The Carver Center for Families (CCF) in Georgetown, located on 1200 W. 17th St., is a family resource center that “strives to preserve, strengthen, and celebrate families” (carvercenterforfamilies.org). The CCF houses numerous organizations that support families, such as the Special Supplement Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, Children (WIC), Catholic Charities of Central Texas Immigration legal services, and The Georgetown Project’s Bridges to Growth. During the fall 20206 semester, a Southwestern University (SU) community-engaged learning course partnered with the CCF. Led by Dr. Adriana Ponce, Sociology of the Family students supported three events uplifting families at CCF: Thanksgiving food boxes, a winter fest, and a holiday drive with the Organization for Anthropology and Sociology Interested Students (OASIS). The course is part of the university and instructor’s commitment to public engagement under the $1.285 million grant from the Mellon Foundation.

The purpose of the Sociology of Family course was to enable SU students to engage in a synergistic and collaborative relationship with a local community organization to expand their learning on diverse contemporary families. Twenty students were able to leverage many of their skills—including organization, communication, media production, and group work—to facilitate a mistle toe craft for preschoolers, assemble holiday goodie bags for children, collect over 110 holidays donations (e.g., dolls and toys, activity sets, and balls) from the community including the SU Welcome Center, and support preparing communication materials for the following year’s Thanksgiving food boxes. Students also toured the CCF with the guidance of the Center Director, Nita Riggins, and were mentored by the Center Coordinator, Celeste Rendon.

“My favorite part of the CEL experience was visiting the Carver Center for Families. It is such an amazing resource for the community, and it was an honor to receive a tour. Meeting the people who help run the center was genuinely inspiring.” –Keera Poole, Sociology and Communications Major at SU

Below, I highlight the voices of central roles that enabled the collaboration between CCF and my course:

Celeste Rendon, Center Coordinator at CCF

The Center Coordinator at CCF, Celeste Rendon, supported course assignments development, worked closely with mentoring students, and presented on the CCF in class. As Celeste explains, “I really enjoyed the experience and felt honored to be asked to collaborate on this project. Dr. Ponce and I began discussing the idea at a workshop in May, and through those conversations the partnership gradually took shape. My hope was that students would gain a meaningful real-world experience they could carry with them into future careers rather than simply completing another class assignment.

Community engagement is not just about having good ideas; it is about finding practical ways to turn those ideas into something useful and sustainable for the people being served. Part of effective community work is understanding your own bandwidth and recognizing that sustainable service requires caring for the people doing the work as well as the people receiving it. Learning to balance compassion with realistic expectations is an important skill that will serve them well in any profession.”

Manda Wittebort, Director of Public Engagement at SU

The Director of Public Engagement at SU, Manda Wittebort, not only provided support during the development of the course curriculum, but also came in to provide a presentation on public engagement to the students. As Manda explains, “In my/this role, I come to this work with a deep belief that universities have a responsibility not only to teach about the world, but to be in relationship with it—to share power, to listen, and to contribute to community wellbeing in ways that are reciprocal and justice‑oriented. I support courses like this one because they invite students and faculty to lead with their own “why”: the questions, commitments, and values that make their learning feel purposeful. When we connect those personal whys to real community needs, we advance what publicly engaged universities can be—places where knowledge is co-created, where impact is shared, and where students learn that their education is not separate from the world, but deeply accountable to it.”

The course collaboration between CCF and Dr. Ponce was part of an on-going community-engaged partnership that began during Fall 2024 semester. The outcomes of the community-engaged learning course for students included hands-on experiences, developing flexibility and adaptation, creating connections to the community, and exploring potential career ideas. After the semester, one student continued their work doing an independent studies course to continue bridging the relationship between the center and campus. This student worked closely with Ms. Celeste at the CCF and learned more about organizations in the area. Next, the CCF and Dr. Ponce would like to continue imagining ways to engage in a synergistic, collaborative relationship that transcends any potential future challenges around funding and national policies.

“Overall, this was a very rewarding and fulfilling experience. I feel like I was able to make a meaningful contribution during a time that is politically and economically difficult for many families. There are not many moments as a student where I truly feel like I’m making a difference in people’s lives, but this experience changed that for me. It also inspired me to consider working with non-profits as a potential future career.” – Keera Poole, Sociology and Communications Major at SU