University of California, Los Angeles (United States)

The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a leading public research university located in Los Angeles, California, with more than 46,000 students enrolled. As a public institution, UCLA’s mission emphasizes teaching, research, and service that benefit society, with a strong commitment to equity, civic engagement, and partnerships that address local and global challenges. UCLA Website>>

Center for Community Engagement (CCE)
The UCLA Center for Community Engagement supports faculty, students, and community partners in developing collaborative, sustainable initiatives that integrate teaching, research, and service. The CCE oversees community engaged courses across the university, provides training and resources for faculty to advance community-engaged teaching and research, offers students credit-bearing courses to accompany their internships as well as several community-engaged research scholarship programs, and maintains long-term partnerships with community organizations in Los Angeles and beyond. The CCE also plays a leading role in implementing UCLA’s 2023-2028 Strategic Plan’s Goal 1: Deepening UCLA’s Engagement with Los Angeles. This effort is significantly increasing campus-wide attention to community-engaged research and teaching/learning.  CCE Website>>

Social Impact Collaboratives
To achieve the UCLA Strategic Plan’s goal to deepen UCLA’s engagement with Los Angeles and enhance our research and creative activities, the UCLA Office of Research and Creative Activities and the UCLA Center for Community Engagement created the Social Impact Collaboratives—a mechanism for supporting interdisciplinary community-engaged research and creative activities with a focus on working with Los Angeles stakeholders. UCLA’s Social Impact Collaboratives (SIC) bring together faculty and community organizations to co-create solutions to pressing social challenges in LA and beyond. Organized around themes such as immigration, education, sustainability, and health equity, these collaboratives create long-term, reciprocal partnerships where research and community informed approaches directly inform community action. SIC Website>>

UCLA Global Impact:

UCLA’s Goal #2 of the Strategic Plan Expand our reach as a global university, underscores UCLA’s commitment to addressing pressing global challenges while cultivating globally minded leaders and strengthening its international presence. Through research collaborations that tackle issues such as climate change, pandemics, human rights, and economic prosperity, UCLA connects its scholars with partners worldwide to generate solutions with far-reaching impact. The university also prepares students to thrive as leaders in a globalized society, fostering intercultural fluency and linking international experiences to the diverse “glocal” communities of Los Angeles.

At the heart of these efforts is the UCLA International Institute, which houses 27 interdisciplinary research centers and eight-degree programs, enrolling nearly 1,000 students annually. By advancing global scholarship, offering wide-ranging academic programs, and hosting cultural events, public lectures, and K–12 outreach, the Institute serves as UCLA’s gateway to the world and ensures the university remains a vital hub for global engagement and impact. This interactive map highlights the depth of UCLA’s global reach and engagement through projects/programs, study abroad opportunities, collaborations, international student information, and faculty interests. UCLA International Institute Website>>

Here are just a few examples of the many UCLA community partnerships:

1. Transformative Climate Communities (TCC)
   Through the Luskin Center for Innovation, UCLA partners with six California communities—including Fresno, Watts, and South Los Angeles—to co-design and evaluate projects that advance clean transportation, renewable energy, affordable housing, and green jobs. The program emphasizes community-led planning and includes UCLA students in applied research on environmental justice and climate resilience. TCC Website>>
2. Project Brainstorm
   Led by UCLA’s Neuroscience Interdepartmental Program and Brain Research Institute, Project Brainstorm engages undergraduates in teaching K–12 students about the human brain through interactive lessons and hands-on demonstrations. Over its 18-year history, the program has reached more than 4,000 students across Los Angeles schools, while providing UCLA students with training in science communication and community engagement. Project Brainstorm Website>>
3. California Freedom Summer (CFS)
   Based at the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, California Freedom Summer is a participatory-action research and civic engagement program that trains students in grassroots organizing, non-partisan voter education, and community-based research. In partnership with youth organizations across California, the program has helped expand youth civic leadership and increase voter participation in underrepresented communities. CFS Website>>
4. Congo Basin Institute (CBI)
   A joint UCLA–Cameroon initiative, the Congo Basin Institute collaborates with 13 communities in Central Africa to address food security, biodiversity conservation, climate change, and rural livelihoods. The Ebony Project, one of CBI’s signature programs, has planted more than 52,000 trees while advancing community-based research and training. CBI is widely recognized as a model of equitable, international community-engaged scholarship. CBI Website>>
5. Gefyra Project

Sharon Gerstel, UCLA’s authority on Byzantine art and archaeology, leads the innovative Gefyra project, which preserves and celebrates the centuries-old tradition of women’s weaving in Geraki, Greece. Through rich fieldwork, cataloging of historic kilims, and the co-edited publication Weaving Dreams: Kilims from Geraki, Laconia, she has illuminated weaving’s roles in dowries, artistic expression, and cultural identity. Her work bridges scholarship, community, and heritage, ensuring that these vibrant traditions endure and flourish for future generations. Prof. Gerstel has been recognized with one of the 2025 UCLA Public Impact Research Awards for her research partnerships and public impact. Gefyra Website>>