Neighborhoods and Outreach

The intimate environment of each of Yale's residential colleges, and the comfortable sense of community fostered there, provide the perfect foundation for exploring university life. Outside, a dynamic campus and life await students. New Haven has vibrant neighborhoods with a mixture of cultures, traditional New England homes and more contemporary, recently renovated buildings. African-American churches and community centers thrive in the Dixwell neighborhood. Latino youth and social service agencies enhance the Hill and Fair Haven, while other neighborhoods are home to merchants, religious institutions, and restaurants of the Polish, Irish, Jewish, West Indian, Chinese, Ukrainian, Mexican, Puerto Rican, Korean, South Asian Indian and Russian communities.

More than half the undergraduates and hundreds of graduate and professional students participate in volunteer community service each year. Service is not merely a modern trend, but a signature of Yale student life for more than a century. In fact, Dwight Hall at Yale, originally founded in 1886, is one of the largest umbrella organizations for public service at any college. Also, the President's Public Service Fellowship, founded in 1994 by Yale President Richard Levin, gives undergraduates and graduate students the opportunity to work in high-profile, paid internships. With a long history of training leaders in public service, Yale encourages students to become involved in myriad existing service opportunities with the public schools, non-profits and political organizations or to create their own volunteer experiences.