At Ginsberg: Our Blog

In April, we held the Ginsberg Center’s Student Grant Showcase at the Michigan Union to highlight the impressive work done by U-M students and their community partners through the grant and Community Leadership Fellows program. Over 115 guest had the opportunity to peruse and discuss students’ projects and learn about ways to engage with local communities and organizations.

Patricia Jewell is a joint PhD candidate in English and Women's and Gender Studies and also serves as the editorial assistant for the Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, Ginsberg’s open-access, peer-reviewed journal focused on service-learning and civic and community engagement. As an editorial assistant, she connects and communicates with journal partners, organizes and maintains the journal review process, and reviews and drafts feedback for authors. Learn more about Patricia!

In mid-March, the Ginsberg Center, in collaboration with multiple campus partners, helped host the first of a series of events focused on improving Community Partner Compensation Practices, in which community members, faculty, staff, and others gathered together to re-envision policies that guide how we compensate our community partners for the important work they do. 

What kind of world do you want to exist in 50 years? This question, posed to attendees of a recent Book Talk hosted by the Ginsberg Center, set the tone for an evening spent discussing Dr. Paul Fleming’s Imagine Doing Better: Why Policies Backfire and How Prevention Thinking Can Change Everything (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2025).

At the University of Michigan, Alpha Phi Omega (APO) helps define what it means to build community through service. Rooted in its 3 pillars of leadership, friendship, and service, APO offers a space where students can make a meaningful impact both on campus and across the Ann Arbor community. Established in 1940, Alpha Phi Omega is an all-inclusive service fraternity with the goal of creating inclusive communities by developing leaders and uniting members through friendship and rendering service to all.

The Ginsberg Center offers numerous unique opportunities for U-M students to get involved in their local communities, including the Community Leadership Fellows program. This position is open to undergraduate rising juniors and seniors at UM-Ann Arbor who are interested in addressing community-identified needs and furthering their leadership development.

Two CLFs we’d love to highlight this month are Christina Celeste and Maya Juratli.

Are you battling despair and paralysis? Do hope and a brighter future feel beyond reach?

We invite U-M faculty, staff and students to join us at the Ginsberg Center for our Winter Book Club to reflect, imagine and dream together in an expansive conversation that is not about making longer to-do lists. Another world is possible. 

The Ginsberg Center is excited to be a key partner in a cross-campus effort focused on combating social isolation and loneliness at U-M and across the country.

Jordyn Coury (MSW '26) reflects on her many expereinces with Ginsberg (CTAC, Student Grants, Community Partnerships and SFSC) that helped prepare her for current professional role with Community Action Network.

Get to know three Ginsberg Center students and the inspiring work they’re doing. Through their time with Ginsberg, their interests and passions have fueled meaningful action in our local communities.

In late October, the Ginsberg Center hosted the 2025 Volunteer Management Hybrid Conference held by Better Impact. The conference was a unique event designed specifically for those working in volunteer engagement. This year’s theme was “Show Them the Money,” and was designed to empower volunteer engagement professionals to confidently showcase the tangible financial impact of their work.

At Ginsberg, we believe that collaboration can foster positive change, which is why we recently held the first meeting of the Ginsberg Center’s Faculty, Student, and Community advisory boards. As new relationships were formed and old ones renewed, all three advisory boards were celebrated for their thoughtful work.

On November 6th, the Ginsberg Center partnered with Breyko and the Ann Arbor Housing Commission to host a documentary screening of A Letter to the West Side. This documentary-style film examines Ann Arbor’s West Side, which was once a vibrant center of the Black community with thriving Black-owned businesses and community spaces. At the event, students, Ginsberg staff, U-M faculty, and community members gathered together to watch, talk, and learn about the rich history of Ann Arbor’s West Side.

Washtenaw Rock Stars has been making powerful strides to remove financial barriers to music education across Washtenaw County. Established in 2022, the student organization is dedicated to providing free musical instruction focused on exposure, exploration, and sustained accessibility for local youth.

On October 27, National Civics Day, U-M faculty, students, and community partners came together for the biennial Dewey Dialogue event. National Civics day celebrates the role and benefits of civic education from improved critical thinking to community service and civic engagement. This year's Dewey Dialogue, themed “At Home in our Community,” celebrates and reminds us of John Dewey’s contributions to the fields of education and civic engagement while focusing on the role we can all play in making everyone in our community feel welcome.

