News

A three-year, $1.2 million grant will help Oregon's higher education institutions tackle the state's most pressing social issues: decreasing hunger, enhancing K-12 education, and reducing the urban-rural divide.

The grant, made by Learn and Serve America/Corporation for National and Community Service, will fund "Oregon's Civic Solutions: Statewide Partnerships for Public Service," a collaboration between Portland State University and Oregon Campus Compact with the goal of enhancing civic engagement and community-campus partnerships in Oregon. Funding will provide 34 sub-grants to colleges working with community-based organizations statewide, and will evaluate whether these partnerships can have a measurable impact on public conditions, and whether service learning develops civic responsibility in students.

PSU is recognized nationally as a leader in community engagement; in 2003, U.S. News and World Report ranked PSU among the nation's top-ten public institutions in the categories of Service Learning, Learning Communities, and Senior Capstone: www.partner.pdx.edu/rankings.php