Community Outreach Reaches Out

By: Sarah Kopman-Fried

Posted: 9/25/07

With loads of Jorgensen performances, a myriad of SUBOG events and something going on practically every night of the week at the Student Union, it isn't hard for students to find something to do on campus this semester. But some students say they want a chance to give something back - and the Office of Community Outreach is giving them just that.

The Community Outreach Office, located on the third floor of the Student Union, is entirely dedicated to helping students volunteer in various ways. Volunteering can be done right here at UConn or as far away as the Dominican Republic, according to Community Outreach's Public Relations Coordinator Alla Nebrat.

"Community Outreach is really here to help students make a positive change in their community, both locally and globally," Nebrat said. "We're here to unite UConn to students in this goal."

And the Community Outreach Office has been steadily succeeding. According to Community Outreach Director Matt Farley, in 2003, 750 students volunteered a total of 12,000 community service hours through the office. By last year, that number had nearly doubled, with more than 1,250 students volunteering a total of 23,000 community service hours.

Part of the reason for the vast improvement was the re-organization of the Office of Community Outreach, which has organized four separate "volunteering experiences," according to Farley.

"We have tried to organize our office so that students can choose how involved they want to be," said Farley. "For those who want to just volunteer briefly, we have community service days. And then we have semester-long programs for students who really want an experience that lasts."

Community Service Days:

"Community service days consists of shorter, more local volunteering efforts," according to Nebrat. These may include trips to a local soup kitchen or cleaning up around campus with a group of students.

"Community service days are really popular because all students have to do is go on the Community Outreach Web site and then just sign up and they're in," said Farley.

Many of the Community Service Days are held in conjunction with efforts by other groups on campus, especially fraternities and sororities, said Farley. This sort of a volunteering experience is recommended for students who may have time open and want to use it to volunteer on a one-time basis.

Alternative Breaks:

Known around campus for going down to New Orleans to help in the Hurricane Katrina relief effort, the Alternative Breaks program has worked hard to bring students new offerings this semester.

"This year we're looking to take students to volunteer in Boston, New York, Bridgeport, Washington, Philadelphia and the Gulf Coast," said Allyssa Milan, the coordinator for Alternative Breaks. "We're even trying to organize a trip to the Southwest so students can volunteer on a Native American reservation."

According to Milan, Alternative Breaks trips give students a chance to learn about concepts like poverty and social justice, while seeing firsthand some of the difficult living conditions that affect Americans everyday.

"It was an incredibly powerful experience," said Milan of her own experience on an alternative break trip to Biloxi, Miss. "It really changed my entire life."

The Office of Community Outreach recommends Alternative Break trips for students who have a significant amount of time to commit to not only to the trip, but also to taking a weekly preparatory class beforehand. Alternative Break trips cost anywhere between $70 and $250 per trip.

Semester Long Programs:

The largest of the Community Outreach undertakings, semester-long programs are for students who really want a long-term volunteering experience.

"One of the things I'm most proud of is that we managed to get 800 students to study in semester long volunteering programs last year," said Farley.

These efforts include projects like tutoring at Connecticut schools to teach middle school students how to better read and write, according to Nebrat. A great deal of the semester long programs are also done in conjunction with the Big Brothers/Big Sisters Programs.

Special Projects:

A newly defined area, the Community Outreach Special Projects include volunteering efforts that may take longer than a day, but are not necessarily an entire semester.

"These projects are for students who want something in between," said Farley. "Maybe you can't commit to a whole semester. That's ok. Maybe you can work with us for a few weeks."

Contact Sarah Kopman-Fried at

Sarah.Kopman-Fried@UConn.edu.