Community Service Work Study
If you have received a work-study award as part of your financial aid package, Emerson College encourages you to consider utilizing your work-study hours to make meaningful contributions to non-profit organizations in the Boston area. Community Service Work Study works the same way as on campus work-study: the same requirements apply with regard to completing time sheets and not exceeding your award total, and you must still go through Student Employment to process your contract.
Because Community Service Work-Study is a federal program, this opportunity is ONLY available to students who have received a federal work-study award as part of their financial aid package. Emerson Employment students are ineligible for this program. Just like Emerson jobs, ALL Community Service Work-Study jobs are required to be posted to the Student Employment database.
BENEFITS
The benefits of choosing Service Work Study are many. Service work study helps provide local organizations with the consistent volunteer help they need at a fraction of the cost of paid employees. At the same time, you are able to do meaningful work while still being able to afford college necessities; instead of having to juggle a job and volunteer work or make a choice between the two, you can do both at once with less stress!
Additionally, service work study helps you establish connections outside of campus in ways that will help develop your resume and further your career exploration. In many cases, you can even use your major-specific skills to provide a service – helping with a non-profit’s web page or marketing, working with children or elders on acting and creative writing, and so on. These connections and skills will be invaluable.
Finally, community service work study could provide additional monetary benefit in the form of an education award through AmeriCorps. If you are accepted to the Student Leaders in Service program and complete 300 hours of service during an academic year, including your service work-study in that tally, you are eligible for a $1000 award that can go toward repayment of student loans or directly toward your tuition bill.
Although in some cases, your work-study award will not allow you to work over a certain number of hours, your paid service hours, combined with some additional service, can be used to apply for the AmeriCorps Education Award. If you are interested in the AmeriCorps Education Award, you must attend an information session. Contact Suzanne_Hinton@emerson.edu for more information about this program.
Download the Student Leaders in Service Application.
COMMUNITY SERVICE WORK STUDY PARTNERS
One of our most popular and successful Community Service Work-Study programs is Jumpstart, a program in which participants work 10-12 hours a week at a local pre-school or Headstart, and are matched one-to-one with a pre-school child. Jumpstart participants help preschool children build language and literacy, social, and initiative skills - skills that provide the necessary groundwork for later academic and social success.
This program is often of particular interest for Emerson students majoring in Communication Sciences and Disorders and Theatre Education, but it’s an ideal opportunity for any student who enjoys working with children. For more information, contact our Jumpstart Site Manager, Kristin Stites, at Kristin_Stites@emerson.edu.
Peace Games is a nonprofit that empowers children to be their own peacemakers. Volunteers work teach the Peace Games curriculum that helps kids understand and practice peace through the use of games, as well as service learning projects. Emerson students who have work study can apply to work with Peace Games either in their office or at school sites in the classroom. Contact the SLCA's Peace Games Liaison, Audrey Geis, at Audrey_Geis@emerson.edu.
