Community Engagement

Are you an honors college student who would like to join your peers in supporting the local community of Greater Lafayette? There are many entry points for you:

TREKS - The Transformative Scholarship Research Generator

The Transformative Scholarship Research Generator exists to enhance students’ skill development and educational outcomes in the areas of qualitative and quantitative research and data science, engagement, and scholarship—to develop engaged citizens prepared to address societal issues wherever they are. The research generator will facilitate scholars’ development and educational outcomes via classroom learning, experiential learning and fieldwork within local, regional, national, and international communities and industries, and through scholarship venues such as domestic and international conferences, the publishing process, and through applying for national and international scholarships. The research generator works in partnership with the Office of Engagement to make undergraduate engagement an integral part of the undergraduate experience in the John Martinson Honors College and at Purdue.

Contact Dr. Jason Ware ( jaware@purdue.edu) for further information.

What can you do?

• Map neighborhood assets, compile demographic information, research community context, and assess livability for various Northend neighborhoods in Lafayette.
• Interview homeowners about how Habitat for Humanity has influenced their well-being.
• Create mini films that tell the story of Habitat for Humanity’s impact on partner families – for recruiting new families and fundraising efforts.
• Investigate correlations that exist between homelessness, health, and healthcare access.
• Determine where evictions are happening in Lafayette since the State of Indiana moratorium of evictions expired in August 2020.
• Explore and measure the impact that Grow Local urban sharing gardens have on the communities they serve.
• Automate community indicator data to provide the City of Lafayette with a data dashboard from which it can gauge the performance of key community development initiatives focused on neighborhoods, housing, and homelessness.
• Launch FIRST LEGO League teams within informal learning spaces, such as after-school programs hosted by community and neighborhood centers, to engage underrepresented minority youth in STEM activities.
• Serve at one of four local middle or high schools as a Students in Action (SIA) coach, and mentor youth as they identify important local challenges and issues. SIA coaches mentor and support youth as they design, develop, implement, and measure the impact of programs to address the challenges and issues they identify.
• Collect oral histories from Northend residents as part of the “Greatriarchs” program to recognize and celebrate elders and to incorporate them into community well-being initiatives.
• Build a digital mapping platform as part of a “community consultancy for quality-of-life" project that includes local residents in planning for and evaluating quality-of-life initiatives related to the built environment in Lafayette’s Northend – in conjunction with the Quality of Life Foundation, which is a London based charity.

Urban Matters Lab

Students in the Urban Matters Lab have the opportunity to work on one or both of the current projects: (1) Documenting Black Heritage Sites in the Greater Lafayette Area and (2) Examining the History of the Old Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. In the first one, students research and document Black heritage sites in the Greater Lafayette Area, including Underground Railroad sites. The Lafayette/West Lafayette area has a long history of African American families settling in the community, in large part due to Lafayette being on the Underground Railroad route. The second project is a Diplomacy Lab project, and currently offered as an Independent Study in Fall 2024. Students may travel to Washington D.C. to access the National Archives and conduct research there in person.

Contact Dr. Ashima Krishna ( krish191@purdue.edu) for further information.

What can you do?

Students will be doing primary and secondary research. In the first project, students have used the archives at Purdue Archives, Tippecanoe County Historical Association (TCHA), WL Public Library, and Tippecanoe Public Library to understand the history and create historical narratives. Students record oral histories, transcribe them, analyze them, create historical narratives based on the stories they collect, and supplement that information with primary sources to create a more rounded historical narrative about heritage sites in the area. For the second project, students will be accessing National Archives and other data online and may have the opportunity to travel to Washington D.C. to access the archives in person.

Heads Up Tutoring & Life Skills Program

Heads Up is an afterschool program offering academic support and social development for K-12 youth living in public housing complexes in east-Lafayette. Heads Up serves youth in the clubhouse where they live, eliminating the transportation barrier for youth. The Homework Club is partnered with EDCI 350 in fall and spring semesters, offering Purdue students a site to complete their service-learning hours and Heads Up youth more individualized support. There is room to create a scholarly project through this program. Sign up to volunteer with Heads Up at bit.ly/huvolunteer. 

Contact Dr. Temitope Adeoye Olenloa ( adeoye@purdue.edu) for further information.

What can you do?

• Inquire about how to apply for a new, paid Assistant Site Coordinator position open to JMHC students (email Dr. Temitope)
• Volunteer to help youth with homework and practice their academic skills after school through the Heads Up Homework Club during the academic year
• Mentor pre-/teenagers of color year-round in the Heads Up Teen Mentoring program as a mentor of color
• Volunteer to co-coordinate the Heads Up Teen Mentoring program
• Facilitate engaging educational and health activities in the Heads Up Sunny Days program from June-July while sharing a nutritious meal with youth and community partners
• Engage in longitudinal, community-based, mixed methods research that evaluates youth needs, learning, and development

HIFI Bioconservatory

HIFI is a community for nature-based learning, sound exploration, and real-world problem-solving for creative thinkers. Its aim is to cultivate a vibrant undergraduate interdisciplinary community of JMHC undergraduate students interested in the science, technology and culture of conservation and sound.

