Community Engagement
Social work was founded in serving the community when Jane Addams established Hull House in Chicago in 1889 to serve immigrant neighbors with basic needs, childcare, and to teach skills and tools to succeed in the U.S. Today, social workers serve nearly every person, community and need – in-person and virtually – and the profession continues to thrive.
Our faculty and staff serve the entire Columbus community, central Ohio, Ohio, the U.S and the world.
Advocacy is critical to our work at the college, and we are active in the community through education and outreach. Whether advocating for voter rights, educating on legislative advocacy and non-partisan voter engagement, advocacy takes many forms and serves students, practitioners and community members.
Additionally, our career services offer alumni and students resources to assist in applying for new jobs, shifting their career path, and helping with resumes, interview skills, salary negotiation, and so much more.
The college’s primary goal of community engagement is to foster social change through collaboration with individuals, families, communities, and other change agents to build strengths and resolve complex individual and social problems.
Being in the community is part of social work’s mission as well as that of a land grant university. Through working with our settlement houses, providing continuing education, and our faculty and staff volunteering on boards, we have built partnerships with the Columbus community in local government, churches and faith-based organizations, schools, recreation programs, food and nutrition, immigration, and other agencies.A speaker at a World Cafe event
The college also has a long history of conducting innovative community-engaged scholarship that advances scientific literature and has real and lasting impacts in environmental justice, food security, immigration, and age-friendly access.
We are committed to fulfilling our mission of improving the access to services, health and well-being of the people and institutions of Ohio, the nation, and the world.
Career Services
Develop new skills, gain greater knowledge, and move your career forward
Capacity Building through Community Engagement
Our mission enables us to work with our community organizations and partners to help them build capacity to meet the needs of their clients and those they serve. Whether by assisting them with grants, finding students for projects, brainstorming ideas, providing help with strategic planning, or hosting meaningful conversations through a World Café, the college is here to help.
But we do so much more. Our advocacy work educates students and the community on voter rights. We recruit new employers for our field placement and career services. And, our team is seeking ways to improve the lives of all our communities. We also actively engage with our more than 14,500 alumni regularly.
For more information, or to learn more about becoming a community partner, connect with Josie Robinson at robinson.2293@osu.edu.