Learn about advocacy. Create social change. Give back to UB and beyond through Community and Civic Engagement programs.
Our programs provide UB students an opportunity to learn about social injustices, partner with local, national, and international organizations and build a strong network of diverse peers who are motivated to create positive social change.
Community engagement is a two-way process that seeks to deepen relationships and trust between organizations, communities, and citizens by incorporating the needs and values of these groups into policy development, planning, and decision-making processes.
The term “community” is used to broadly define groups of people that come together based on common goals, shared interests, geography, and more. The term “engagement” encompasses the feeling that one is included in important civic and social activities and able to contribute meaningfully. Find your community and engage in meaningful experiences through our signature programs!
Get to know the staff on the Community and Civic Engagement Team who help to inspire advocates, create positive social change, and foster community in our students.
Find other opportunities to volunteer and make a difference off-campus on a local, national, and international scale!
Meet with one of the Community & Civic Engagement staff members, individually or in a group, to discuss ways to become involved in the UB and Buffalo community.
These meetings can help connect students to more volunteer resources and opportunities and support student activism event planning.
Civic engagement seeks to make a positive difference in communities through civic action, civic duty, civic skills, and social cohesion.
Civic action involves active participation in volunteering or service-learning in order to appropriately address community needs or concerns. Civic duty is the willingness, motivation, and commitment to positively contribute to communities and society as a whole. Civic skills focus on a citizen’s ability to be involved with society, politics, and democracy in different ways, such as voting. Social cohesion centers on the trust, reciprocity, and relationship building developed among those who participate in civic engagement activities.
Learn more about how you can take action, develop these skills, and contribute to a civically-minded community with these programs!
UB staff and faculty serving on the FAST committee support UB’s mission of helping prepare students to live and lead in a global world while deepening engagement in the local community by supporting students at activist events as they learn how to be agents of positive social change.
Did you know? Each year UB celebrates the creation of one of the most influential legal documents in existence. Since its creation on September 17, 1787, over one hundred countries around the world have used the US Constitution as a model!
Join us at the Experience UB Fair every September to learn more about this initiative.
Student Engagement offers UB students free NFTA Day Passes (valid for a 24-hour period on all NFTA buses and trains) as a means to help students volunteer within the Buffalo-Niagara community. Eligibility requirements can be found on the application page.
Celebrate your community and civic engagement accomplishments here!
Student Life
University at Buffalo
150 Student Union, North Campus
Buffalo, NY 14260
Email: Contact form
Phone: (716) 645-6469