Community Partnerships

The Office of Community Engagement facilitates relationships with many of our community partners to fulfill our commitment to the common good in the District of Columbia. As a leading academic and research institution with expertise in public education, law, and healthcare, among other areas, Georgetown faculty, staff, and students conduct community-based research and provide direct community services.

This website includes information about many of Georgetown’s community partnerships. For regular updates on Georgetown’s engagement in the District of Columbia, please signup for our newsletter, GU in DC. For more information about engaging with Georgetown University or one of our community partners, contact the Associate Vice President for Local Government and Community Engagement.

Community Initiatives

Georgetown has longstanding partnerships with many local organizations and collaborates across schools to provide community-based research, direct service, and leadership support to our community partners. These initiatives include the work of the Center for Social Justice; Georgetown’s partnership with the Cristo Rey Network; and the our Ward 7 Initiative, including partnerships with the D.C. Promise Neighborhood Initiative and Cesar Chavez Public Charter Schools for Public Policy.  Click here to learn more about our community initiatives.

Each year, Georgetown awards the John Thompson Jr. Legacy of a Dream Award to an emerging local leader to reinforce the university’s commitment to engagement within Washington, DC, and to identify talent among the city’s most inspirational community leaders who are working to solve key issues that are responsible for shaping the city and the people who live in it. Since 2003, the award, named for the legendary Georgetown head basketball coach emeritus, Washington, DC native, mentor, advocate and community leader – John Thompson Jr., has been awarded to civil rights icons, children’s rights advocates and other humanitarians. In 2012, the university began awarding local leaders to reinforce the Georgetown’s commitment to engagement within Washington, DC. Click here to learn more about the Legacy of the Dream Award.

K-12 Education Initiatives

As a leading institution of higher education, Georgetown University is positioned to provide high quality K-12 education services, including tutoring, mentoring, leadership training, research, and assessment. Georgetown faculty and students partner with D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) and the Office to the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) to provide on-site services, conduct research, and train DCPS leaders.  Click here to learn more about our K-12 education initiatives.

College Access and Success

Georgetown University is committed to reducing barriers to higher education of preparation, affordability, and persistence. We partner with local and national organizations to promote college awareness and access, and provide support to first-generation students so they can succeed in college.  Click here to learn more about our commitment to college access and success.

Legal Education and Service

The Georgetown University Law Center trains students in the law and provides experiential learning opportunities for students to practice the law and provide legal services to a wide range of clients. Through clinical programs and pro-bono activities, Georgetown Law students directly represent clients, advocate for clients, and provide legal counseling to local organizations.  Click here to learn about our law students legal education and service engagements in the District of Columbia.

Health Disparities

The Georgetown University Medical Center and the School of Medicine lead the University’s efforts to conduct community-based health research; provide technical assistance, assessment, and training; offer direct community health services; and educate students to become medical practitioners as women and men for others.  Click here to learn more about our commitment to conduct community-based research and provide community-based healthcare.

Deeper Engagement

Georgetown’s initiative, Designing the Future(s) of the University, explores new ways to deliver our academic mission. In a blog post , Provost Robert Groves ruminated on opportunities for deep study, including deeper engagement with community partners:

“Another set of ideas concerns new collaborations with DC institutions, based on alliances with Georgetown. Students are interns with pre-organized activities, coordinated to be academically-valued experiences worthy of academic credit. Much of the mentoring is given by senior staff of the institutions. Faculty are consultants to the work of the institution and liaisons with the students to aid their development within the institution.

Another set of ideas uses alumni as mentors of students, teamed with faculty members. Students work with alumni in academically-relevant activities. Real products are produced of value to the alumni’s organization. The students might work in groups or teams, tackling a problem of the organization, requiring original research to solve.

The goal would be that original research experiences are built into each program, that faculty research productivity is enhanced through the new ways of approaching student involvement, and that sustainable programs be created.

We already have the ingredients of this on campus. The Business School uses group consultative projects as part of its program. The new Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation is organized with experiential learning in building organizations to tackle real problems. The community-based learning opportunities connected to the Center for Social Justice are another example.

The goal would be more formal integration of such experiences into many programs, tailored to the scholarly goals of the faculty.”