Beyond Our Walls
Clayton State University has taken steps to reimagine how we as a University broaden our impact on the local community. Through a series of initiatives that partner students, faculty, staff, alumni, and other stakeholders, the Beyond our Walls campaign will leverage these elements of our campus community to increase the quality of life for residents of the south side of Atlanta.
You can help support this initiative through a gift or registering as a volunteer.
Areas of Focus
Civic Engagement
This effort is a partnership between students and faculty to develop curriculum designed to help college students understand their relationship to all levels of government so as to develop a civic identity. A cohort of ten students will also engage with regional leaders to discuss a wide range of policy initiatives, both at the municipal and state level. Over 80% of our 27,000+ alumni base live within 20 miles of the University, so if we give our student and alumni the tools to engage with government, we are likely to prepare a whole new generation of leaders equipped to better understand policy and how communities are impacted by decision making at the local and state level.
Environment
Clayton State University, through the College of Arts & Sciences, has created a laboratory dedicated to water sample testing. Students and faculty will engage in environmental research, namely water quality research and testing in partnership with the Clayton County Water Authority and other organizations, like Finding the Flint, all dedicated to understanding through data analysis of water samples how the university and partners can educate on the importance of preserving natural watersheds and wetlands.
Social Innovation
Clayton State University has a unique opportunity to act as a convener, bringing students and community stakeholders together to work with faculty to identify persistent and systemic problems facing communities in South Metro Atlanta and to engage together to design programs that lead participants to proposing innovative and sustainable solutions. The University can bring expertise from many fields to help participants dive deeper into problems and propose better solutions; problem-solving with the community rather than for the community.
Community Wellness
Leveraging our students and intellectual capital from our College of Health, students and faculty will be engaging with communities and organizations to look deeper at issues of morbidity plaguing communities on the South Side. This will be a two-year effort at examining issues such as diabetes, hypertension, and other lifestyle-driven disease. Through partnering with other organizations, we believe that helping our communities better understand their relationship to choice making, that we can increase the overall health of the region.
Coca-Cola Scholars
Coca-Cola is helping Clayton State University make dreams real for some deserving students. The Coca-Cola Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the beverage giant, has given the University $665,000 to support scholarship for first-generation students, as well as women in STEM and Leadership programs. The funds target students who are high achievers and demonstrate a financial need. Students will be part of one of five cohorts including First Generation Scholars in Wellness, First Generation Scholars in Civic Engagement, Women in STEM, Scholars in Social Innovation, and Women in Leadership. More information can be found on the Coca-Cola Scholars Program page.
Volunteer
Clayton State University will need the support of alumni and other off-campus stakeholders
to bring this initiative to reality. You can volunteer to spearhead or participate
in a project, be a mentor to a student, and/or offer an internship to a student.
Give
You can also support Beyond our Walls by making a gift.