Service Programs
Education at Case Western Reserve University takes many innovative forms. Experiential learning, an important component of the University's educational programs, that is community-based can be facilitated by the Center for Civic Engagement and Learning. The center promotes, provides, and supports learning opportunities for Case Western Reserve University students in the form of service that is beneficial to communities locally, nationally, and internationally.
CCEL offers this flexible program for those unable to make a long-term service commitment. Case students are welcome to attend weekly programs as their schedule allows. Each week the assigned CCEL Student Site Coordinator accompanies volunteers to the Case SERVES sites. Community partner sites have included East End Neighborhood House, Eliza Bryant Village, Food Not Bombs, The Littlest Heroes, Mt. Zion Congregation Church Hunger Center, The Nature Center at Shaker Lakes, and Near West Family Food Center at St. Pat's Church.
Project STEP-UP is an award-winning volunteer tutoring and mentoring program that was founded in 1988. The program uses the talents of undergraduate, graduate, and professional school students from Case to provide tutoring and mentoring services to at-risk youth that attend Cleveland Public schools. The program invites both volunteer and work-study students from Case to serve throughout the year. Project STEP-UP serves as the umbrella for two other important literacy projects: Church of the Covenant Tutoring and AmericaReads.
The purpose of Service Days is to give students the opportunity to contribute to the local community at least one day a semester. Spring Saturday of Service, April 21, will include various service opportunities at various times.
The Case Civic Engagement Fellows Program, with generous support from the John P. Murphy Foundation, funded six Case undergraduate students in a full-time, intensive summer service learning opportunity in which they worked with Cleveland area non-profit organizations during the summer of 2006.
The Center helps faculty integrate service learning into the curriculum as an effective pedagogical tool and also assists with logistics such as site selection, student orientation, and transportation. The staff can assist students to identify existing service learning courses and also help upper-class students develop community-based SAGES capstone projects.
Alternative Break
The Center hosts and supports service trips, which enable students to get involved in service beyond Cleveland. Students have served in Hurricane Katrina relief efforts and participated in projects in the Dominican Republic as part of Case DRIVE, which promotes interdisciplinary international service learning.