Service Learning and Community Action

Involvement in the community is one of the best ways to get to know the city of Boston, to be personally enriched by new experiences, to make meaningful contributions of your skills and talents, to develop professional skills and relationships, and to understand larger social and political issues that affect our society. The Office of Service Learning and Community Action connects students to community-based projects that capture their interests, advance their learning, and develop their social awareness and responsibility. For more information, please see the Emerson Service Learning website.

ACT Leaders

The ACT (Action for Community Transformation) Leaders Program is a 1-credit/non-tuition experience in which students provide direct service to the community and participate in weekly leadership workshops and discussions. ACT Leaders also organize “campus impact” projects designed to heighten campus awareness about their community issues. Recent ACT Leaders graduates have gone on to careers in public service as campaign managers, press secretaries, and Fulbright scholars.

Service Learning Courses

Other opportunities for community-based learning are provided through service learning courses in a variety of departments and major fields. Some examples of service learning courses include:

• Community Media Production, an upper-level video production course in which students create 8-10 minute videos for non-profit organizations
• Moving Out/Moving In, an interdisciplinary course which combines immigration studies with children’s art programs at the Center for Latino Arts
• Good and Evil, a first-year interdisciplinary seminar which combines direct community involvement with theoretical understandings of the nature of altruism and aggression
• Local Action/Global Change, a first year interdisciplinary seminar which combines the study of local community issues such as homelessness and immigration with direct service in those fields.