Giving back to your community is easier than you think.
Service-Learning works with instructors and community partners to provide you with volunteer and service-learning opportunities. Service-Learning staff is available on every campus. We help provide opportunities for you to connect with your community both in-class and outside of the classroom, such as Alternative Spring Breaks, clubs, student leadership initiatives, and Service in Action.
If you have a requirement or an optional assignment to do service-learning hours in your class, use the following steps. Service-learning hours must be completed at a nonprofit agency. If you are looking to get involved on your own, let us know — we can help.
The community partner listing provides contact information for tons of nonprofits in our area. We also have a list of virtual opportunities you can participate in. These are great places for you to complete your service hours. Find an organization that you are interested in and that meets the requirements you have for class. Contact the organization, stating your name and that you are a Central Piedmont service-learning student. Tell the organization the number of hours you need to complete and have your schedule ready to plan your service.
Complete the service-learning registration form to let us know what class you are in and where you are completing your service. We’ll share this information with you instructor to make sure you’ve picked an approved community partner.
Track your service using your service-learning time sheet. Your entries will be sent to your instructor (if applicable).
Complete the service-learning evaluation. Print out the confirmation page that says you completed it.
Be sure to turn in all documentation to your instructor. If you are doing service without needing to for class, turn your time sheet in to the Service-Learning coordinator at your campus.
Continue to check the student activities calendar at https://www.cpcc.edu/student-experience/student-life for more Service-Learning event opportunities.
Rotaract Club is a campus club for students who are 18–30 years of age, are civically minded, and want to give back to their community
Service in Action is a series of service projects hosted by Service-Learning each fall semester and each spring semester.
Alternative Breaks are low-cost service trips where you participate in meaningful service activities, learn more about community issues, and have fun.
The MLK Challenge is an annual service event held on MLK Day in January. By serving your community, you celebrate the life and teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The Project Life Movement is a campus-based national marrow donor organization. It is dedicated to saving lives. Project Life drives on campus seek to register donors to the national list to save the lives of those who have blood cancers and other diseases. Drives happen in the spring semester of the academic year.
At Volunteer Fairs, you can meet our community partners to learn about opportunities to serve in their organizations.
With many students moving to online learning in fall 2020, we are working hard to develop a comprehensive roadmap to service in a virtual world. The following are many of the current service opportunities available through our office, including advocacy, research, indirect service, and direct service. Each of these opportunities provides Service-Learning credit and will provide a reflective and meaningful experience to compliment your course content. Service-Learning staff facilitate these service options, but you complete the service independently. Please reach out to a member of our staff for more information.
Advocacy service-learning is educating others about topics of public interest. These are projects that aim to create awareness and action on some issue that impacts the community.
Research based Service-Learning is gathering and presenting information on areas of interest that find, gather, and report on needed information.
Assist Historic Rural Hill in video making and research. Contact kelvin.chege@cpcc.edu for more information.
Indirect Service-Learning is service working on broad issues. Environmental projects are community development projects that have clear benefits to the community or environment, but not necessarily to an identified person or groups of people.
Host a book club or join the Perspective Book Club series through Service-Learning. Contact lindsey.graves@cpcc.edu for more information.
Direct Service-Learning is the traditional person-to-person, face-to-face service projects in which your service directly impacts a person/group of people who receive the service.
These opportunities are different from other work-study positions in that you would be working off campus instead of on campus.
In the America Reads work-study, you will tutor children in reading. If accepted into the program, you will work at a predetermined elementary school. The volunteer coordinator at the elementary school will supervise you, help you set your schedule, and provide you with direction.
To apply for the America Reads work-study position:
If accepted into the program, you will work at one of our selected community partners (typically, a non-profit in the Charlotte area). Possible agencies where you may be placed include, but are not limited to, Freedom School Partners, Friendship Trays, Crisis Assistance Ministries, A Child's Place, Bright Blessings, and Habitat for Humanity. The job description for the Community Service work-study will vary by agency and will be discussed upon request.
If you are accepted as a Community Service work-study student, you are expected to:
For more information or questions about the Community Service work-study, contact Dena Shonts at dena.shonts@cpcc.edu or 704.330.6558, or stop by the Overcash Performing Arts Center, Room 241C on Central Campus.
To apply for the Community Service work-study position:
The service-learning record is a document that we can create for you that lists all of the service hours you have turned in to our department. It can include service you have done while enrolled at Central Piedmont with a particular class or on your own. The service-learning record is a great way to make yourself stand out to a four-year university or employer.
Your service record will not be sent automatically — you must request your record. You can request a PDF copy of your service-learning service record from Terry Galante at terry.galante@cpcc.edu. Please provide your full name and student ID number in your request.
Service-Learning is proud to award our civically engaged Central Piedmont students with a pin to wear with your graduation regalia. You can be awarded a pin if you complete 30 or more hours of service or community engagement. You can pick up your pin after you apply for graduation and our office has verified that you have completed 30 or more service hours. To request a service-learning pin, email Terry Galante at terry.galante@cpcc.edu.