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Our Mission

The Vic '63 and Bobbi Samuels '63 Center for Community Partnerships and Civic Transformation (COMPACT) at Brandeis University brings together scholars, activists, students, practitioners, and community partners to work collaboratively to create a more just, equitable, and sustainable world.

The Right to Remain Mobile—a Brandeis student-led initiative funded by an Allstate Foundation College Service grant—held an informative panel "To Honor the Right to Remain Mobile" on March 26.

The well-attended discussion featured accessibility activists from Brandeis, Harvard, and Georgia Tech, who spoke on topics ranging from physical inaccessibility to civic engagement. Speakers included:

• Saif Aslam, Georgia Tech '27 - Millennium Fellow, President of GA Tech Able Alliance Focus
• Quieraney Belvin, Heller MPP '26 - Fellow at the Lurie Institute with a focus on economic and racial equity and special education
• David Cahn, Brandeis '26 - Researcher at the Lurie Institute with a focus on physical inaccessibility and structural ableism
• Sarah Lee, Harvard '28 - Millennium Fellow, with a focus on blending art with tech innovation to spread awareness of inequities in mobility and public health

The Right to Remain Mobile Initiative is led by Divinia Ashley '27 and Gustavo Nascimento '27. Their work is carried out by a dozen Brandeis students who are all Millennium Fellows.

COMPACT Community Engaged Research Grant Recipient Published

Gowthaman Ranganathan, who received a COMPACT Community Engaged Research Project Grant, has published an article based on his research. Read "In an Imagined State: Transfeminine Oral Histories from Postwar Sri Lanka" in Volume 12, Issue 4 of the Trans Studies Quarterly by Duke University Press in a special issue on South Asia.

This article reflects on an oral histories project with transfeminine individuals born in the 1960s in Jaffna, northern Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan civil war (1983–2009) between the Sri Lankan state and Tamil separatists spanned much of the lives of the participants. The project highlights the creative and imaginative strategies transfeminine people used to make life possible amid war without being subsumed by it.

Community Engaged Scholars Program

The Community Engaged Scholars Program (CESP) is an academic program that connects our students' commitment to community engagement directly to their studies. It will provide students with the knowledge, skills, and resources necessary to serve as ethical, respectful, and responsible agents of service and of social change in their local, national and global communities.

Open to students in any major, the CESP program builds connections between the curriculum and co-curriculum, creates a cohort of undergraduates committed to community service and civic engagement, and enables them to benefit from community-connected teaching, learning and research. Students who complete the program will receive a notation on their transcript as recognition of their accomplishments.



For more information contact Sally Warner, COMPACT's director.

Melody Mentors

In these COMPACT co-sponsored sessions, Brandeis students will provide hands-on music production using Logic, songwriting fundamentals, and creative collaboration to students from Africano Waltham's youth program (ages 11–18).

Session 1 - April 22, 12-2pm

Session 2 - April 23, 12-2pm

Showcase - April 25, 10AM-2PM

Brandeis Library, Sound & Image Media Studios (SIMS)

Global Community Engagement Events

Ojakh, on the Other Side of the Silence

Documentary Screening

April 26, 2026, 12 pm

Wasserman Cinematheque

ENACT Events

Present and Defend - Brandeis ENACT Students advocate for Massachusetts legislation

Tuesday, April 21

10:00-11:15AM

Usdan Student Center, Alumni Louge

ENACT Student Summit

Tuesday, April 21

7:00-8:00pm

Open to ENACT-affiliated students, alumni, faculty and staff. Register to attend.

ENACT Networking and Career Exploration Night

Tuesday, April 21

8:00-9:00 pm

Open to ENACT-affiliated students, alumni, faculty and staff. Register to attend.

COMPACT is delighted to share a variety of community engagement resources with our students, faculty, staff, and community partners.

