Community — Get Connected

Get Connected

The Morgridge Center for Public Service is committed to the Wisconsin Idea. For us, this means making it as easy as possible for the community to connect with campus and for students, staff, and researchers to connect with the community. Connect with the Morgridge Center for support in reaching out to students, getting connected to researchers, and to share ideas and opportunities.

We are always working to strengthen our relationships with the community. If you have suggestions, feedback, or ideas, please do reach out.

Get Volunteers

Our Morgridge Mail digital newsletter is sent to nearly 6,000 students each week. We are happy to promote your local nonprofit volunteer opportunity, event, job or internship.

We also actively promote opportunities on social media.

Send all opportunities to marketing@morgridge.wisc.edu. Please include a short description and a link to more information.

The VolunteerYourTime.org database is a great way to connect with students (and non-students) looking to volunteer. The database is managed by the United Way of Dane County, in partnership with the Morgridge Center, Edgewood College and Madison College and features over 800 volunteer opportunities.

Register and Post Opportunities (At the top of the page, click on “SIGN UP”)

Reaching out to student organizations can help you recruit larger numbers of students and potentially create long-term partnerships. With over 600 student organizations active in any typical semester, chances are you can find a fairly specific cause. Email the Student Organization Preparation intern for more details.

Search the Student Organization Database

Badger Volunteers connects teams of UW–Madison students with local community sites (schools, nonprofits, municipalities) to volunteer with that organization 1-4 hours every week for an entire semester. This is a great option for organizations that could benefit from having consistent volunteers over the span of 11 weeks.

Learn more about Badger Volunteers

Connect with Faculty

Community-based learning (CBL) is a credit-bearing course that integrates meaningful community within course curriculum. 110-120 CBL courses are taught at UW-Madison every year.

Past CBL course examples include:

  • Health education students teaching stress management skills to a community group
  • A Spanish course in which students provided recreational programs for children in the Latino community
  • A journalism class that helped create a website to promote South Madison restaurants

Interested in partnering with a CBL course? Contact Haley Madden.

The Community Partnerships and Outreach (CPO) Staff Network was established in 2008 as a community of practice of University of Wisconsin-Madison staff members who span the boundaries between campus and community. Staff members are the “brand representatives” of the Wisconsin Idea.

CPO Staff Network professionals facilitate projects, programs, services and relationships with community partners that are sustained, mutually beneficial, equitable and respectful of the knowledge, values, priorities, resources and needs of all partners. Learn more.

Connect with Campus

Interested in partnering with faculty or staff at UW? In need of student support for an upcoming event? Got a big idea? Whatever your need is, we’re here to get you connected to the resources available at UW.

Complete this form to tell us a bit about your interest or request. A team of UW staff will review the request and follow up with you on potential next steps within 2-3 business days.

The Community Campus Connectors (C3), are a group of UW-Madison units and programs which routinely connect with community partners and advance the UW-Madison Civic Action Plan.  Over a dozen campus entities which conduct community-engaged activities and collaborations participate in this group.

To learn more about this group or become involved, please email Haley Madden at hmadden@wisc.edu.

The UW South Madison Partnership (UWSMP) is a UW–Madison initiative designed to meet the South Madison community’s needs and foster mutually beneficial relationships.

Located in The Village on Park, the space recently underwent an expansion and encourages engagement between community members and UW–Madison in accessible and meaningful ways. The new space, completed in summer 2020, now has five private offices, eight classrooms, co-working spaces, three conference rooms, a kitchenette and an open gathering space to better support current and future growth as an important community resource.

BadgersVote is a campus-wide initiative that strives to provide UW–Madison students with everything they need to know in order to participate in their elections. The BadgersVote Coalition is comprised of many individuals, units and departments across campus and the city of Madison.

The Wisconsin Idea Exchange is an interactive database designed to help community groups and UW-Madison faculty and staff find collaborative Community-based Learning and research projects. Community groups can post project ideas or community needs in the database. Explore the Wisconsin Idea Exchange.

Work-study is not a grant or a loan but a need-based, part-time employment program in which the government and the employer share the payroll cost of employing you.

Unlike grants, loans, and scholarships, the dollar amount you’re awarded in work-study will NOT apply directly toward tuition nor will it be disbursed to you directly in a lump sum. Instead, you earn the offered amount through working at your Student Job. Federal Work-Study is the portion of your Financial Aid offer set aside for you to earn at a job. Federal Work-Study must be earned at eligible Student Jobs.