Outreach Initiatives

Reaching out to the community through contributions of time and effort has been a long-standing tradition at Princeton University.

Through the Student Volunteers Council (SVC), two thirds of the student body participates each year in more than 60 student-led, community action programs assisting thousands of area residents. Each week over 900 students volunteer in diverse programs such as Big Brothers/Big Sisters; after-school art, academic, and sports activities; Special Olympics; and prison outreach; and they work in area nursing homes and with mentally handicapped adults. Students volunteer as emergency medical technicians and firefighters, serve meals in the Trenton Soup Kitchen, and build houses with Habitat for Humanity. The SVC also helps facilitate summer community service intern programs for University students.

Community House, under the auspices of the Office of the Dean of Student Life, is a student volunteer organization made up of a diverse group of students who are primarily, though not exclusively, interested in rendering service to minority communities. Under the direction of the student board, volunteers work throughout the greater Princeton/Trenton area in a wide variety of projects, including mentoring for teens, one-on-one tutoring, support programs for immigrant populations, and school-readiness for bilingual youngsters. Community House also sponsors one-time projects such as Campus Volunteer Day, which brings students together with faculty and staff to volunteer in the local community. In addition to its outreach activities, Community House serves as a forum for intellectual and social exchange and support for its staff and volunteers.

The Princeton-Blairstown Center provides a camp program each summer for hundreds of inner-city youth from New Jersey, Philadelphia, and New York City. Founded in 1908, the center helps disadvantaged youth develop self-confidence and leadership skills while they participate in a challenging outdoor experience.

University faculty and staff serve on community boards and commissions and in leadership capacities for church, civic, and public service organizations. Each year many faculty members donate their time to speak at local forums and in in-school programs for local teachers and in secondary and elementary school classrooms. Several campuswide programs exist.

The Office of Community and State Affairs acts as the coordinator of faculty and staff community service initiatives. Among other things, it arranges food drives, community service fairs, and volunteer work days. The office also helped establish a permanent used clothing drop box on campus. Along with student volunteers and the Class of 1977, it played a major role in organizing a Habitat for Humanity site in Princeton. Community and State Affairs works with other campus organizations and outside groups to facilitate ongoing volunteer opportunities for individual members of the faculty and staff and works with student groups to organize a University-wide day of volunteering in the spring and end-of-year recycling of student furniture and appliances. In conjunction with the University's 250th anniversary, the office has prepared a special lesson plan about the University for all 4th graders in the region.

The University reaches out to the community in other ways as well.

The Office of Teacher Preparation sponsors distinguished-teaching awards for New Jersey teachers, seminars with University professors for local high school teachers, and forums for new teachers. The Merck Institute at Princeton brings local teachers to campus for intensive summer workshops and academic-year follow-up sessions designed to improve the teaching of science and mathematics at the elementary level. Another project, a collaboration between the Office of Teacher Preparation and the Department of History, introduces high school social studies teachers to new materials and concepts in historical research. It is financed by the Rockefeller Brothers' Fund. The Seminar in African-American Studies provides a six-seminar program for area high school teachers.

The Office of Computing and Information Technology (CIT) hosts workshops with teachers from local school districts to help them explore uses of the Internet (an international, high-speed telecommunications network) in primary and secondary education.

Through the Office of Community and State Affairs and the Purchasing Office, the University places surplus equipment and furnishings -- such as computers, desks, books, and bicycles -- with charitable organizations and schools.

As a service to the Trenton school district, the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) provides materials and equipment and gives lectures, demonstrations, special tours, assistance with an annual science fair, and teacher-enhancement workshops. It places 15 to 20 local high school students in a summer program assisting scientists and engineers with fusion research and places Princeton University students as tutors and mentors in PPPL's Summer Internships in Trenton Program. Each winter the laboratory hosts an eight-week "Science on Saturday" series at no charge for local high school students and teachers. It also provides in-service programs for educators, summer workshops for middle school teachers, and many research opportunities for high school teachers.

The Art Museum provides outreach programs to many school districts throughout the state of New Jersey. It also participates in a special Trenton school project in which the Museum's Docent Association and the Trenton Elementary School Art Departments work together to provide an enriched program to students.

The Department of Athletics provides free admission to athletic events to local youth groups that normally do not attend University programs. Some of the athletic teams provide tutoring in sports and school work.

The University hosts town/gown events, including Martin Luther King Day forums and concerts, a spring celebration called Communiversity, an International Festival, the June Fete to raise funds for the Medical Center at Princeton, and the New Year's Eve celebration known as Curtain Calls. Additionally, the University hosts community programs in soccer, basketball, and tennis.