Stanford University Community Partnership Awards
Since 2004, Stanford University has recognized partnerships between the University and groups in our region that address needs and work to advance the public good.
The awards are intended to celebrate the best models for how Stanford University and Bay Area organizations collaborate to improve our region's well-being. Awardees are recognized at a spring luncheon that also honors the recipient of the Miriam Aaron Roland Volunteer Service Prize given annually by the Haas Center for Public Service.
Awardees selected are enduring partnerships demonstrating excellence in three criteria: 1) meets a need; 2) creatively connects campus and community; and 3) engages students, staff, and/or faculty in service.
For questions or more information about this awards program, contact Erina DuBois at erina.dubois@stanford.edu.
Read about the 2025 Community Partnerships Awards below.
2025 awardee: The Stanford-Sequoia K-12 Research Collaborative. Begun in 2016 between Stanford's Graduate School of Education and nine San Mateo County school districts, the partnership has co-developed more than 20 research projects, allowing participants to build upon experience. In one project, research revealed English learners had limited graduation rates and varying math trajectories. The Sequoia Union High School District responded by implementing changes to 9th-grade math placement policies and course pathways, eliminating remedial pathways, and hiring instructional coaches. A randomized control trial showed that students placed in grade-level math courses in 9th grade were more likely to finish geometry in 10th grade, and chronic absenteeism also was reduced.
2025 awardee: Partnership to Prevent and Reduce Adolescent Tobacco and Other Drug Use: Since 2017, Stanford’s REACH Lab has partnered with the San Mateo County Office of Education to combat youth drug use, particularly nicotine e-cigarette and cannabis use. Through research, education, and advocacy, the partnership provides free training and evidence-based drug prevention and intervention curriculums to schools, educators, and counselors throughout the county. It also includes community talks for educators and parents. The partnership has made linkages between healthy decision-making to academic and life success, emphasizing the importance of staying drug-free to achieve personal goals. Regular meetings and youth events, such as the Teaching Cannabis Awareness and Prevention Conference, further strengthen the collaboration. Data suggest the partnership has significantly reduced adolescent drug use and empowered the community to address the crisis, reaching over 40,000 students in seven years.
2025 awardee: Ayudando Latinos a Soñar and the Stanford Immigrant Child Health Program. The partnership between Stanford and the community nonprofit, known by its acronym, ALAS, began in 2020 with clinical collaboration in Half Moon Bay. Now focusing on community well-being and youth mental health, the collaboration supports both care and advocacy in the Half Moon Bay community. It also illustrates how community-embedded programs, supported by research, can create social change. In 2024, they created the Colibrí Research Collective, with a Community Advisory Board to guide research activities. By design, the board leads by setting research agendas, selecting collaborations, and strengthening community-researcher relationships, in order to engage community voices to address health disparities, heal trauma from systemic inequities, and build grassroots leadership.
To see our past honorees, go to Community Partnership Awardees 2004 - 2024
To see a gallery of photos from past years, go to Community Partnership Awards Gallery
Questions? Please contact us.