By Bryana Ballinger
Research has shown that community service and volunteerism have very positive effects on those volunteering, the organizations served and the community as a whole.

In the past, data collected at Fresno State has underscored that research, showing that our university provides hundreds of hours of service to our community each year.

Now, the Office of Civic Engagement and Service-Learning is collecting new information on community service taking place throughout the entire campus.

This project focuses on several areas, including:

• The level of service provided through student internships at nonprofit and government agencies.

• The impact of the service on the community organizations served.

• The effect a service-learning course has on our students.

• The amount of time Fresno State student clubs and organizations are providing to our community through volunteer efforts.

Electronic and hard-copy surveys have been sent to people involved in each of these areas, and the initial data are impressive.

For example, we have learned that internship programs that serve nonprofits, government and K-12 schools are providing more than 280,000 hours of service this year alone. That’s the equivalent of nearly 13.5 years of work benefiting the organizations.

Some departments are making remarkable commitments to addressing the needs of our community.  For example, students in the Kremen School of Education and Human Development will provide 139,128 hours to schools. Students in the College of Health and Human Services’ Department of Social Work Education will provide 61,776 hours to nonprofit and government agencies this year.

In addition, an early review of data indicates that our nonprofit partners benefit greatly from the resources Fresno State provides through the variety of engagement efforts we offer. For example, more than 80 percent of the nonprofit organizations surveyed agree that the university’s community service-learning program has helped their organization meet program goals.

The information will not be fully evaluated until summer, but it is safe to say that the initial responses clearly show that Fresno State is living up to its vision of being a premier interactive university.

(Bryana Ballinger is a student intern in the Office of Civic Engagement and Learning-Service.)