Service Learning Partners
Seattle Meowtropolitan
We further our mission by placing cats in need into nurturing homes, working with cat rescues and shelters, and providing resources to organizations dedicated to improving the lives of cats.
We work with our shelter partner Regional Animal Services of King County (RASKC) to house cats in our cat lounge with the goal of adopting them out to nurturing homes. We hope to open more cat cafes around the country to provide more comfortable places where cats can meet humans in a casual environment. We use proceeds from our online store to not only provide a fulfilling environment for the cats in our cat lounge, but also for the benefit of cats everywhere. For every sale, we donate a portion to a shelter, rescue, or other charitable organization focused on helping cats and other animals.
In the cat lounge, we strive to educate visitors about cats' needs for loving homes. We have created an entry point for people to create precious interactions and memories with feline friends with the hope to inspire them to adopt or donate to benefit cats in need. At the end of the day, we want to see visitors to the cat lounge with smiles on their faces and love for cats in their hearts.
Foundation for International Understanding Through Students (FIUTS)
FIUTS envisions a global community, tied to the Pacific Northwest, in which people are connected through friendship, mutual respect, and a commitment to international understanding.
FIUTS believes in person-to-person diplomacy as key to international understanding, and that connections between individuals can lead to bonds between communities and bridges between cultures and nations. When people from diverse backgrounds share experiences, conversations, and learning in a safe environment, they build relationships that have the potential to shape the future for all of us. To FIUTS, every student represents an opportunity to create a new connection - with students across our campus and people throughout our community. All FIUTS programs engage participants as ambassadors of their own experiences and connect them with people who think and act differently, providing space and time for curiosity, dialogue, and reflection. When they leave FIUTS programs, alumni continue to act on values of community, openness, and integrity in their future actions and interactions.
Building Community. Our community believes in the collective power to make positive change in the world and promotes curiosity, shared purpose, and civic pride. True communication happens when people feel comfortable, so FIUTS provides shared experiences, challenges, and fun so participants build trust naturally with others despite their initial differences.
Working with Others. Leadership can only be learned by practice. FIUTS creates a range of leadership opportunities, allowing young people to facilitate dialogue, try new things, reflect on their own growth, and build skills through practice. Large and small group experiences provide opportunities for experimentation and collaboration.
Exploring Identity. As students participate in intercultural programs and experience leadership, they are challenged to reflect on and articulate their own values and beliefs and take risks to build resilience. Storytelling and dialogue celebrate the diversity of beliefs and backgrounds of every individual.
Changing the World. In all of FIUTS programs, students are asked to consider how they will improve their communities and the world around them and encouraged to seek opportunities to take action to make the world better for everyone.
Community Collaboratory
Problem
Think of someone you know who may have struggled to receive care during the pandemic. Maybe they had trouble with finances, transport to a doctor’s appt, or weren’t able to access technology. The pandemic has only worsened existing health disparities and highlighted the need for community members to care for each other.
Community members keep telling us they want to support others locally but it’s too difficult! Most volunteer groups require regular schedules and long-term commitments, which aren’t feasible for most people; traditional volunteering is inefficient and burdensome. In the 2016 UK Community Life Survey (N = 3,027), 52% of respondents left a volunteer commitment because of limited time.
It is also too difficult for vulnerable adults, especially adults with chronic health conditions, to access social support. Getting groceries, finding a mental health counselor, receiving supportive text messages are all examples of ways vulnerable adults would benefit from additional social support. In summary, there is a clear need in U.S. communities: we need innovations that make it easier to receive and offer social support locally.
Solution
Community Collaboratory (CC) is developing the only online tool that makes it easy to offer and receive brief, safe, and flexible social support.
We are like Match.com for supporting other community members.
Whether you have 15 min on a Thursday evening, a few days a month, or multiple hours available each week, this is the tool for you.
Community Collaboratory has the potential to create large-scale improvements in population health and aims to scale up safe, flexible, and effective peer-peer social support. Community Collaboratory’s online matching tool combines current evidence-based theories in mobile health (mHealth), social psychology, and social determinants of health. A Community Collaboratory staff member is always on-call to provide training, supervision, and additional support.