Our Mission

The Vic ’63 and Bobbi Samuels ’63 Center for Community Partnerships and Civic Transformation (COMPACT) at Brandeis University brings together scholars, activists, students, practitioners, and community partners to work collaboratively to create a more just, equitable, and sustainable world.

Global Community Engagement:

Spring 2024 Focus on Cambodia

• Cambodian Arts and Culture
• Arts, Human Rights, and the Search for Justice
• Social and Environmental Justice Efforts in Cambodia
• Genocide
• The Cambodian Genocide and the Khmer Rouge Tribunal
• Cambodians in the U.S.
• Become Involved/Take Action

COMPACT is delighted to share a variety of community engagement resources with our students, faculty, staff, and community partners.

Resources for Students

Samuels Scholars Program

The Samuels Scholars Program is an innovative yearlong cohort experience that offers first- and second-year undergraduate students the opportunity to learn about and explore the many exciting pathways for community engagement offered at Brandeis University and beyond.

Please fill out the Samuels Scholars interest form if you are interested in pursuing this opportunity in the future - we would love to hear from you!

ENACT Research and Advocacy Fellowship

ENACT seeks a cohort of Brandeis students to serve as Research and Advocacy Fellows to conduct research under the mentorship of ENACT Assistant Director of Research Charlotte Powley, and implement a change project on campus linked to the research.

This is a two semester paid opportunity. Research and Advocacy Fellows will be paid $2,000 for the entire fellowship. The two-semester fellowship is intended to begin in the Fall of 2024 and finish at the end of the Spring 2025 semester.

Apply by April 1st, 2024.

Please contact Charlotte Powley at [email protected] with any questions.

Community Engaged Scholars Program

Open to students in any major, the Community Engaged Scholars Program (CESP) is an academic program that connects our students' longstanding commitment to community service directly to their studies. It will provide students with the knowledge, skills and resources necessary to serve as ethical, respectful and responsible agents of service and of social change in their local, national and global communities. Students who complete the program will receive a notation on their transcript as recognition of their accomplishments.

For more information, please contact Megan Moran, CESP Program Advisor, at [email protected].

TurnUp Civic and Activism Remote Internship Program

Looking for a flexible, remote internship that will empower you to become a civically engaged, responsible, and educated social justice advocate?

Check out the TurnUp Civic and Activism Remote Internship today!

Community Engaged Pedagogy (CEP) Fund

Brandeis faculty, staff and postdoctoral scholars in any discipline who center community engaged pedagogies in their undergraduate or graduate courses at Brandeis are invited to apply to the COMPACT Community Engaged Pedagogy Fund. The two grants available through this fund support recipients in bringing ethical, reciprocal and sustainable community engagement into Brandeis classrooms.

CEP Mini-grants

This program offers up to $500 in funding to bring community partners to campus as guest speakers in a class (e.g., honoraria), to bring students off campus for a specific community engaged project or event, or to conduct small-scale community engaged research or creative projects in a Brandeis course. Grant applications for AY23-24 are being accepted on a rolling basis, for as long as funds remain available. Apply now!

Community Engaged Research (CER) Fund

Brandeis faculty, staff, postdoctoral scholars and students in any discipline whose research or creative activity addresses the questions, issues, and/or needs of a community partner — whether at the local, state, regional, national or global level — are invited to apply to the COMPACT Community Engaged Research Fund. The two grants available through this fund support recipients in building ethical, reciprocal, and sustainable research and creative projects with community partners.

CER Project Grants - Application Deadline: March 15th, 2024

A single grant offers up to $2,500 in seed funding for community engaged research projects. This grant is available to faculty, staff, and postdoctoral fellows. Preference will be given to proposals that 1) include at least one undergraduate or graduate student research assistant; 2) articulate how this opportunity will be used as seed funding to develop a sustainable, long-term partnership; and 3) include a clear plan for assessing project outcomes. Apply now!

Brandeis University Work Study

The federal work study program at Brandeis allows students to use their work-study hours to support approved community service agencies. For eligible students, this means that 60% of their hourly wages will be paid by work study; the community service agency is responsible for the remaining 40%. This offers community partners the ability to employ a student for 40% of what it would otherwise cost!

Brandeis University would love to work with you to figure out how to support your organization and the Greater Waltham community through creating meaningful opportunities for work study students to engage in direct work with the community. Please contact Kristyn Burke, Manager of Student Employment at Brandeis, at [email protected] if you have any interest or questions about this opportunity.

Connect with COMPACT:

Coffee Connect Series

You’re invited to attend an open/drop-in Coffee Connect Series at the Waltham Museum (new location!) located at 25 Lexington St, Waltham, MA 02452 on Friday, March 15th at 10 AM. Come to connect with COMPACT, Brandeis University, and fellow community partners in the Greater Waltham community! There will be free coffee and/or tea for anyone who attends. This session is titled “Why does COMPACT administer surveys and annual reports?”

Please RSVP if you are planning to attend!

General COMPACT Resources for Community Partners:

• Community Partnership Resources
• “Community Partner News and Events” CampusGroups Page
• Community Partnerships Interest Form

This spring, Samuels Scholars are conducting interviews with local community partners for the Waltham Oral History Project. The content of these interviews will emerge in a forthcoming digital map housed on COMPACT’s website that allows us to celebrate the impactful work of our community partners.

The Prospect Hill Community Foundation sponsors a free afterschool program at Prospect Hill Terrace, one of Waltham's largest low-income housing communities, and has been a close partner with Brandeis University since the program's inception in 2014. Samuels Scholars Divinia Ashley '27 and Bhoomika Chopra '27 interviewed Tony Thein, a long-time volunteer and current Treasurer on the board of directors of the Prospect Hill Community Foundation.

"Prospect Hill seeks to provide academic enrichment, one-on-one tutoring, and supportive mentorships - none of this could be accomplished without the dedication of its volunteers from Bentley University and Brandeis University."

- Tony Thein, Prospect Hill Treasurer

Priyanka Rangadass is the Development Coordinator at GreenRoots, an environmental justice organization based in Chelsea, MA. Originally from Dallas, TX, Priyanka moved to the Boston area to pursue a Bachelor of Science degree in Health: Science, Society and Policy from Brandeis University.

Join us on Friday, March 8th from 3:30 - 4:30 PM in the Abraham Shapiro Academic Complex (ASAC) Atrium to hear more about Priyanka's post-Brandeis experiences and to participate in this networking opportunity!

Want to see your flyers included in our newsletter? Please contact Tony Thein, COMPACT's Senior Program Coordinator, at [email protected].

Stay up to date with COMPACT's Official Google Calendar

(includes all of COMPACT's events and deadlines).

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