Welcome to the Office of Civic & Community Engagement
Aloha! Welcome to the Office of Civic and Community Engagement (OCCE) at the University of Hawai'i Mānoa. Since 1994, our office has worked with students, faculty, and members of the community. The OCCE provides students with the opportunity to do service learning and volunteer in their community in meaningful ways while furthering their education. We provide faculty with resources and assistance to integrate Service Learning Pedagogy into courses.
Civic Engagement
Civic Engagement means working to make a difference in the civic life of our communities and developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values and motivation to make that difference. It means promoting the quality of life in a community, through both political and non-political processes.
Civic Responsibility and Higher Education, ed. by Thomas Ehrlich, 2000 (Preface, page vi)
A morally and civically responsible individual recognizes himself or herself as a member of a larger social fabric and therefore considers social problems to be at least partly his or her own; such an individual is willing to see the moral and civic dimensions of issues, to make and justify informed moral and civic judgements, and ti take action when appropriate.
Civic Responsibility and Higher Education, ed. by Thomas Ehrlich, 2000 (Introduction, page xxvi)
What is Service Learning?
Service Learning combines the best of active learning and citizenship by connecting course content with service projects that help the community. It is a powerful way of understanding course material by learning from experience.
Service Learning can help
- To develop personal and social responsibility
- To develop leadership ability and critical thinking skills
- To improve your knowledge of academic subjects
- To expand your world view
- To develop skills for future employment
Preparing for the Real World
Service Learning is all about connecting what you're learning in class to the real world. It helps you find relevance in the material you're learning, and exposes you to real-life situations to enhance your understanding. We hope you'll find that the four walls that separate the classroom outside of college suddenly become less daunting after you engage in a service learning project.
Maui Aid Efforts
The devastating fires in West Maui, Kula, and Kihei have left many without homes, resources, and access to said resources, here are some ways to help the efforts. Here's how you can donate.
He ʻĀina, He Kanaka, He Hawai‘i Maoli
We acknowledge Hawaiʻi as an indigenous space where the descendants of the original people are today identified as Kānaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian). We recognize that it was through coercion, force, and the breaking of formal treaties that this land was illegally seized. Her majesty Queen Liliʻuokalani temporarily yielded the Hawaiian Kingdom and these territories under duress and protest to the United States to avoid the bloodshed of her people. Let us further recognize and express gratitude for the generations of Aboriginal Hawaiians and their knowledge systems that have shaped and continue to shape Hawaiʻi in a sustainable way that allows us to learn here today.
The ʻāina (land) on which the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa sits is located in the ahupuaʻa (land division from mountain to sea) of Waikīkī, in the moku(district) of Kona, on the mokupuni (island) of Oʻahu, in the Pae ʻĀina o Hawaiʻi(Hawaiian archipelago). The particular ʻili ʻāina (land division) that Kennedy Theatre is situated on is at the triangulation of Kaualaʻa, Wailele and Waʻahila. Ma kai (seaward) of the theatre is Kapaʻakea and to the west is Puahia and Pilipili. Ma uka (inland) of our campus are the uplands of Kahoʻiwai, the water that is the source for our major stream of Kānewai. Acknowledging these traditional wahi pana (place names) honors the ‘āina and the historic relationship that Kānaka Maoli have with this place.
Together Against Injustice
Community Partners Spotlight
