kids come to play basketball, make arts and crafts, do yoga, and enjoy similar activities in the company of adult volunteers who serve as role models.
• Students worked on a public relations and marketing campaign to bring more attention and volunteers to Saturday Hoops.

Rise Together

• In spring 2018, the Service-Learning Colaboratory paired FC Cincinnati soccer players and staff with University of Cincinnati students and faculty, along with students and teachers from Carson Elementary in Lower Price Hill to address issues related to bullying and youth engagement.
• Through the Pay It Forward Student Philanthropy Grant, the course received funding to support the relaunch of a nearby “futbol” court.

Digital Storytelling

• This concept originated in relationships with the Mayerson Foundation’s High School Service-Learning Program and two local high schools – Riverview East and Madeira. In the class, UC students and faculty worked with high school students and faculty to create digital storytelling projects that highlighted each high school’s service learning efforts.

Clifton Heights Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation 

• As the neighborhood non-profit development corporation, the Clifton Heights Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation (CHCURC) is in constant contact with residents and business owners and is constantly looking at ways to help improve the conditions in the area.
• In Summer 2022, CHCURC worked with a class at UC to research and propose solutions for safety and advertising concerns from local businesses. 

Let’s see what we can do together. We are now accepting requests for future Service-Learning projects.

The following list, created by the National Service-Learning Clearinghouse, gives a sense of the many ways that students can apply the theories and skills they're learning in the classroom to a community-based project:

• Tutor students and adults
• Conduct art/music/dance lessons 
• Give presentations on violence and drug prevention
• Help in a homeless shelter
• Create life reviews for hospice patients
• Compile and analyze research
• Remove invasive plants and restore ecosystems in nature preserve areas 
• Create brochures, videos, websites, databases, social media content, and other communications collatoral 
• Plan and host public forums or conduct public information campaigns

Fill out our contact form to get connected to the Service-Learning team.