Community Studies Center

We are the ones we’ve been waiting for…
With an emphasis on applied, experiential projects, Community Studies offers Naropa students, staff and faculty a diverse set of opportunities for deepening our engagement in our communities and in our worlds. Of particular interest in Community Studies are issues of community wellness, peacemaking, cultural celebration and ecological citizenship. 

In addressing these fundamental issues, the Community Studies Center operates from a few basic value sets:

• Participatory democracy: Democracy happens at the level of the citizen. Social change is something we can and must work towards ourselves.
• Deep and abiding relationship: Social change is inherently a relational process.
• Solidarity: Community work must be a process of “doing with” rather than of “doing to.” 
• Deep listening and honest communication: Transformation occurs as we truly engage with one another’s beliefs, goals, dreams and intentions.
• Hermeneutics: Our efforts must be firmly grounded in theory and research and must be continually subjected to systematic evaluation, rigorous examination, and deep reflection.
• Wholeness and nonduality: Authentic community engagement emerges through a continual process of opening to difference and oneness.

We aim to deepen and make whole the Naropa learning experience by helping students identify their passions and self-interests, and by connecting them with opportunities to design and implement meaningful community-based projects. This process of community engagement allows students to gain critical thinking skills through theory-based applications and become active and influential members of society.

Community Studies offers a range of opportunities for social engagement:

Volunteer Work
Americorps
Student Projects
Training and Professional Support
Courses of Study