Deep Dive in Five: Celebrating 25 Years of the Center for Community Learning and Leadership

In 1999, California Governor Gray Davis recommended a community service requirement for all students enrolled in the state’s public institutions of higher education. The goal of this initiative was to encourage students to contribute to their communities and establish an ethic of service. San José State University’s Center for Community Learning and Leadership (CCLL) emerged from this call in 2000, armed with the mission to support curricular service learning (a teaching method that links academic coursework to community problem-solving) and engagement experiences on and off campus.

SJSU’s Center for Community Learning and Leadership celebrates 25 years of service learning this week. CCLL Director Elena Klaw and Assistant Director Andrea Tully share why service learning is integral to the Spartan experience.

This year, to address division, conflict and polarization impacting institutions of higher education, CCLL has supported the implementation of the Perspectives curriculum developed by the Constructive Dialogue Institute. The center is also working with Yu Chen, associate professor at the School of Information Systems and Technology in the Lucas College and Graduate School of Business, on her AI for Social Good project to bring problems identified by the City of San José and Valley Water to students from all disciplines to propose and/or develop AI-powered solutions. 

To address a dearth of transitional kindergarten curriculum as California prepares to make TK available to all four-year-olds during the 2025-26 school year, the College Corps fellows are working with the College of Education to develop curricular kits for TK teachers.

For Civic Action Fellows serving during the Covid-19 pandemic, community engagement was particularly important as an anecdote to the isolation, despair and powerlessness experienced during the difficult years of quarantines, lock-downs and societal ruptures. Similarly, in response to a survey administered post-completion of the Perspectives curriculum, an overwhelming majority of students responded that the program would benefit them in college, in working with diverse communities, and in their career.

In recognition of CCLL’s 25th anniversary and the Community Connections Fair at SJSU on January 28, we asked CCLL Director and Psychology Professor Elena Klaw and Assistant Director Andrea Tully to answer a few questions.

What is the Center for Community Learning and Leadership?

Andrea Tully (AT) and Elena Klaw (EK): The mission of the SJSU Center for Community Learning & Leadership (CCLL) is to foster and oversee effective service learning and community engagement, collaborating with faculty, students and community organizations to promote, develop and evaluate reciprocal partnerships that benefit students’ learning, disciplinary advancement, faculty development and the common good.

Tell me about the 25th Anniversary Celebration & Community Connections Fair. What does it entail, and how can folks participate?

AT and EK: We intentionally combined the 25th anniversary celebration with our biannual community connections fair. 

Our Community Connections Fairs are the largest events we host, occurring at the beginning of the fall and spring semesters when students are securing service placements. They are an opportunity for everyone in the campus community to meet with representatives from nonprofit, social service and government agencies who seek volunteers, service learners and interns to help them fulfill their agency’s mission. We’re always looking for new ways to make it engaging. In honor of the 25th anniversary, a student veteran who serves as a peer leader with our Veterans Embracing Transitions Connect program (VET Connect) program will be painting a mural live, and there will be a photo booth, food, and swag for those who participate!

In honor of our 25th, the center will be receiving a commendation from the City of San José and recognition from Congressman Sam Liccardo that is a tribute to the 90,000 students, SJSU faculty, and community partners who have supported 1.6 million hours of service through classes in the last 25 years. The Connie L. Lurie College of Education and Catholic Charities of Silicon Valley will also be recognized for their commitment to service learning, which predates and helped lay the foundation for the Center. 

How has the CCLL evolved over 25 years?

AT and EK: Our center was founded as the Center for Service Learning in 2000 in response to a call for the institutionalization of service learning from the California governor and California State University system. Service learning, a form of experiential learning, provides students with opportunities to participate in organized service activities with non-profit, educational, social service and government agencies that meet community identified needs while linking the service experiences to the course content.

CCLL offers a unique array of service learning opportunities for students of all majors. Photo courtesy of Andrea Tully.

In 2008, our center assumed our current name in recognition of the expanded scope of our work. At the time, we had a multimillion dollar AmeriCorps Bridging Borders Program to increase literacy for English Language learning youth and Project SHINE, in which our students engaged as conversation partners with immigrant elders. We also led university-wide days of service.

CCLL is lean, with only two full-time university-funded positions and a half-time faculty director. Fortunately, we stay nimble and are prepared to respond to community needs that emerge. During the pandemic, we researched the impact of shutdowns on students, faculty and community partners involved in service-learning and community engagement to identify how we could best serve each of the constituencies. 

At the same time, we launched the first iteration of the College Corps (then a pilot program called the Civic Action fellowship) which has contributed to the more than $10 million in public and private funding our center has secured to promote service-learning and other forms of community engagement. Over the past decade, CCLL has garnered private funds to support the VET Connect program, and to provide an annual scholarship to an outstanding service-learning student.

How have you seen students benefit from their CCLL experiences?

AT and EK: There is an established body of our own research, much of which is included in the book we edited, Reframing Community Engagement in Higher Education.The results demonstrate that service learning provides an opportunity for participants to tie their academic learning to their personal strengths and interests and to pursue career trajectories that match their own capabilities and areas of passion. 

Why is service learning so critical for students of all majors?

AT and EK: Put simply, it gives them practical experience they may not have gotten otherwise in a format that enables them to integrate it with what they are learning. A recent review called our book “A Guidebook for Hope,” and at risk of sounding clichéd, in the face of devastating wildfires and extreme polarization, hope is what we all need, now more than ever.

Attend the 25th Anniversary and Community Connections Fair on January 28.