Celebrating CIEE’s First Community Impact Week
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Last week, over 1,000 American college students and CIEE staff participated in the first CIEE Community Impact Week, serving food, cleaning beaches, mentoring refugees, and learning history and culture from elderly neighbors in over 40 cities around the world in a single week. Your college students communicated through the universal language of serving others to build bridges of mutual respect and understanding, advancing peace in our world through the power of community engagement.
The CIEE Community Impact Initiative was launched in November 2025 to help American college students enhance their study abroad experience, growing personally as individuals through community impact and the power of serving others.
Today, every CIEE student in every CIEE city is introduced to extraordinary community service partners in the first week of their study abroad program and are encouraged to engage with their new neighbors in multiple ways, including through weekly volunteer opportunities, by participating in CIEE’s Community Impact Week, and by entering CIEE’s Community Impact Poster Competition.
Highlights of CIEE's Community Impact Initiative – Spring 2026
- Over 350 American college students from dozens of America’s leading colleges and universities participated in CIEE’s Community Impact Initiative, building bridges of mutual respect and understanding by serving our international neighbors across 160 CIEE community partner organizations in 45 cities.
Over 1,000 American college students, CIEE international staff, and community members participated in CIEE’s Community Impact Week, hosting 67 events to serve neighbors and celebrate our international partners.
Over 30 American college students have entered the CIEE Community Impact Poster Competition for a chance to compete at CIEE’s 79th Annual Study Abroad Conference in Cape Town where the winning student will win a donation from CIEE to the organization they served.
We are pleased to highlight some of our favorite moments of community and connection from this past week.