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Want to discover how CU Boulder faculty, staff and students are impacting communities in Colorado and beyond?

The Office for Outreach and Engagement has recently redesigned the CU Boulder Community Outreach and Engagement Programs website, which showcases nearly 200 outreach and engagement programs from every college and school.

These programs benefit more than 380,000 people each year through K-12 initiatives, legal clinics, business workshops, public lectures and performances, science collaborations, community-based development projects and more, many in communities with limited access to university resources. In addition, millions of people use CU Boulder online resources.

“A central pillar of CU Boulder’s mission is to serve Colorado’s diverse communities. Through hundreds of programs, nearly 13,000 faculty, staff and students partner with people around the state and beyond to address public needs,” said David Meens, the office’s director. “We created this interactive resource to help our campus and community members connect with each other and with the crucial work that embodies our role as a public university.”

The website is now easier to use, allowing people to search for programs by topic, program type, audience, sponsoring units and locations. There is also a Colorado map that shows which programs are working in which counties and how many community members are served, as well as information about events and news related to these outreach programs.

While the website is managed by the office, it is a campuswide resource that allows faculty, staff and students to communicate about their outreach work, Meens said. 

“Faculty and staff members are encouraged to add their outreach program or project to the website at any time, and the data will be updated in real time as new programs are added,” he said. “In the coming year, we will be sharing this website with communities statewide so that people discover how CU Boulder is serving Colorado.”

Meens noted that from its founding, the University of Colorado has engaged with communities beyond the campus, influencing the development of higher education and public life in Colorado. This website was originally created in 2010 as part of an effort to gather information about CU Boulder outreach and engagement programs. 

Since 2001, the office has helped connect research, teaching and creative work with communities, through this website as well as funding, programming and communications support.