DukeEngage | Duke Center for Civic Engagement

Immersion Programs

DukeEngage, a new university initiative, is lanuching its first full-scale program in the Summer of 2008.  (For a look at our newest programs, please visit the links above, sorted by Durham, National, International and Individual Projects/Internships).

The cornerstone of theDukeEngage experience: its myriad immersion programs, which place students for a minimum of eight weeks in local, national and international locations, applying knowledge to a particular community's issue(s)--and embracing the opportunity to learn and grow developmentally throughout the process.

Prior to their experience, all students complete a mandatory pre-departure workshop series focused on four topics: The Ethics of Engagement, Crossing Cultures, Project Development, and Community History/Safety Training. For more information about pre-departure workshops, select the link in the menu above.

DukeEngage is challenging students to change their world.  Here's how they did so in the summer of 2007 (DukeEngage pilot program):

DURHAM: Duke undergraduates mentored youth from MacDougall Terrace, taught middle school students at Student U, developed a project for young adults transitioning from the youth to the adult sickle cell clinic, consulted with local NGOs, mentored youth at the West End Community Center and Emily K. Center, created a story book by Latino elementary students, worked with the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership “Quality of Life” project, and worked on conservation issues with the Eno River State Park Project.

NEW ORLEANS:  The goal of this experience was to weave students into various local and state agencies involved with serving community needs in the New Orleans area.  Placements included: the City of New Orleans, Common Ground, Concordia, Habitat for Humanity, the Health Department, Providence Community Housing, Providence/Operation Helping Hands, New Orleans Public Schools, Rebuilding Together, and St. Bernard Parish Engineering.

INDIA: students volunteered at a Delhi-based organization that seeks to empower various marginalized populations including street children, substance-users, transgender persons, and others affected by HIV/AIDS. Guided by the organization’s mission, students developed four distinct projects in life-skills education, assessing HIV/AIDS awareness, surveying needs of transgender persons, and microfinance.

KENYA: marked the largest group site abroad. There, students connected to community partners working on improving education for girls, enhancing understanding of HIV/AIDS in community members, exploring microfinance opportunities, and developing gender and sexual harassment policies.

TANZANIA: students volunteered for two local groups conducting a community needs assessment of microfinance and microcredit programs; looking at relationships between street children, substance abuse and gender differences; and assisting doctors with a project examining the relationship between spirituality and schizophrenia.

YEMEN: students developed Arabic language skills while volunteering with NGOs and non-profit organizations tackling human rights and democracy, Somali refugees in Yemen, legal rights of children, and women and media.