Building Bridges of Peace Through CIEE’s Community Impact Initiative

CIEE was founded in 1947 to build bridges of peace through international exchange programs that help students embrace other people, cultures, and traditions.

At the CIEE Annual Study Abroad Conference in Buenos Aires last November, we announced the CIEE Community Impact Initiative, a commitment to expand our mission to build bridges of peace by helping your students engage with local communities through meaningful service-learning activities in all 45 CIEE Centers.  

April 2026 marks CIEE’s first Community Impact Month during which we will highlight students studying abroad and serving local communities in ways that help them grow as global citizens while also leaving their international neighborhoods a little better when they return home. This month, more than 350 CIEE students are working with 160 CIEE Community Impact Partners across the world to make meaningful contributions to their host communities.

Examples are numerous and include:

•  CIEE Seoul students are recording audiobooks for their neighbors who are blind or visually impaired in partnership with Seongbuk Braille Library.
• CIEE Rome students are restoring historic neighborhoods and public parks in partnership with Retake Rome.
• CIEE Mérida students are providing meals to Mayan mothers navigating food insecurity in partnership with Comodor Zarigueyas. 

What Students Are Saying About Community Impact
 

All Students Can Get Involved

CIEE students enrolled in any CIEE program at any CIEE location have the opportunity to enhance their international experience and make a real difference through the Community Impact Initiative by getting involved in a variety of ways:

CIEE Extra-Curricular Community Service Opportunities
Students can participate in service opportunities at hundreds of CIEE Community Impact Partners addressing a range of community needs. Examples include Madre Corage in Seville, Spain, which provides humanitarian aid and social services, and Our Big Kitchen, in Sydney, Australia, which provides meals for Australians in need.

CIEE Study Abroad Programs
Students can enroll in academic credit-bearing programs that combine academic coursework with hands-on community engagement, including our Community Public Health or Community Development and Social Justice programs available in Gaborone, Botswana; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic, and Cape Town, South Africa.

CIEE Community Impact Week
The week of April 13 is CIEE’s Community Impact week during which all 45 CIEE Centers will host a week-long celebration of student contributions to their international neighbors. We will celebrate local service projects, share best practices of building bridges of peace through community service, and showcase the work of students and community partners around the world.

CIEE’s Community Impact Poster Competition
Students engaged in the CIEE Community Impact Initiative are invited to “pitch” the impact and importance of their service work, competing to present their pitch posters at CIEE’s Annual Study Abroad Conference where the winning student will win a donation from CIEE to the organization they served. The first student CIEE Community Impact Poster Competition will take place in Cape Town, South Africa, this November.