Commitment to Community

"Together we transform lives and strengthen communities."

Drake's commitment to community engagement and service-learning is representative of our long-standing history of involvement and partnership with the Des Moines community. The commitment fulfills our historic mission, enhances teaching, advising, research, scholarship, outreach, and the University community as a whole. As demonstrated by our inspiration statement, “Together we transform lives and strengthen communities”, we seek to be an “engaged university” that prepares the next generation of civic minded professionals.

Community Engagement and Service-Learning at Drake has been nationally and locally recognized by the Carnegie Foundation’s Community Engagement Classification, the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, and the United Way of Central Iowa Volunteer Award.

Read more about Drake’s involvement with the community in our 2015-2016 Impact Report. We hope you find the information useful and that it serves to further develop the service-learning curriculum, the advancement of teaching and learning, and the enhancement of community engagement.

Quick Facts at a Glance:

• Community connections: Drake has partnerships with more than 100 nonprofit organizations and schools
• A culture of service: More than 80% of Drake undergraduates engage in service by the time they graduate and 70% of employees are engaged with community
• Economic Impact: Annually the Drake Community contributes more than 295,000 hours of service, amounting to $7 Million in value to communities (independentsector.org)