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ComMUnity Connect

Community needs, volunteers connect with new online tool
Community needs, volunteers connect with new online tool

Miami students, faculty and staff are regularly involved in meaningful community engagement activities--from volunteering at a local nonprofits to teaching or taking a Service-Learning class or hosting a fundraiser for a worthy cause. This work has been ongoing for years, but a new tool developed by the Office of Community Engagement and Service (OCES) is making it easier than ever to get involved.

Miami’s brand new volunteering website, ComMUnity Connect (volunteer.MiamiOH.edu) provides one location where information on volunteer needs are stored on an ongoing basis. Site users can search for opportunities based on the causes and interests that matter to them and then either sign up or connect directly with agencies to volunteer. Users who are so inclined can also track their volunteer hours within the site and access a “Volunteer Resume” which corresponds to their experiences

Currently, 65 agencies from Oxford and across Butler County are actively listing opportunities on the site. All students, faculty, and staff are able to sign in with their Miami credentials at any time. OCES encourages students to create a profile and choose causes and interests that matter to them. Based on these choices, the site provides personalized agency and opportunity suggestions.

OCES hopes that ComMUnity Connect will increase the level of Miami’s community engagement in Southwest Ohio. Their goal is for the site to become the go-to place for volunteer opportunities and the identification and amplification of community needs. “Additionally,” says OCES Director Christie Zwahlen, “we hope that this easier sign-up process for volunteer opportunities will result in more sustained, long-term community partnerships. In the past, nonprofits could send out an opportunity via a listserv or newsletter and then it was gone. Now, it lives on the site until the need is fulfilled, increasing the chances that the right person will see it and act on it.”

Please encourage your student to login and create a profile at volunteer.miamioh.edu! Questions? Contact the Office of Community Engagement and Service: communityengagement@MiamiOH.edu.