This experiential course engages students in the initial phases of year-long community-based social impact projects. Students will work through project conceptualization, planning, and early implementation while developing foundational skills in stakeholder engagement, ethical decision-making, and community accountability. Through cohort-building activities, site visits, industry mentorship, guest speakers, and facilitated reflection, students will build relationships within their cohort and broader networks while applying social impact program concepts from across the curriculum to real-world contexts. The course emphasizes understanding context, applying leadership skills, building community relationships, and helping students evolve into social impact leaders and practitioners.
Objectives
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
- Conceptualize and plan community-based social impact projects through stakeholder mapping and problem identification.
- Apply ethical decision-making frameworks to specific project contexts and community partnerships.
- Demonstrate skills in community engagement, active listening, and relationship-building with diverse stakeholders.
- Conduct various forms of assessment and literature reviews to identify resources, relevant examples, network and context, and power dynamics related to their projects.
- Articulate their developing social identity awareness and its implications for their social impact work.