What does it look like when a space is designed to bring campus and community together? At the Ginsberg Center’s Open House on September 26th, 2025, that vision came to life as students, academic partners, and community partners gathered to celebrate the opening of the new Edward and Rosalie Ginsberg Building.

On September 11, 2025, we held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to commemorate the official opening of the new Edward and Rosalie Ginsberg building at 1024 Hill St. A $10 million gift from longtime U-M supporters William and Inger Ginsberg made the building possible and served as a tribute to William’s parents, Edward and Rosalie Ginsberg, who were committed to community service throughout their lives.

Connecting campus to community is what we’re all about here at Ginsberg, and September’s So Cool, So Just resource fair did just that, providing a space for 11 student organizations,  8 community partners, and 5 academic partners to highlight their work and recruit volunteers all at once. Attendees had the opportunity to meet and speak with representatives from various organizations, all united in their shared desire to drive social change in our community.

Come see the brand-new Edward and Rosalie Ginsberg Building at our original location at 1024 Hill St, on the corner of East University & Hill. And check out our many Welcome Back events on our calendar! 

The Ginsberg Center would like to welcome Eleana Anderson and Jess Letaw to the team! Learn more about our new changemakers and what they're bringing to Ginsberg.

The Ginsberg Center’s Storytelling for Social Change (SFSC) program recently concluded its fourth year with ten exciting projects. This season’s student consultants and community partners were joined by Ginsberg staff, program alumni, and co-educators to highlight their work.

In June 2025, BLUELab Metro, a Michigan Engineering-based student organization focused on sustainable and equitable design, held its first “build day” at the Willow Run Acres Clay Hill community farm and garden. Bluelab Metro earned a $10,000 Davis Projects for Peace award, with support from the Ginsberg Center.

Ginsberg Center’s 2025 Student Grant Showcase was held on April 10th. This year we awarded $15,000 across our 2 different grants: Community Engaged Grants (CEG) and Alternative Break Grants (ABG) provided by the Edward Ginsberg Center for Community Service and Learning Fund, with our thanks to William and Inger Ginsberg. Additional funds were provided by the Delta Delta Delta Community Service Fund, with our thanks to the Delta Delta Delta Ann Arbor Area Alumnae Chapter, and Mary Alice Treadway, President.  

Siddarth Kaushik, a recent U-M alumnus and an America Reads tutor through the Ginsberg Center, received recognition from Ann Arbor Public Schools for his efforts to improve students’ literacy skills.

The Ginsberg Center Student Advisory Board provides guidance, support, and feedback that advances the work of the Ginsberg Center and broader community engagement at the University of Michigan. In 2024-25, the Center welcomed 13 graduate and undergraduate students who worked on a variety of initiatives.

The Ginsberg Center is excited to announce new student internship opportunities made possible by our recently launched Community-Based Internship Fund! Undergraduate and graduate students can apply for paid internships funded by Ginsberg Center at a range of community organizations throughout southeast Michigan. Apply today!

Ginsberg Center’s student engagement team organized the one-day Building Our Solidarity Economy conference in collaboration with Resource Generation Michigan and other U-M and community organizations to create an event focused on civic engagement and skill-building. They aimed to offer students hands-on opportunities to explore areas like social entrepreneurship, community organizing and philanthropy.

The Ginsberg Center invites you to make visible your commitment to service and community engagement by wearing a Ginsberg service cord during graduation. Our goal is to recognize students that have—through voluntary service, activism and advocacy, or other forms of civic engagement—helped address or make positive change around a specific social issue with off-campus communities or groups.

The Ginsberg Center is pleased to announce that the President’s Year of Democracy, Civic Empowerment, and Global Engagement initiative has awarded $20,000 to support the Building Our Solidarity Economy Conference and $100,000 to fund community-based internships supported by Ginsberg.

Learn more about the experiences of three Ginsberg Center students: Jordyn Coury, Opeyemi Ojubanire, and Justin Wentnick. Through their work with the Center, these students have been able to transform their interests and passions into action in our local communities. Get involved with the Ginsberg Center.

Turn Up Turnout (TUT), a student organization sponsored by the Ginsberg Center recently concluded its busiest period with the 2024 presidential election. Since its founding in 2017, TUT has been the University of Michigan’s foremost nonpartisan student-led organization dedicated to civic engagement. TUT works to increase voter education, registration, and turnout among all eligible University of Michigan students and in the surrounding communities of our Ann Arbor, Dearborn, and Flint campuses.

