The Health Equity Bonner Fellowship strives to provide meaningful and mutually- beneficial experiences for our students and community partners through community engagement and service learning. While keeping health equity at our core, our goals for fellowship-community partnership align with the Bonner Community Partnership Goals.
To fulfill these goals, fellows will engage in various levels of service with community partners. The levels of service will vary by cohort and expand as the fellowship grows. Examples range from one-time service projects (volunteerism) to one or multi-year project (or issue) based, and capstone-based projects or community based participatory research. These engagements may happen with community-based organizations or on-campus departments who focus on community engagement or health equity. Regardless of the type of services or partnership, all interactions should align with the overarching goal of advancing health equity.
One-time or short-term service projects will be identified throughout the year by Center staff, Fellows or other departments on campus. The process and requirements for volunteering at these opportunities will vary.
In addition to these one-time/short term projects, fellows are expected to provide regular service (average of 6-10 hours per week) to a community or campus-based agency. To identify placement sites, fellowship staff will complete a site assessment and an orientation with pre-approved sites. Fellows will undergo a match matching process including outreach to placement sites and an interview process. The final placement site will be a mutual decision between the site and fellowship staff final approval. Fellows may propose a site not on the pre-approved site, but prior fellowship staff approval, including a site visit and assessment is required. Fellows are expected to stay “employed” at a site for at least one year and ideally for multiple years to allow for growth and increased responsibilities with the agency over time. The number of fellows per site is dependent on the sites’ needs, capacities, and fellow’s interest. The match making process will take place during the first semester of a fellow’s first year in the program. More specific details, including required paperwork, will be provided to fellows and placement sites accordingly.