We engage in community-based approaches to conservation at regional levels through programs such as service-learning partnerships, ecological-based research, wildlife ambassadors, community celebrations, interactive displays and field ecology workdays. We will use sonic biodiversity as a novel approach to help understand impacts of noise and climate change on natural habitats, agroecological systems and wildlife dispersal.

Contact Dr. Kristen Bellisario ( kbelissa@purdue.edu) for further information.

What can you do?

• Applied research and exhibit work with a partner organization (current and previous partners include Niches Land Trust, Midwest Acoustic Society, Wolf Park, City of West Lafayette Parks and Recreation, Tippecanoe County Parks and Recreation, Purdue Forestry and Natural Resources Research Properties, Purdue Biology and Ecology Research Properties, Indiana State Museum, and Birck Nanotechnology Center)
• Conservation-based field workdays (transportation not included)
• Serve on the committee that builds awareness about wildlife conservation
• Volunteer to present or engage with youth in school or camp settings

Silver House Engagement for Earth Day

How can community-based approaches be used to involve local populations in conservation projects to help reverse biodiversity loss ("reverse the red")?

Community-based approaches are integral to conservation at a local level through programs such as wildlife ambassadors, community celebrations, interactive displays, and field ecology workdays. We also use sonic biodiversity in ecological-based research to help understand impacts of noise and climate change on natural habitats, agroecological systems, and wildlife dispersal.

Join our mission to “reverse the red.” Your tasks are simple — bring passion, enthusiasm, and your skills to this interdisciplinary team. In one day, you can save a tree. In four months, you can discover the diversity of life in Indiana and help inform policy.

Contact Dr. Kristen Bellisario ( kbelissa@purdue.edu) for further information.  

What can you do?

Improve data workflow. Design a database system. Use AI to find patterns in ecology. Label samples captured in the field. Film the process and tell a story. Design an interactive exhibit. Use field equipment. Study wildlife animals. Go on a field trip. Develop and engage in an ecology-based hackathon. Have fun. JMHC students in any house may take part.

HonorServes, committee of students for community engagement

HonorServes is a JMHC student committee with the goal to build community between Honors College students through service to the people of Greater Lafayette. It partners with three community organizations and one Purdue student-focused organization:

• Food Finders
• YWCA Domestic Violence Intervention and Prevention Program
• NICHES Land Trust
• Purdue Votes

Students on the HonorServes Committee work directly with the community partners together with the JMHC’s Student Community staff team. This provides leadership training to students and sustains relationships with JMHC community partner organizations. Students and staff form relationships with our community partners and can deepen them over time.

Contact Leslie Fairchild ( lfairch@purdue.edu) for further information.

What can you do?

• Join the general membership to get involved in any weekly activities that benefit our community partners'. Use this link to show your desire to participate.
• Lead your JMHC peers in any of the organized HonorServes functions that support our community partners.
• Work directly with our community partners to identify their needs and develop ways to fulfil them through HonorServes.
• Develop the discourse around community engagement with your peers by choosing guest speakers to talk about how research, action, policy and advocacy intersect.

Lead Forward and the Lead Forward Fellowship Grant

Lead Forward takes an innovative approach to leadership development, one that uniquely promotes students’ ability to create and implement a leadership vision toward a greater good. Through dynamic classes, insightful speakers, and tailored coaching, program participants learn the theory and actions behind social impact leadership. Through the Lead Forward Fellowship Grant, John Martinson Honors College students may receive a seed grant of up to $5,000 to implement their own social impact initiative. The Lead Forward Fellowship also provides a pathway for completing the JMHC scholarly project. Lead Forward Fellows receive personalized mentorship opportunities from Lead Forward Luminaries (visiting speakers) and Lead Forward Mentors (Purdue faculty and/or staff) with experience in visionary leadership, social impact, community engagement, social entrepreneurship, organizational leadership, etc. Students who complete the coursework and fellowship will be recognized with the Lead Forward credential, including a leadership portfolio.

Contact Dr. Watkins ( aewatkin@purdue.edu) for further information.

What can you do?

• Apply for the Lead Forward Grant. The grant opens each January. Here is a copy of the 2023-2024 APPLICATION FORM.
• Prepare yourself to develop and enact a leadership vision that benefits others by registering for HONR 299: Lead for Social Impact (1 cr)
• Put leadership and social impact concepts and strategies into practice through a workshop format in HONR 299: Social Impact in Action (2 cr). In this course, students also engage with community service opportunities and explore ethical approaches to social impact leadership.

Platinum House Engagement with Food Finders

In partnership with Food Finders Food Bank, this research team focuses on learning more about how people think about and understand food insecurity as well as the resources and programs that exist to help solve the problem. We look at the issue from multiple angles and try to better understand how people utilize existing resources in order to help design better resources and messages that enable people to get the most benefit out of those services.

Contact Dr. Jennifer Hall ( jgibb@purdue.edu) for further information

What can you do?

In addition to conducting surveys, observations, and focus groups, team members spend time volunteering for Food Finders. Students from all majors who have an interest in community health, assessment, food insecurity, message design, and community service are welcome.