Community Partners

Community partners are the nonprofits, educational institutions and governmental agencies that offer Earlham students the chance to learn, serve, form connections and grow. Students bring energy, imagination, knowledge and skills. Community partners offer opportunities to apply classroom learning to address complex, unscripted challenges while making a tangible impact. Our partnerships are reciprocal and mutually beneficial.

Community partners recruit, orient, train, supervise and mentor Earlham students. They offer structured positions and projects that allow students to learn while contributing to the mission and outcomes of the partner. Partners allow students to engage in meaningful work with responsibilities that are in line with the abilities of college students. They recognize and nurture the qualities of curiosity and flexibility associated with the liberal arts. Students increase the capacity of the sites they serve, allowing them to increase their impact.

Earlham provides support and training for community partners in the areas of volunteer recruitment and management. They can list volunteer needs and events on Earlham Engage, post student employment openings on Handshake, take part in the annual Involvement Fair on campus and attend site orientations and the annual celebration of service.

To be considered a community partner, all of the following must occur:

1. Meet with Jana Schroeder, Director of Community Engagement, to discuss the mission of your organization, the volunteer opportunities you have available and the support structures for volunteers. Please note that because we are busy preparing for students’ return, it is very unlikely that new partners who contact us after August 1 will be approved in time to recruit students at the beginning of the school year.
2. Fill out, sign and return the Memorandum of Understanding between Earlham College and your agency. The MOU will remain in effect until Earlham makes major changes to the MOU and requests that all agencies complete a new one or until either the community partner or Earlham notifies the other party that they wish to end the partnership.
3. On an annual basis, provide a current certificate of insurance indicating that the community partner carries insurance which covers persons volunteering at the agency.
4. Complete your agency profile and post short descriptions of your volunteer needs in Earlham Engage. We strongly encourage community partners to download the Earlham Engage Guide for Agency Managers and follow the instructions for best results.

Community partners that would like to visit campus to recruit students may complete the Recruit@Earlham form.

Student Employment (Federal College Work Study)

Community partners who have completed all of the above steps may also choose to participate in Earlham’s off campus student employment program for students with Federal work study as part of their financial aid package. Partners typically pay only 25% of the wage ($7.25 an hour in 2015-16). Each student may work a maximum of 10 hours per week.

100% of student wages are paid by the Federal work study program for tutoring by a student who is employed as a reading tutor for preschool-aged through elementary-school-age children; as a mathematics tutor for children in elementary school through ninth grade; or performing family literacy activities in a family literacy project that provides services to families with preschool-age children or children who are in elementary school.

Any agency interested in student employment should do all of the following (which can be completed at the same time as the above steps):

1. Meet with Jana Schroeder to discuss the positions and duties the community partner has in mind for student employees. These positions can be the same as the positions available to Bonner scholars and other Earlham volunteers or distinct from them. All student employment positions should provide opportunities for students to develop useful skills and to learn and practice the professional expectations of a workplace.
2. Complete and sign the Federal Work-Study Program Off-Campus Agreement. This form must be completed and signed on an annual basis to indicate the partner’s interest in hiring Earlham student employees.
3. Prepare a short job description for each student employment position and post on Symplicity. For more information and instructions, visit the Earlham Student Employment page.