Research Excellence Prize

From working with students throughout the year, Brandeis librarians know that students work on great research papers and projects! To recognize students who apply exemplary library research skills, the Library awards Research Excellence Prizes in several categories, including a prize for community-engaged research, offered in partnership with the COMPACT. Community-engaged research typically addresses the questions, issues, and/or needs of a community partner — whether at the local, state, regional, national, or global level.

Each prize is for $250. Research projects produced between May 13, 2025, and May 12, 2026 are eligible. Submissions are due May 12, 2026. More information about submission guidelines. Please email researchaward@brandeis.edu with questions.

Undergraduate Student Community Engaged Mini Grant

The COMPACT Undergraduate Student Mini Grant provides up to $500 in funding to support an undergraduate-led community-engaged project that advances the priorities of a community organization and creates positive social impact. This is a great opportunity for students to build their civic leadership skills, benefit from faculty mentorship, and prepare for larger-scale civic funds and programs such as the Newman Civic Fellowship, Davis Projects for Peace, and other pathways for community engagement. 

COMPACT Event Co-sponsorship

COMPACT invites applications for funds to co-sponsor on-campus or virtual events. Our funds are to support events that include a community partner, are open to community members (i.e., from beyond campus), and/or advance community engagement in a meaningful way. The funds will be distributed on a first-come first-served basis.

Community Engaged Pedagogy (CEP) Fund

Brandeis faculty, staff and postdoctoral scholars in any discipline who center community engaged pedagogies in their undergraduate or graduate courses at Brandeis are invited to apply to the COMPACT Community Engaged Pedagogy Fund. The two grants available through this fund support recipients in bringing ethical, reciprocal and sustainable community engagement into Brandeis classrooms.

Community Engaged Pedagogy (CEP) Project Grants

This grant offers up to $3,000 in funds for community engaged research or creative projects that will be conducted in a Brandeis course. Applications for CEP Project Grants for fall 2026 courses will be due in August.

Community Engaged Pedagogy (CEP) Mini Grants

The Community Engaged Pedagogy Mini Grant offers up to $500 in funding to bring community partners to campus as guest speakers in a class (e.g., honoraria), to bring students off campus for a specific community engaged project or event or to conduct small-scale community engaged research or creative projects in a Brandeis course. Grant applications for AY 25-26 are being accepted on a rolling basis, for as long as funds remain available.

Community Engaged Research (CER) Fund

Brandeis faculty, staff, postdoctoral scholars and students in any discipline whose research or creative activity addresses the questions, issues, and/or needs of a community partner — whether at the local, state, regional, national or global level — are invited to apply to the COMPACT Community Engaged Research Fund. The grants available through this fund support recipients in building ethical, reciprocal, and sustainable research and creative projects with community partners.

Community Engaged Research (CER) Project Grants

This grant offers up to $3,000 in seed funding for community engaged research projects. Applications for the 2026-27 academic year will open in August.  

This grant is available to faculty, staff and postdoctoral fellows. Preference will be given to proposals that 1) include at least one undergraduate or graduate student research assistant; 2) articulate how this opportunity will be used as seed funding to develop a sustainable, long-term partnership; and 3) include a clear plan for assessing project outcomes.

Community Engaged Research (CER) Mini Grants

The Community Engaged Research Mini Grant offers up to $500 to support development and/or implementation of a small-scale community engaged research project. Grant applications for AY 25-26 are being accepted on a rolling basis, for as long as funds remain available.

This grant is available to faculty, staff, postdoctoral fellows, and both undergraduate and graduate students. Students' applications must include a letter of support from a faculty advisor who will provide mentorship for their project.

Community Partnerships Interest Form

Are you interested in working with the Brandeis community, such as hiring a student intern, supporting student volunteers, or receiving support for a research project? Fill out the Community Partnerships Interest Form to start! This will give us an idea of the type of partnership you are looking for, including additional resources and opportunities. Once we receive your form, staff from COMPACT will reach out to you.

General COMPACT Resources for Community Partners:

• Community Partnership Resources
• Community Partnerships Interest Form
• “Community Partner News and Events” CampusGroups Page

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