Global Outreach (GO!) has operated out of Fordham University’s Center for Community Engaged Learning (CCEL) for the past 62 years. They run four or five projects in each of the three program cycles each year: winter, spring and summer.
Applications recently closed for the coming winter programs, running from Jan. 4-11, 2025. The winter programs are taking place in Arizona, California, Mexico, Puerto Rico and St. Thomas, U.S.V.I. Thirty students were accepted to partake in these offerings.
“In CCEL, we have the applications open for about two weeks. There is a host of questions that are asked for different topics that are geared towards the specific projects, the mission of Global Outreach, the mission of Fordham and the work that they do,” explained John Gownley, associate director of Campus Engagement. He said that the applications are first reviewed by the student leaders of the upcoming projects, who also interview all the applicants. For the last phase of the application review process, Gownley said they then “go into a review process with different folks in the department to see where the students are at.”
Gownley explained that GO! has four or five main themes for their projects, primarily environmental justice, migration, civil discourse and history of the nations. When asked about what programs are the most popular, Gownley said that there has been a recent uptick in interest in environmental justice. He attributes some of this to Fordham having recently received a large Environmental Protection Agency grant, causing the Fordham community to be more interested in the environment.
The programs cost between $1,500 and $2,500. “We are always upfront that it needs to be funded by the individual who applies for the project, but then there are scholarships that students can apply for,” Gownley stated.
He explained that the funding for scholarships comes primarily from alumni benefactors who give either to the school in general or to specific scholarship funds. When students are accepted into a GO! program, they can apply for these scholarships. Their applications are then reviewed to see if a percentage of their costs is able to be covered.
Additionally, GO! teams will fundraise for the trips through bake sales, outreach to families and donations on GiveCampus, an online fundraising platform.
“Fordham has worked with 100, if not more, community partners around the world and domestically. We try to balance domestic projects as well as global projects,” said Gownley. He explained that balancing domestic and international offerings is even more important to CCEL after the COVID-19 pandemic, during which they could only do domestic and Zoom outreach.
“From those community partners, and new community partners we are always making, we try to balance where we are going or what we are doing given the time of the year or what the country is going through,” Gownley stated when asked how CCEL chooses each cycle’s projects.
He explained that he did a GO! project in Ecuador when he was in college at another Jesuit institution. However, due to the current political climate in Ecuador, they cannot currently take students there. GO! needs to pay attention to circumstances like this with all the locations they consider.
On all GO! trips, there is a student leader. These leaders are mostly GO! alumni because CCEL wants the leaders to understand the process and the mission as well as be familiar with how the programs work. However, Gownley explained there are some exceptions when students have done similar work to a project or have other relevant experience.
Besides student leaders, GO! does see some repeat students on trips. However, since CCEL does want to ensure that as many students as possible have the opportunity to participate, there are very few repeat students in each program cycle.
“We have five pillars as the foundation which are from the Jesuit volunteer corps. It’s all rooted in social justice, community, education, solidarity and spirituality. We hope that the students foster and grow in those areas as well as with one another,” said Gownley.
He explained that CCEL wants GO! to be an opportunity for all Fordham students. It is not aimed at a particular major or type of student. He hopes that GO!, and CCEL in general, is a hub of opportunity for students from all areas of campus to further support the mission of Jesuit education and community.
Applications for the spring cycle will open next week. Students can look for more information on GO!’s application information webpage.
