Denison students have a unique opportunity to learn about the local community through the lens of area nonprofits as part of the Pay It Forward initiative.
Pay It Forward is a innovative course-based service-learning program that engages students in hands-on philanthropy, grant-making, and volunteer service.
As part of their coursework, students investigate area nonprofit organizations, with the goal of providing a grant of up to $2,000, along with 15 hours of volunteer service.
The students break into teams and choose organizations to research. They spend considerable time with the them, learning their needs and getting a good understanding of how they operate. Then the teams “pitch” to each other, advocating for their organizations to receive the grants.
Each class as a whole chooses the local nonprofit that best fits the parameters of the course, and the grants are given in a special awards ceremony at the end of each semester.
Through these courses, students learn to identify community needs, establish funding criteria, and engage in group decision-making. Pay it Forward simultaneously improves student learning, faculty scholarship, college engagement and non-profit capacity and impact. Students learn and practice highly desirable skills sought by today’s workforce employers.
Students in Fadhel Kaboub’s Monetary Policy and Directed Study worked with the Newark Think Tank on Poverty. Student in Abram Kaplan’s Environmental Studies Practicum worked with Hope Farm and the Granville Schools Land Lab.
