Service & Leadership

At Baldwin Wallace, you can participate in thoughtfully organized service experiences that meet community needs and help foster civic responsibility. You can serve locally but also throughout the United States and even abroad. You can develop leadership skills as well as learn more about yourself. What could be more important than that?

An alternative spring break group traveled to Georgia with a focus on civil rights.
During Dance Marathon, students dance for twelve hours to raise money for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.
Students put together meals for Pack Away Hunger.
An alternative spring break group traveled to New Orleans to assist with food recovery for a St. Bernard Parish food program.

Tradition of Service

Ready to learn how to use your BW education to make a difference? The David & Frances Brain Center for Community Engagement (formerly the Office of Community Outreach) upholds the University's mission of empowering students to become contributing, compassionate citizens of an increasingly global society. The Brain Center offers a variety of ways for students to get involved and fulfill experiential learning requirements by serving at the local, national and international levels. Opportunities include one-time projects, weekly service, alternative breaks, international service, leadership positions and more.

Students gain valuable experience in leadership roles as alternative spring break leaders, College Explorations coordinators, special projects team members, Super Saturday coordinators and coordinators for weekly programs.

Programs for Students

Service Programs: Boys and Girls Club

BW students join the Boys and Girls Club of Cleveland in their mission to "inspire and enable young people who need us most to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens." BW students develop relationships with youth at the West Side Club while helping with homework and participating in recreational activities like kickball, crafts and games.

Esperanza, Inc.

Esperanza, Inc. is dedicated to promoting Hispanic education. BW students spend Wednesday afternoons assisting middle school students with homework and enrichment activities in partnership with Esperanza, Inc.

West Side Catholic Center

BW students serve at the West Side Catholic Center's women and children's shelter, where they provide a loving environment and fun educational activities for the children while their mothers attend group sessions.

One-Time Events

BW Dance Marathon

The colorful, annual BW Dance Marathon has quickly grown into the biggest student-led philanthropic event at BW. The 12-hour event raises funds and awareness for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation "one shake and shimmy at a time." BW holds its 16th marathon in 2017 and, as always, student organizers will looking be looking to set another fundraising record!

Gift Drive

Each year BW students, faculty and staff make the holidays a little brighter for local children through the annual Gift Drive. Gifts are donated to children and families through local organizations.

Saturday of Service

Every fall, the Center for Community Engagement holds a campus-wide service day in conjunction with organizations in Berea and the Greater Cleveland area. Students, alumni, faculty and staff come together to serve with a number of different organizations.

Student Giving Council

The Student Giving Council (SGC) is a student group on campus comprised of class officers and volunteers who strive to educate the BW student body on the importance of philanthropy and giving back, while also raising funds from fellow classmates to provide scholarships to deserving seniors.

Student Service Organizations

From Habitat for Humanity to Circle K, BW students have many opportunities to get involved with meaningful service and leadership experiences through BW student service organizations.
Immersion Programs: Alternative Break Trips

The Alternative Break experience provides BW students with the opportunity to break from the norm and spend their college break serving with other students. Each trip is led by a BW student. A BW faculty or staff advisor also participates with each trip.

Alternative Break trips are a great way to make a difference, travel to another area, learn new skills and meet people with similar interests. Alternative Break trips are about service, reflection, teamwork and fun. Each of our AB trips are planned using Breakaway's Eight Quality Components Model. Learn more about the National Alternative Break movement. In recent years, BW students have made trips to Detroit (hunger and homelessness); Chicago (mental health issues); Miami, Fla. (women's empowerment); Biloxi, Miss. (rebuilding homes and restoring hope-hurricane recovery); Kissimmee, Fla. (give kids the world); and Atlanta (youth and homelessness).

Project Affinity

Project Affinity is an urban summer service program coordinated by the Center for Community Engagement. Through service and community events, students are able to explore social justice issues, develop a direct relationship with individuals in Brooklyn Centre and the greater Cleveland community, and gain an understanding of nonprofit work.
Academic Service Learning: International Service-Learning

BW is committed to developing globally active and aware citizens through international service-learning opportunities with partner organizations in Guatemala and Zambia. International service-learning programs are coordinated in partnership with the study abroad office.

Jacket Philanthropy Program

The Jacket Philanthropy Program is a student-led philanthropy program implemented through academic service-learning. Students in participating courses provide direct service to nonprofit organizations. In addition to their service hours, students have the opportunity to award grant funds to selected organizations.

The program focuses on three areas of need: children and youth programs; neighborhood development and revitalization; and hunger, homelessness and health issues. Students are responsible for developing an RFP (Request for Funding Proposal), preparing the grant proposal, and engaging in a group decision-making process to award the funds. Each class receives funding to distribute.

In the past six years, 382 BW students provided close to 5,000 hours of service and awarded $94,500 in grant funds.

Service-Learning courses

Service-learning courses are offered across disciplines and majors and provide an opportunity to bring learning to life by connecting classroom content to community engagement opportunities. Students can take 2 "S" designated service-learning courses to fulfill the BW experiential learning requirements.
Political Engagement: Jackets Engaged: Political Engagement Team

This program works to engage BW students in the political process during election and non-election years. A student team hosts voter registration drives, debate watch parties and other issue education opportunities in order to develop active and informed voters at BW.

To encourage even higher student turnout, BW has joined more than 500 U.S. colleges and universities taking part in the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. View BW's ALL IN Action Plan.

As an ALL IN participant, BW commits to working toward increased student voting rates and fostering active and informed citizenship. BW's Brain Center will convene a campus-wide ALL IN committee to develop and implement an action plan to encourage student engagement.

The University will also continue to participate in NSLVE studies to measure future student voter participation. Read the 2020 NSLVE report.

ALL IN awarded BW with a "Gold Seal" for the 2020 Presidential Election.