Good News from SCYP: New Year, Lasting Impact!

Fall Course Recap: Lasting City Impacts!

Current Partnership: City of Salem

SCYP has returned to a previous partner city for the first time in the programs 14-year history: Salem. We are thrilled to be in the midst of an amazing year-long partnership; the number of meaningful Salem-identified projects that align with the expertise of our faculty and the learning objectives of our students is amazing. It is not surprising, then, that on campus we are engaging classes across four schools and colleges because the diversity of expertise across campus matches the complexity that cities face in working to improve the lives of its residents. Megan Banks, SCYP program director reflected. “The breadth of everything Salem is trying to accomplish is astounding, and we feel equally privileged to be able to help Salem advance their goals and give students the project-based classroom learning that they so desperately want more of as part of their education.”

Throughout the 2023-24 school year, students from up to 20 courses will work on projects to help implement the city’s climate action plan and equity goals. Courtney Knox Busch, Salem’s strategic initiatives manager, said the student work will advance council and community priorities faster than the city could do on its own. As someone who previously studied public policy in college, she’s happy to help students apply their learning. “To me, it’s just so powerful from all perspectives. The community wins, the students win, and the city just advances further,” she said. “So, I think it’s fabulous.”

Thank you to the faculty and students for their incredible work this fall from all of these courses!

Special Project: City of Corvallis

Students had the opportunity to work on a special project for the City of Corvallis, which involved reimagining how a 14-acre automobile-centered commercial area might redevelop with a mix of uses while providing equitable transportation alternatives. Students framed their proposals around equitable communities, walkable neighborhoods, and climate resilience.

Learn more about fall course impacts!

SCYP Fun Facts

Over the 2023-2024 academic year, SCYP is connecting courses across four UO schools and colleges to work on applied projects, a unique and transformational multi-disciplinary approach to education and community change.
By getting students involved in real projects, SCYP prepares students to enter the workforce and keeps talent in Oregon.
The vast majority of student outputs get incorporated into community plans and projects, creating impact years into the future. The work doesn't end with final presentations; in fact, it's just the beginning!
In course surveys, SCYP found that 87% of students who engaged with SCYP enhanced their classroom learning and an equal number expressed a desire for more project-based learning opportunities as part of their education.
Thanks to the U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Senators Wyden and Merkley, SCYP is able to financially support community contributions for this year and the next two years - a tremendous assist for Oregon communities, students, and our administrative capacity alike.
This year, SCYP also has classes from OSU and PSU joining in, working together with ‘service to Oregon’ as our common goal.
Since SCYP’s founding in Oregon 14 years ago, copies of the program now exist across four continents!

Looking for our next SCYP partner community!

Over an academic year of transformative engagement, SCYP matches community identified project needs with the exceptional brainpower of students and faculty to find solutions. We're looking for our 2024-25 community partner; help us spread the word!

Communities have the unique opportunity to secure additional matching funds towards a SCYP partnership this year. U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, as well as former Congressman Peter DeFazio, secured federal funding for SCYP through Congressionally Directed Spending. Matching funds are only available for the next two years. The 2024-25 RFP is live and applications are accepted on a rolling basis.

Apply Now!

Letter from our Co-Director

Happy 2024! It is always a pleasure for me to share the amazing and innovative work of SCYP! Where else do you see examples of programs working seamlessly across disciplines and administrative silos of universities, where everyone engaged is universally excited and humbled by the magic produced, and where we can see students making actual and tangible contributions toward real community change? Of course, many of us have these types of experiences or opportunities individually, but SCYP levels that up to create a systematic effort with results that can only happen when things are scaled up. That is all to say that I’m thrilled that SCYP is going full-on for its 14^th year!!!

I am also incredibly grateful for the amazing faculty who choose to opt-in to SCYP and match their courses with community-identified goals. We work hard to make this match-making process as easy as possible for faculty, as well as helping organize class site visits and more, but it also does require our instructors to think a bit more and customize a bit each year when there is otherwise no requirement to do so. This dedication to their students and to our community partners is quite amazing, and for me personally it has been such an honor (and so much fun!) to get to know so many incredible people across our campus.

I also want to again thank Oregon Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, and former Congressman Peter DeFazio, for securing Congressionally Directed Spending for SCYP. Almost the entirety of SCYP’s operating budget over the last 14 years has come from our community partners, and the CDS support has allowed us to reduce that community fee and expand the staff support we provide to everyone who is part of SCYP, while we continue to find ways for SCYP to be a regular part of the institution’s budget.

Continue checking our blog to hear about the work SCYP is doing this year, follow us on social media to stay abreast of things, share SCYP with colleagues across campus who may not have come across us yet, and keep on doing the work you do to bring meaning and joy to our work of repairing the world.

-- Marc Schlossberg, PhD

About the Sustainable City Year Program (SCYP)

Established in 2009, SCYP is now in its 14th year of partnerships with Oregon communities. SCYP partnerships connect University of Oregon students with local communities to implement real change drawing directly from community-identified issues. Through hands-on learning, SCYP harnesses the innovation of students and faculty to offer communities unique perspectives and ideas. Communities emerge from SCYP partnerships with increased community outreach, expanded conversations, and cutting-edge solutions, while students emerge better prepared to enter the workforce.