Campus Compact

📚 Student Impact Summer Webinar Series: Showcasing Newman Fellow Mini-Grant Projects

This spring, Campus Compact awarded more than $72,000 in mini-grants to 58 Newman Civic Fellows across the country. Since then, these student leaders have been putting their ideas into action and tackling some of today’s most pressing challenges in their communities! 💡

Across four virtual sessions throughout June, Fellows will share their project goals, outcomes, and lessons learned while leading change in their communities. Learn from emerging civic leaders, explore replicable ideas and models, and connect with peers and partners.

📆 Series begins Tuesday, June 2 at 1 p.m. ET with Civic Action & Community Advocacy.

Each session focuses on different project themes, so register for one - or all four!

🔗 Click the link in our bio to learn more and register now!

📚 New Book Available Now!

The Community-Centric Path to Rebuilding Trust in Higher Education by Campus Compact Fellow, Byron P. White, reimagines community engagement as an essential driver for sustaining universities and offers a bold alternative to customer-focused strategies many colleges use to regain stability. 📖

Across eight chapters, White highlights innovative practices and community-focused approaches that advance strategic priorities and support organizational transformation.

💡 Perfect for higher education leaders, community engagement practitioners, and scholars.

🔗 Click the link in our bio to get your copy today!

🐝Approximately 4,000 species of native bee species live across North America, and unlike honeybees, many are solitary nesters that rely on forests, meadows, gardens, and even patches of bare ground to survive. These pollinators play a critical role in supporting biodiversity, healthy ecosystems, and agriculture, yet habitat loss and pesticide use continue to threaten their populations. 🍯🌸

This World Bee Day, small actions can help create safer habitats for native bees. Planting native trees and flowers provides bees with the nectar and pollen they need throughout the growing season, while reducing or avoiding pesticides protects them and other wildlife from harmful chemical exposure, which is a leading cause of declining populations.

Just as important is preserving the habitats bees rely on to nest and overwinter. Contrary to common belief, nearly 70% of bee species live underground in burrows, making patches of bare soil and hollow plant stems essential shelter for many native bee species.

Creating pollinator-friendly spaces on campuses, in communities, and at home sustain the ecosystems we all depend on. Let’s come together to bee kind to our pollinators!

The Changemakers Retreat is an immersive, four-day experience designed for community engagement professionals and campus leaders who want to push boundaries and expand their impact. Created for those who are seeking an authentic approach to leadership, the retreat offers space to reflect and reconnect with purpose alongside peers who are similarly dedicated to this work!

💡 Gain invaluable tools and strategies they can bring back to campus
💡 Learn how to deepen and expand their impact in the community
💡 Leave with an understanding of how to make lasting institutional change

⏰ Last chance to join Changemakers until 2028!

🔗 Learn more and register now: https://events.compact.org/2026-changemakers-retreat

🎙️ New episode: Building Higher Education’s “Trust Infrastructure” with Bobbie Laur

“And I think the moment calls for us to say, civic and community engagement work needs to be sitting at the very top. We talk about preparing students for the workforce, we talk about the economic impact of our institution. We need to be talking about the civic and community engagement work.”

In this episode of Partnership Work, Paul Kuttner speaks with Campus Compact President Bobbie Laur about the political attacks on higher education and the growing loss of public confidence in colleges and universities. 📚

Paul and Bobbie discuss the valid concerns driving this loss of confidence, including cost, access, and inequality, along with Bobbie’s journey into partnership work, examples of campuses integrating community engagement across the institution, and Compact’s new federal advocacy efforts.

🔗 Listen now: https://partnershipwork.org/2026/05/05/trust-infrastructure/

Higher ed has long played a role in economic mobility, but that role is shifting. Join Rauly Ramirez (Opportunity@work ) and Suzanne Dove (University of Michigan) for a conversation on how civic and community engagement can better connect to workforce outcomes and expand access to opportunity.

This webinar introduces one emerging approach to that work. In partnership with Opportunity@Work, we’ll discuss how institutions can strengthen their role in regional talent ecosystems through a “College-AND” framework - integrating degree pathways with skills-based hiring and advancement strategies.

📅 Tuesday, May 12, 2026

⏰ 3:00 - 4:00 PM ET

🔗 Learn more and register now: https://events.compact.org/degrees-skills

👏 We are excited to announce a partnership with Bard College () this summer. College students and advanced high school students from across the nation can apply for a synchronous online summer course, Student Voting, Civil Rights, and the Practice of Democracy, for three transferable undergraduate credits and an opportunity to receive a certificate on “Voting Rights & Democracy Training.” 🗳️

🔗 Learn more and apply now: https://cce.bard.edu/get-involved/election/summer-voting-rights-course/

Campus Compact EnviroCorps celebrated marked Earth Day during this year’s weekly All Corps Meeting, welcoming three inspiring guest speakers who demonstrated that many ways environmental stewardship can shape both personal lives and professional paths for members.

Mary Lou Nicholson () shared her work educating communities across South Coast Massachusetts and Rhode Island about the impact of single-use plastics through her volunteer-led organization, Be the Solution to Pollution. What began as an article has grown into a movement removing thousands of pounds of plastic from waterways and leading community audits.

Cecilia Monahan () spoke about her passion for ecological and the intersection of science and art. After shifting from business to environmental science, she now manages the SHADOW Lake Nature Preserve in Renton, WA. She emphasized the value of community engagement, noting that despite challenges, moments of “collective euphoria” make the work deeply rewarding.

Isaias Hernandez () discussed how he channels his talents as a writer, content creator, and public speaker into advancing environmental literacy. After facing job rejections post-UC Berkeley, he built his own platform, using educational infographics and interviews to connect his skills with his passion.

Together, their stories show the many paths available to protect and steward air, land, and water for generations to come.

This , Campus Compact EnviroCorps celebrates the power of trees and the people who care for them. Whether they’re in rainforests, deciduous forests, or our own backyards, trees are vital to sustaining terrestrial life.

Trees cover almost a third of land area. Doing the math, that accounts for an estimated total of 3 trillion trees!

They provide oxygen through the process of photosynthesis, removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Many animals also depend on trees to call their homes and to find food. 80% of all life on land exists in forests, yet this critical ecosystem is declining at an alarming rate.
As forests lose latitudinal coverage, so do animals that depend on them—and the solution is not as simple as replanting trees. Revitalizing tree coverage requires careful consideration of the native biodiversity within each ecosystem.

That’s where Campus Compact EnviroCorps members come in. They take on environmental stewardship firsthand, motivating community engagement to help preserve our water, air, and land (trees included).

Across the country, members are putting this work into action. At Clark University, Tulane University, and Washington University in St. Louis, they focus on identifying trees and expanding tree coverage in their communities through stratification, GIS tracking, environmental education, and volunteer coordination in partnership with local organizations.

So, the next time you see a tree, give it a hug for everything it does for you and the land. Happy Arbor Day!

⏳ Register for the 2026 retreat!

Step away from your day-to-day in a low-stress environment with people who truly “get” you The Changemakers Retreat is an immersive, four-day experience designed for community engagement professionals and campus leaders ready to push boundaries.🤝

Because our annual conference is moving to June, we will pause the Changemakers Retreat in 2027. This means that the upcoming session from June 15-18 at Towson University is your final opportunity to participate until 2028.

This retreat is intentionally small to create a more tailored, authentic leadership experience. Registration closes May 15.

🔗 Head to the link in our bio to learn more!