Community Partners

Community partners are not-for-profit organizations, government agencies and social service groups that join with Iona University to meet the needs of the community while providing an experiential learning experience for our students within the context of an academic course.

Community partners are an essential component of service-learning and serve as co-educators for the service-based experiential learning experience. Service-learning as a teaching style has the unique opportunity to transform both students and communities alike! In so many ways, it is a win-win scenario because students are able to apply the newly honed skills they learned in class to a community identified need, making our communities stronger, healthier, and more just places.

Become a Community Partner

We are always looking for more community partners to match up with a service-learning course. If you believe your organization has a project that can accommodate a large group of students (20-30) for a one-semester project that has the potential to be embedded into a course, we would love to hear from you!

Contact Kevin M. Griffith, CFC, '83 at kgriffith@iona.edu to discuss your ideas.

Please note that we might not be able to accommodate all service projects due to our academic schedule, liability concerns or other issues.

Community Partnerships

Past partnerships between Iona students and community organizations have included:

• Humane Society of Westchester – Dedicated to promoting the human/animal bond through the compassionate care and treatment of animals throughout the communities we serve in Westchester County and beyond. To that end, our goal is to create a living environment that is not just a shelter, but a transitional home for stray, lost, abandoned, injured, and abused animals, until they can ultimately be placed in loving permanent homes. Through promotion of successful pet adoption, animal population control, and public education of animal welfare issues, we advance our belief that pet ownership is a lifetime commitment.
• AFYA Foundation: AFYA rescues surplus medical supplies and delivers them to under-served health systems around the world. Our students help AFYA expand its impact in the Westchester community by creating surveys, measuring impact and proposing marketing and outreach strategies.
• Boys & Girls Club New Rochelle: The Boys & Girls Club (BGC) and New Rochelle works to enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens. Our students created a strategic plan for BGC to prioritize programs and expand impactful services.
• Hand Crafted catering + events – As a catering and events organization, Hand Crafted proudly works with the Westchester growers alliance to source its ingredients from local sustainable farms. Our students created a strategic operations plan to help Hand Crafted expand its business and enter the event venue market.
• HOPE Community Services – HOPE Community Services provides clothing, food and meals for those in need. It also offers emotional support, language skills and immigration services for new immigrants in New Rochelle. Our students assist in providing these services.
• Hudson Valley Pet Food Pantry – Hudson Valley Pet Food Pantry helps provide pet food assistance to economically challenged, disabled and elderly residents of the Hudson Valley region in New York, as well as animal shelters and rescue groups. Our students developed a marketing plan to gain new volunteers and donors to the organization.
• New Rochelle Youth Bureau – The bureau works to continually improve the lives of young people through programs and events that aim to reduce violence committed by young women. Our students assisted in planning a summit devoted to the topic, and creating a strategic marketing plan for the event.