Community Partner Resources

The Office of Community-Engaged Learning (OCEL) is your connection to innovative engagement for the University and our surrounding community.  Through strategic community partnering, research opportunities, programming opportunities, paid and unpaid internships and work-study opportunities, university faculty and students are helping to co-create tomorrow’s greater Detroit – today.  OCEL is here to help community partners identify UM-Dearborn campus resources that best address their needs.  

Visibility on Multiple Platforms

• Get featured on our community engagement database, Collaboratory!
• Events or programs can be featured in our monthly newsletter and on our Instagram and LinkedIn pages.

Space Usage

• Community partners are welcome (as scheduling allows) to host meetings and small events in the Ford Collaboratory on the first floor of the Mardigian Library - email us if you are interested!

Faculty Connections and Grant Partnerships

• OCEL staff can connect you to faculty for grant partnerships or mutually beneficial class collaborations. OCEL also facilitates partner/faculty meetings and consults on best practices for community engagement plans.

Event Support

• If you have a larger event coming up, consider hosting at UM-Dearborn's beautiful campus! OCEL staff can connect you with the right people to get started.

Volunteers and Work Study Placements

• OCEL can put you in touch with UM-Dearborn's student volunteer base, as well as connect you with staff who can walk you through the process of hiring a work study student which would make your workplace eligible for partial wage reimbursement.

Community Partner Benefits Package flyer

The Community Advisory Board continually shares their organizational goals with OCEL so that campus can be more responsive to community needs. Thank you for your service!

• Teffani DuPont-Anderson, Founder and President of Bellissima Sanctuary
• Cheyla Milo, Organizational Director of Brilliant Detroit
• Lacy Dawson, Organizing Manager of Michigan Roundtable for Just Communities
• Yusef Bunchy Shakur, Co-Executive Director of Michigan Roundtable for Just Communities
• Madhavi Reddy, Executive Director of Community Development Advocates of Detroit (CDAD)
• Marci Mahssney, Behavioral Health and Community Partnerships Manager at Leaders Advancing and Helping Communities (LAHC)
• Sara Elhasan, Public Health Advisor for the City of Dearborn Public Health Department
• Deb Freer, Assistant Director at Transportation Riders United (TRU)
• Paul Draus, Faculty Director of the University of Michigan Detroit Center
• Lynita Taylor, Senior Project Manager at the University of Michigan Detroit Center
• Michelle Fecteau, Director of the Center for Labor and Community Studies
• Jacob Napieralski, Faculty Director of the Environmental Interpretive Center
• Rose Gorman, Program Manager for Semester in Detroit
• Craig Regester, Associate Director of Semester in Detroit

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) let you visualize, question, analyze, interpret, and understand data to reveal spatial relationships, patterns, and trends, which in turn help to inform organizational policy and decision making. GIS technology is also particularly informative for asset mapping, needs assessments, and visualizing equity issues.

One of the many ways that the Office of Community Engaged Learning supports community partners is by connecting them to GIS technology.  The office works to increase GIS Academic Service Learning courses, support GIS student group projects, and place student GIS internships within community organizations.