SLU Community Engagement Inventory

Data based on information submitted by members of the SLU community, summer 2015.

Community Engagement Project with the Organization for Black Struggle (OBS)

Description: Dr. Olubukola Gbadegesin�s four-year volunteer relationship with the Organization for Black Struggle (OBS) has resulted in a field service learning course (sponsored by CTTL), involvement in organizing community responses to the events of Ferguson, work cultivating support for the work of the organization, and assisting with the founding of the Don't Shoot Coalition (including co-facilitating the group's inaugural meeting).

Community Partnerships:

Organization for Black Struggle

Primary SLU Contact: Olubukola Gbadegesin, ogbadege@slu.edu

Categories: Arts and Culture, Capacity Building, Criminal Justice, Economic Development, Housing, Human Rights, Infrastructure, Policy and Advocacy, Race and Ethnicity, Socioeconomic Status

SLU Community Engagement Locations

About the SLU Community Engagement Inventory

The SLU Community Engagement inventory aims to provide a centralized repository for faculty, staff and student projects in the St. Louis region. This project is a direct response to SLU's 2014-15 Strategic Planning process, which identified a need to develop a clearinghouse for programs and initiatives "to track both opportunities identified by the community and SLU, and joint programmatic activities underway in the community." Accordingly, this inventory aims to provide a comprehensive list of SLU initiatives and their respective community partners active as of August, 2014.

The Carnegie Foundation defines community engagement as "collaboration between institutions of higher education and their larger communities for the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources in a context of partnership and reciprocity."

Community engagement at SLU, while sharing the Carnegie Foundation definition, has another level of depth, as SLU activities are inspired and guided by the university's mission statement, "the pursuit of truth for the greater glory of God and for the service of humanity." The words of St. Ignatius of Loyola encourage us to "find God in all things," and this is embodied in the wide range of disciplines and practices in which truth is pursued at SLU. As St. Irenaeus famously put it, "the glory of God is the human person fully alive." While always seeking the Magis, this inventory shows the many ways in which Saint Louis University is living out its mission, seeking greater human flourishing in communion with many partners throughout the St. Louis region.

If you have any questions, or would like to submit a project to be included in the database, please send an email to communityengagement@slu.edu.

Acknowledgments - the following people have been essential in the creation of the Community Engagement Inventory: Alexandra Barrett, Nebu Kolenchery, David Hakanson, Mark Rimar, Louis Xu, Bryan Sokol, James Kimmey, Peg Weathers, Steven Sanchez, David Sailer, Nancy Solomon, Keith Hacke, Jae Teuk Chin and Sarah Coffin.