UW1020: Writing for Social Change

Pathways to service refers to various routes or methods through which individuals can contribute to and engage in community service, volunteer work, or public service. These pathways aim to provide opportunities for people to make a positive impact on society.

Stanford's Haas Center defines six pathways to service:

1. Community Engaged Learning and Research: Connecting coursework and academic research to community-identified concerns to enrich knowledge and inform action on social issues.
2. Community Organizing and Activism: Involving, educating, and mobilizing individual or collective action to influence or persuade others.
3. Direct Service: Working to address the immediate needs of individuals or a community, often involving contact with the people or places being served.
4. Philanthropy: Donating or using private funds or charitable contributions from individuals or institutions to contribute to the public good.
5. Policy and Governance: Participating in political processes, policymaking, and public governance.
6. Social Entrepreneurship and Corporate Social Responsibility: Using ethical business or private sector approaches to create or expand market-oriented responses to social or environmental problems.

(from Stanford Haas Center for Public Service, retrieved January 5, 2024)

The University Writing Program, in collaboration with the Creative Writing program and the Nashman Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service, is proud to award three annual undergraduate Julian Clement Chase Prizes: one for Research Writing on the District of Columbia, one for Creative Writing in Washington, and one for Community Impact in the District of Columbia. Each carries a $2,000 award and is honored at an annual ceremony each year celebrating the University’s connections to Washington, D.C. Implementing the intentions of the founders, the prizes recognize and honor — appetite, boldness, the building of community, and the striving toward humane excellence in undergraduate work engaged with D.C.

More information is available here.