CIPA: Public Engagement

Public Engagement

Public engagement is a key ingredient in the CIPA MPA experience. Internships offer one avenue for such engagement. The CIPA Public Service Exchange and the CIPA Capstone Program offer two additional opportunities for CIPA Fellows to pursue hands-on, public engagement work.

Both the Capstone and Public Service Exchange are designed as service-learning partnerships. Fellows engage with government and nonprofit client-organizations to work on pro bono consulting projects. These clients may be locally, nationally, or internationally-based. Fellows gain valuable, hands-on experience while partnering with these real-world clients to mitigate or solve agreed-upon public policy or management problems.

Many of these partner agencies and non-profit organizations offer internships or ongoing consulting opportunities to Fellows growing out of the coursework, and a number of Fellows volunteer for work with these organizations after the coursework has ended.

For more information, contact:
Laurie Miller
Service Learning Initiative Program Coordinator & Capstone Instructor
B30 Caldwell Hall (*For mail, please send to: 294 Caldwell Hall)
607.255.4858

Public Engagement: the Cornell Commitment

Cornell University has a strong commitment to public service, and has been designated by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching designated Cornell an "institution of community engagement.”

Cornell University President David Skorton has said that universities can—and should—play a critical role in improving social, personal and institutional capacity worldwide. Fellows engaged in the Capstone and Public Service Exchange do just that. They lend Cornell’s expertise to public problems, combating them on a global scale. These public engagement experiences serve as a bridge between the classroom and real-world practice. In the process, Fellows gain the practical skills necessary for work in their future careers.

Recent Projects

AFL-CIO [Washington DC]
African Business Information Bank [Wittenberg Center for Global Ethics, Wittenberg Germany]
American Red Cross, Southern Tier Chapters [Ithaca, Elmira, Corning, NY]
Better Housing for Tompkins County [Ithaca, NY]
BILD New Initiatives Center [Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina]
Catholic University of Sudan [Wau, Sudan]
California Coalition for Clean Air [Sacramento, CA]
City of Ithaca Department of Planning and Development [Ithaca, NY]
City Science [New York, New York]
Community Building Works! [Lansing, NY]
Community Foundation of Tompkins County [Ithaca, NY]
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Madison County [Morrisville, NY]
Cornell Cooperative Extension Parenting Program [Ithaca, NY]
Cornell Cooperative Extension Primitive Pursuits Program [Ithaca, NY]
Cornell Prison Education Program [Auburn and Ithaca, NY]
Family and Children’s Service of Ithaca [Ithaca, NY]
Finger Lakes ReUse [Ithaca, NY]
GHESKIO Clinic, Port au Prince, Haiti
Green Empowerment [Portland, OR]
Greenhouse Gas Management Institute (GHGMI) [Washington, DC]
Heart's Cry in Ithaca and India [Ithaca, NY]
Higher School of Economics in Russia [Moscow, Russia]
INOMA [Mexico]
Intern-American Development Bank (IASB) [Panama]
Ithaca City School District [Ithaca, NY]
M&T Bank [Ithaca, NY]
Namgyal Monastery [Ithaca, NY]
Nature Iraq [Sulaymaniyah, Iraq]
North Elba - Lake Placid Community Development Board [New York]
Opportunities, Alternatives, and Resources [Ithaca, NY]
Pader Girls Academy in Uganda [Gulu, Uganda]
Saint Paul Catholic University (UCSP) [Peru]
Sierra Club (New Orleans, LA)
Stop the Silence [Glenn Dale, MD]
GRAAM, the Grassroots Research and Advocacy Movement (a new branch of the Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement, SVYM)[Mysore, Karnataka State, India]
The American Research Center in Sofia [Sofia, Bulgaria]
Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce [Ithaca, NY]
Tompkins County Department of Administration [Ithaca, NY]
Tompkins County Department of Planning [Ithaca, NY]
Tuzla Summer Institute [Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina]
United States Environmental Protection Agency [Washington DC]
United Way [Cornell & Ithaca]
YMCA [Ithaca, New York]
Zimbabwe Education Fund [New York, NY]