Community Link Program
Let Syracuse University students do the important research and analysis your organization needs. Free.
From the Campus to the Community
Do you have the staff to:
- Conduct a statistical analysis of your clients' needs?
- Evaluate the outcomes of a particular program?
- Survey the community to assess its opinion of your activities?
Trained Syracuse University students can do these things for you - free! All your agency pays for are telephone, copying, and mailing costs.
Instead of leaving crucial tasks undone, you can call on skilled students with social-science research abilities to perform up to 80 hours of work, not for pay, but for academic credit in a specially designed University course. They'll receive complete support from Syracuse University's Public Affairs Program - technical help, faculty advice, even computer time.
What do they get out of it? College credit required in their majors. Practical experience. Refinement of their skills. Perhaps your personal recommendation.
What do you get out of it? Important information you couldn't get without sacrificing valuable staff time.
Does it work? Ask some of the 200 different public and nonprofit agencies for whom we've completed over 900 projects since the program's inception in 1978.
Past Projects
Better Business Bureau Needs assessment of Bureau's members.
Consolidated Industries Data analysis of client intake closures.
Cooperative Extension Survey of county police services and citizens' attitudes.
Onondaga County District Attorney's Office Attitude survey on DWI and efforts to combat it.
Transitional Living Services Development of staff profile.
Some Client Comments
Office of the District Attorney, Onondaga County
"Our participation in the Community Link Program was extremely beneficial to our office...The data provided to us will be a useful tool in developing new services and upgrading existing ones."
Home Aides of Central New York
"Great help in our annual report - showed some interesting relationships."
Department of Parks and Recreation, Onondaga County
"It's great that students are learning research techniques...they'll need them in the 'real' world."
City of Syracuse Office of Federal and State Aid Coordination
"Student required only minimal assistance and direction. Method of data presentation excellent."
How To Participate
Click on the link below and you will be taken to an electronic form for you to fill out. We ask that you complete the form by August 1 for the fall semester, and December 15 for the spring semester.
We usually receive more requests than we can accommodate, but we will try to match your project with a student possessing suitable skills. The more specific and clear the information you provide, the more likely we will be able to assign a student.
If your project is accepted, you will be invited to a reception to meet the students early in the semester. The students will be assigned to a project immediately after the reception and will meet with you by the next week. Given the tight timetable, an agency representative must attend the reception. Projects are completed each semester. Fall projects will begin in September and finish around November 10; Spring projects will begin in January and finish around April 8.
Click here to submit your project