We’re excited to share highlights of our Community Engagement and Match work from the Fall semester! With the dedication of our team, we’ve connected students, academic partners, and campus groups with opportunities and resources to build meaningful partnerships and create real impact. We’re proud of these collaborative efforts and look forward to strengthening connections and fostering engagement as we continue through the year!

Our Academic Partner team has accomplished so much this Fall semester, working diligently to connect faculty and campus units with resources and opportunities to deepen their community-engaged learning. Their collaborative efforts have strengthened partnerships and supported meaningful academic initiatives. We’re inspired by their impact so far and can’t wait to see what they achieve in the months ahead!

We’re thrilled to share our Fall semester review of student engagement at the Ginsberg Center! It highlights the incredible work and dedication of our team to empower students and deepen community impact. We’re proud of what’s been accomplished and excited to see how we’ll continue building momentum for the rest of the year.

The Ann Arbor Summer Festival (A2SF) is a cherished annual tradition that brings free and ticketed performances to Ann Arbor, Michigan every June. Beyond its well-loved events at Top of the Park and venues like Hill Auditorium, A2SF continually strives to understand and serve its audience better. In 2024, this effort was bolstered by a partnership with the Ginsberg Center’s Community Technical Assistance Collaborative (CTAC).

Learn more about the experiences of three Ginsberg Center students: Eda Bozkurt, Raphael Onuku, and Emma Berger. Through their work with the Center, these students have been able to transform their interests and passions into action in our local communities. Get involved with the Ginsberg Center.

In collaboration with MHAction, Ginsberg's Community Technical Assistance Collaborative (CTAC) developed an innovative web-based mapping application that visualizes manufactured housing communities (MHCs) across Michigan. The project's aim was to create an accessible tool that could assist in the organization’s advocacy for affordable and quality manufactured housing, and to bolster their broader campaigns for racial and economic justice.

The University of Michigan is home to many engineering-focused student organizations, but one in particular stands out. BLUElab is the largest sustainably-focused engineering project team on campus. As a multidisciplinary design team that focuses on developing sustainable solutions alongside community partners, BLUElab emulates the Ginsberg Center’s principles of Centering on Equity and Starting with Community.

Among the Ginsberg Center's central principles is the goal to foster long-term partnerships. The Center aims to establish enduring relationships with community partners that extend beyond the scope of a single project or engagement. The Center's partnership with the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts' Language Resource Center is an embodiment of the commitment to that principle.

The Ginsberg Center recently partook in the So Cool, So Just Fair, a recruitment opportunity for campus organizations to connect and be in community with students and organizations that are actively working on campus to create change. This event was hosted by the University of Michigan's Community Action and Social Change Undergraduate Minor with support from Ginsberg.

Wolverines turned out for voting in 2022—the data is in and student voter turnout was over 52% for the 2022 midterm election! With an average of about 30% turnout for other national institutions, U-M continues to lead in voting. Let's make sure this energy continues through this election season (Nov. 5, 2024, is your LAST day to cast your 2024 general election ballot).

The Detroit Partnership, a student organization sponsored by the Ginsberg Center, is gearing up for its annual DP Day, a single day of service that hosts hundreds of student volunteers across various spaces on campus and allocates them across community partner sites throughout the city of Detroit. Detroit Partnership is approaching almost 25 years of celebrating DP Day and is looking to get more students involved.

The Ginsberg Center recently matched University of Michigan students with a service opportunity at Cranbrook Tower Apartments, an affordable senior housing complex in Ann Arbor.

After coming to the University of Michigan in 2020 to teach, Lisa DuRussel quickly found a community and a home with the Ginsberg Center. A landscape architect by trade, DuRussel, Assistant Professor of Practice in U-M’s School for Environment & Sustainability, teaches courses and seminars that cover topics including ecological design, planting design and community engagement.

December 2022

In recognition of exemplary contributions through research on service-learning and community engagement, IARSLCE honors those whose research contributes significantly to understanding and advancing community engagement, across all approaches and all educational sectors. The Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, published by the Edward Ginsberg Center, received IARSLCE's 2022 Publication of the Year Award. 

The Michigan Center for Youth Justice (MCYJ) works to advance equitable youth justice policies and practices that protect young people. MCYJ contacted Ginsberg with the goal of gathering and analyzing data on how a new policy related to restraint use has has impacted juvenile centers. Ginsberg’s Community Technical Assistance Collaborative and STATCOM supported this request.

Learn more about our exciting plans for our new, environmentally sustainable building on U-M’s Central Campus that will enhance our focus on community engagement and student learning. We'll be ready to move back in Spring of 2025--and you can watch the progress on the webcam!