Resources

Serve in Place: Community-engaged learning during COVID-19

Is there an aspect of daily life that COVID-19 hasn’t changed? We’ve had to rethink how we stay healthy; how we work; how we shop for food; how we connect with family and friends — among many other things.

Also, the pandemic has forced us to adopt new ways of teaching, learning and conducting research; relationship building; and collaborative partnerships. But we’re up to the task because we know that community-engaged learning has a powerful effect on student learning, has a positive impact on communities, and can support students and faculty as they Serve in Place and work with community partners in this time of global upheaval.

These days, we’re more compelled than ever to support our neighbors, community partners and fellow humans — in our home communities and around the world. We are compelled to Serve in Place.

Does it look exactly like the community-engaged learning we’re used to? Probably not.

Will it still center community-based values, provide students with opportunities to be meaningfully engaged beyond their coursework and support faculty who want to pivot their courses and research in response to the crisis? Yes, yes and yes!

OEI is committed to helping every Cornellian to Serve in Place. We’ve moved many existing programs to online formats, we’ve created new workshops and webinars to dive deeper into Serve in Place and how to do it well, and we’re adjusting funding opportunities to support these new projects.

Student Opportunities

Apply for Serve in Place Funding. We’re accepting applications for winter-break projects through January 4, 2021.
If you’re already involved in our individual and group community-engaged leadership programs, stay involved! Engaged Ambassadors are offering online capstone sessions, mentoring and Be the Change workshops and retreats.
Check out Serve in Place summer 2020 projects on the Community Engagement Showcase.

Faculty and Staff Opportunities

Watch the recording of the Beyond Technology: Community-Engaged Learning during Crisis webinar
Adapt a current grant-funded project or apply for a new one
- Faculty and staff who need funding to get a student Serve in Place project going, should apply for an Engaged Opportunity Grant. Applications will reopen in December.
- Current grantees can change their existing projects and funding to address challenges that have emerged out of the pandemic. If you’d like to move to a different kind of engagement, or talk through possible ways to keep helping your partners, reach out to Anna Bartel or Amanda Wittman.
Use the Cornell Community Engagement Educators Listserv to talk to Cornell faculty and staff colleagues about issues related to challenges to teaching, learning and partnerships in the face of COVID-19. (To subscribe, email engaged-faculty-l-request@cornell.edu with the subject line “join”.)
If you know alumni who are participating in relief, rebuilding and recovery activities that students could join, encourage them to add their profile to CUeLINKS and check the “positive social impact” checkbox.

Resources and collaborations from OEI

Social Distancing Is No Reason to Stop Service Learning – Just Do It Online (The Conversation), by Marianne Krasny, professor of natural resources, talking about an e-engagement research project conducted by Yue Li, research associate; Deana Gonzales, undergraduate; and Anna Sims Bartel, associate director, community-engaged curricula and practice, Office of Engagement Initiatives, May 2020
Frequently Asked Questions about Office of Engagement Initiatives grants and programs, March 2020
Supporting Partnerships in Changing Times, by Anna Sims Bartel, March 2020
Critical Reflection during COVID-19, April 2020

Non-Cornell Resources We Like

Coronavirus and the Engaged Campus, Minnesota Campus Compact, March 2020
COVID-19: Local-Global Learning and Civic Resources, globalsl.org, March 2020