Impact Area

Engage STL Days are a way for WashU students to get off campus and get to know various neighborhoods throughout St. Louis. Each Engage STL Day is an immersive experience in which students get to hear from community partners and visit local businesses, landmarks, and organizations.

The Community Research Fellows Training Program (CRFT) is a comprehensive 17-week public health research training course through PECaD at Washington University School of Medicine and Siteman Cancer Center.

The Office of Innovation Summer Experience Program at WashU’s Bursky School of Public Health connects students with faculty and research mentors for two months of hands-on work addressing public health challenges, including food systems, health policy, global health and environmental health. St. Louis-area organizations and researchers can get involved by mentoring students or hosting research projects, creating opportunities to connect local expertise with emerging public health scholars and develop solutions to challenges affecting communities in the region and beyond.

The Health Communication Collaborative promotes population health and well-being by leading with listening to deeply understand what the public knows, believes and values about health. They are an interdisciplinary collaborative using health communication and design to engage the public and develop robust communities of practice to enrich the health information ecosystem. Projects include community listening projects such as iHeard and 211 Counts.

WashU Public Exchange connects university researchers with local governments, nonprofits, community organizations and other partners to develop practical, research-informed solutions to pressing community challenges. Anchored in St. Louis, the initiative supports collaborative projects addressing issues such as disaster recovery, economic mobility and nutrition, helping partners translate research into actionable tools, policies and programs that improve lives. The Public Exchange is an interdisciplinary initiative housed in the Brown School and launched in partnership with the existing USC model.

The Pershing Fellowship in Non-Profit Leadership (Pershing Fellowship) is a paid summer internship program offered in St. Louis by the Washington University in St. Louis Center for Career Engagement, in partnership with the Pershing Charitable Trust. The program provides experience, programming, and financial support to rising undergraduate Junior & Senior students interested in nonprofit leadership. Pershing Fellows are matched with summer internship roles at nonprofit organizations focused on a range of activities, including social services, education, health care, and arts and culture in the St. Louis region.

The St. Louis Impact Fund supports student-led, mutually beneficial partnerships with St. Louis-area nonprofit and civic organizations. Through grants for new projects and expanded collaborations, the fund helps students and community partners co-design initiatives that address regional priorities and community-identified needs. Community partners help shape project goals and activities, ensuring their knowledge and priorities guide the work while strengthening long-term relationships between WashU and the St. Louis region.

The Gephardt Institute partners with academic departments to offer undergraduate Civic Action Lab courses: applied civic engagement classes that integrate academic, civic, and experiential learning. Civic Action Lab courses teach the practical civic knowledge, skills, responsibilities, and habits of citizen engagement in democracy. Each Civic Action Lab includes experiential learning, community leader guest speakers, opportunities to practice different civic skills, and more!

The Center for Advancing Health Services, Policy & Economics Research (CAHSPER) at WashU conducts research on health care access, quality, affordability, safety and outcomes to inform policies and interventions that improve health. The center connects researchers, policymakers, health care providers and community stakeholders to develop evidence-based solutions, influence health policy at the local, state and national levels, and train future leaders through mentorship, education and collaborative research.

The Center on Violence and Health brings together researchers, practitioners, and community partners to produce actional evidence on the causes and consequences of violence and the policies and programs that reduce it. Located in St. Louis — a city long characterized by disproportionately high rates of violence — we aim to build on existing collaborative efforts and cross-sector partnerships to generate actionable knowledge locally, nationally, and globally. Our work is grounded in community-engaged approaches that center the voices and expertise of those most affected.