Interested in combining your community interests with your academic work? Want your academic research to have an impact right away?
Community-Based Learning (CBL) is a program that allows you to complete a research project for a partner community organization while fulfilling your academic requirements. Partner organizations, including local non-profits and city agencies, identify projects of research, analysis, or evaluation that would support them in their missions. These projects are then matched to academic courses at Yale. If you are enrolled in a CBL course you can complete one of the proposed research projects, or one of your own, in place of the final paper/project for your class.
HOW TO DO A CBL PROJECT
1. Take a class that is offering CBL. This semester’s courses are listed here.
2. Choose a project. CBL class coordinators solicit a number of projects from local community organizations that are related to your course. You may choose one of these projects, or work with your class coordinator to find another placement that better suits your interests. Keep in mind that the projects provided by the class coordinators are shared among all CBL classes, and may be chosen quickly by a classmate or a student in another course. Only one student, or cooperating group of students, will work on one project.
3. How to apply: Your class coordinator will send all students project proposals to review, and will link you to the Statement of Interest form. Projects will be assigned on a first come, first serve basis. The Statement of Interest form will be posted here as soon as we have a confirmed list of projects.
4. Example of a previous CBL project: Sinye Tang, “The Impact of Urban Farms on New Haven Community Safety and Property Values.” For Infrastructure: Politics and Design, Fall 2011. (Download here.)
3. Getting Started. After you choose your project, your class coordinator will help introduce you to your organization. Throughout the semester you will visit the organization a minimum of two times and potentially once or more a week depending on the nature of your research. If your research is on-site, you may expect to be there as much as once a week, but if it’s library-based, then you may only visit a few times to check-in.
4. Academic Requirements. The time you spend at your organization does not replace class time. CBL students are expected to attend class, and to do readings and most assignments. However, your CBL research paper will replace your final project/paper, and will count for an equivalent part of your grade.
5. End of Semester & CBL Journal. At the end of the semester you will turn in your final project to your professor, partner organization, and class coordinator. If you like, your work will be considered for publication in ENACT, the CBL Journal.