Engaging the DC Community

Georgetown has always played a role in supporting knowledge and freedom through transformative education – both on our own campus and around the world. In order to have a widening impact and global reach, President DeGioia believes that we must have a strong center and core values that speak to our identity as a Jesuit institution rooted in the nation’s capital of Washington, DC. While Georgetown continues to develop programming that transcends boundaries and geography, we are also doubling down right at home by asking what it means to serve the nation’s capital. 

While Georgetown presently works in numerous ways to increase access and success for first-generation, low and middle-income, and students from underrepresented groups at the university, we also work with the broader DC community. It’s no secret that access to quality education is increasingly a driver of social and economic inequity and by focusing solely within the walls of campus or abroad, we’d be doing a disservice to the city we call home. 

Since its inception in 2018, The Hub, in collaboration with community partners, has worked to re-imagine ways in which Georgetown can more widely expand the educational capital of individuals, families, and communities right here in DC. For this work, we’ve partnered with highly impactful local nonprofits, DC public charter schools, and the DC Jail. 

While our work continues to evolve, some key areas of focus include:

• Design: We create opportunities for upward economic mobility through education. In an effort to increase access to higher-skill, higher-wage jobs for families in Ward 8, we’ve designed a series of project-based mini-courses that will allow individuals to develop the personal and professional competencies necessary for career advancement and resilience.

• Research and evaluation: We create and implement evaluation tools that provide partners with valuable insights on their community’s interests and needs, communication strategies, and current programming that informs priorities moving forward. We also conduct landscape analyses and synthesize data from multiple sources, including interviews, surveys, etc. 

• Teaching and curriculum development: We work with educational partners on innovating, improving, and evaluating the existing curriculum. We also teach a Biology course at the DC Jail through the Prison Scholars Program. 

The Hub brings to this work its educational capital, experience with pedagogical innovation, and research capacity. Our partners bring their authentic practice of community engagement, an extensive repertoire of family-focused wraparound support; and a trusted reputation among city leaders and philanthropists.

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Author:

Molly Morrison: Associate Director of Community Engagement for The Hub for Equity and Innovation in Higher Education