Community Impact at Columbia University

CI provides food, clothing, shelter, education, job training, and companionship for residents in its surrounding communities. CI consists of a dedicated corps of more than 950 Columbia University student volunteers and community members who participate in 25 community service programs, which serve more than 8,000 people each year. Community Impact has partnerships with more than 100 community organizations and agencies who do service work in the Harlem, Washington Heights, and Morningside Heights communities, including service organizations, social service offices, religious institutions, senior centers and schools. Many of these organizations refer their clients to Community Impact's programs and work collaboratively to positively influence residents' lives.

J.E.E.P. (Adult Education Programs) The Jobs and Education Empowerment Project(J.E.E.P.) is a series of programs that provide both no cost academic and life management skills for adults in the Morningside Heights and Harlem communities. Courses include GED preparation, ESL, College Road, Computer Skills Training, Internships and Job Road.

From its earliest inception as a single service initiative formed in 1981 by Columbia University undergraduates Joe DeGenova and David Joyce, Community Impact has grown into Columbia University's largest student service organization and a primary interface between the University and the Morningside Heights and Harlem communities.

As Community Impact integrated itself into the neighborhood's social safety-net, students identified and responded to new community needs, expanding the number of services available to clients and working towards transforming the organization into an integrated service network with a strong education emphasis. Community Impact figures foremost in the University's long standing pledge to support education through service. Operating under the dual status as a non-profit organization and an emissary from the University, Community Impact has forged partnerships with community leaders and agencies committed to realizing neighborhood change.