The Center for Social Impact connects community partners with faculty and students to build experiential learning opportunities for our students that advance the mission and goals of our community partners to meet community-identified needs. We work with over 50 partners per year, most of whom serve our local communities in Bridgeport and Fairfield.
We aspire to bring the assets of the community together with those of the University to meet mutually beneficial goals.
We believe that the community partner and University faculty can serve as co-educators, and that there are multiple ways of knowing that contribute to students’ learning and development.
We strive for sustainability - the development of long-term, mutually-beneficial relationships with community organizations.
Community Partners
STEP
The Students and Teachers Empowerment Partnership, or STEP, is a collaboration between Fairfield University’s Center for Social Impact, the School Education and Human Development, and Cesar Batalla Elementary School in Bridgeport. Formed in 2011, the partnership’s initial goal was to improve literacy outcomes for children in kindergarten through third grade.
This partnership has expanded to offer several meaningful learning and engagement opportunities for nearly 200 Fairfield University students per year, providing support at every grade level within the school. It also offers a host of professional development opportunities for both Fairfield University and Cesar Batalla School professionals. To develop and monitor the ongoing initiatives of the partnership, a leadership team composed of Cesar Batalla teachers and administrators and Fairfield University faculty and staff convenes every month. The efforts of this dedicated group and the positive impact on both the school and university communities earned the partnership an “Excellence” award from the New England Board of Higher Education in 2013.
To expand partnership activities and the reach of our impact, STEP welcomes the opportunity to partner with individuals and groups from the communities that the partnership serves.
Partnership activities have included:
Community-engaged learning courses through which Fairfield undergraduate students provide literacy-focused tutoring to Cesar Batalla students in grades K-8
Tutoring for at-risk middle school students provided by Fairfield University students through the Students Helping Students Club
Field trips to Fairfield University for Cesar Batalla students to participate in read-aloud, athletic and cultural events, and campus tours
After-school mentorship programs
Ongoing teacher professional development programming
RIZE
RIZE (Research, Internships, and Zoo Education) is a community-engaged learning and research partnership between the department of Biology and Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo. Each spring, teams of students conduct research at the zoo to answer the zookeeper’s most pressing questions about animal behavior and to support conservation efforts for endangered species. Students present their work annually at the Student Research Symposium and to the public as part of the Zoo’s spring speaker series.
If you are interested in learning more about the ways that the Center for Social Impact can collaborate with your organization, contact us at socialimpact@fairfield.edu.
We also encourage you to sign up for the Center for Social Impact Community Partner Listserv. We send periodic updates about opportunities and events. Sign Up For Our Listserv
Otherwise, you can fill out our specialized form to express interest in a Community-Engaged Research project for your organization. Fill Out the Interest Form
