2026 Community Engagement Impact Projects

Through Community Engagement Impact Projects, Stanford scholars co-create projects with community partners to address challenges felt more broadly in our region. The 2026 projects were chosen by a campus selection committee and focus on building healthy and resilient communities. Over six years, Stanford University has invested in 101 regional projects building lasting engagement relationships and using education and research to make a difference in society.

The 2026 Community Engagement Impact projects appear, alphabetically by project title, below:

Nuestra Casa staff distributing Lifestraw pitcher filters to community members during an outreach event in East Palo Alto. Photo courtesy of Nuestra Casa.

Addressing Safe Water Access and Trust in East Palo Alto

Community Collaborator: Nuestra Casa de East Palo Alto

Faculty Leadership: Khalid Osman, Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability

The Osman Lab and Nuestra Casa de East Palo Alto are collaborating to address long-standing concerns about drinking water quality and trust in East Palo Alto. The project is distributing 100 Lifestraw pitcher filters with a full year of replacements, paired with bilingual education on water quality. The study uses residents’ experiences with filter use and observations of water quality to assess changes in behavior and trust in tap water. The findings strengthen Nuestra Casa’s ongoing water justice advocacy and contribute to Stanford’s broader research on water equity. The project helps families meet immediate needs while informing future policy and infrastructure efforts.

Advancing Community College Experiences in Science at Stanford (ACCESS)

Community Collaborators: Cañada College, De Anza College, Foothill College, Ohlone College, San Jose City College, and Skyline College

Faculty and Staff Leadership: Joseph Wu and Amanda Chase, School of Medicine

ACCESS is a collaboration between the School of Medicine’s Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, Cañada College, De Anza College, Foothill College, Ohlone College, San Jose City College, and Skyline College that engages local community college students in advanced cardiovascular science summer research experiences. This pathway program inspires local students to pursue careers in STEM research and medicine, and in the long-term increase the number of physician-scientists, which has been declining. CVI sponsors six highly motivated community college students for a summer research experience, including mentorship in a Stanford lab and participation in formal science and career development curriculum.

Photo courtesy of the volunteers.

Bridging Bay Partners to Expand Care for the Unhoused

Community Collaborators: Peninsula Healthcare Connection, WeHOPE, and The United Effort Organization

Faculty and Student Leadership: Crystal Unzueta, David Chang, Saumya Sao, Michael Mayer and Meg Quint, School of Medicine

The School of Medicine’s Department of Primary Care and Population Health Community Partnership Program are collaborating with Peninsula Healthcare Connection (primary partner), WeHOPE, and The United Effort Organization to expand Stanford Medicine Outreach Program pop-up clinics in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties. This project addresses community-identified gaps in accessible primary care, sexual and reproductive health, and harm-reduction services for unhoused populations by bringing Stanford students and clinicians to community partners and expanding medical care, integrating on-site sexual health testing and treatment, and building a robust network of clinical referrals. Partners and clients are creating the project, embedding services within trusted outreach models that community partners originated, and responding directly to testing, chronic disease screening, and wound care needs. The project aims to strengthen community-academic infrastructure and sustain ethical engagement while training Stanford students and clinicians interested in serving unhoused communities.

Bridging Early Detection and Community Engagement in Type 1 Diabetes

Community Collaborator: Breakthrough T1D

Faculty and Staff Leadership: Marina Basina, Seung K. Kim, and Jessica Sarthi, School of Medicine

The Stanford School of Medicine’s Diabetes Research Center and Breakthrough T1D are collaborating to bring type 1 diabetes bilingual, community-centered education and screening programs to local communities with limited access to preventative care. This project includes a series of Lunch & Learn events in workplaces and community settings, offering antibody screening, glucose testing, cardiovascular checks, and nutrition education—all in English and Spanish. The program aims to promote early detection, provide actionable knowledge, reduce preventable complications, and strengthen connections between community engagement and clinical care—benefiting individuals, families, employers, and the broader community.

Climate Resilient Communities (CRC) Resilient Homes program will to connect research to residents at risk of exposure to vector-borne diseases in frontline communities. Photo courtesy of CRC.

Collaborative Community Strategies for Vector-Borne Disease Preparedness

Community Collaborator: Climate Resilient Communities

Faculty and Staff Leadership: Desiree LaBeaud and Amelia Meyer, School of Medicine

The LaBeaud Lab in the Center for Innovation in Global Health is collaborating with Climate Resilient Communities to develop a locally led framework for vector-borne disease preparedness in North Fair Oaks and East Palo Alto. Building on CRC’s Resilient Homes program and Stanford’s global expertise in disease ecology, the project bridges global lessons to local action — empowering frontline residents to identify and reduce mosquito-borne disease risks before outbreaks occur. Over the next year, the team is hosting three community convenings, conducting household and environmental surveys across 50 homes, and creating bilingual risk communication tools that integrate citizen-science and ecological data. At its core, the project nurtures self-agency and community-centered leadership, activating local knowledge, networks, and collective power to drive lasting, equitable change in vector-borne disease prevention and resilience in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Connecting Communities, Forging Futures: Community College Outreach Program, a Stanford Program for Public Outreach to Community Educational Hubs

Community Collaborators: College of San Mateo, Cañada College, Mission College, West Valley College, and Skyline College

Faculty, Researcher and Student Leadership: Anne Villeneuve, Megan Agajanian and Jane Lee, Developmental Biology, School of Medicine

Stanford Medicine’s Community College Outreach Program, in collaboration with College of San Mateo, Cañada College, Mission College, West Valley College, and Skyline College, is expanding access to STEM research and mentorship for local community college students and fosters pathways to scientific careers. CCOP offers opportunities for community college students to engage with Stanford researchers through internships, career development and transfer preparation bootcamps, campus/lab tours, and symposiums at local community colleges. The CCOP mission is to bridge the gap between community colleges and Stanford by providing students with hands-on research experiences and mentorship. Funding supports field trips to labs and CCOP’s Day of Science symposium, an immersive day-long event to discuss scientific research, provide career guidance and establish networks for future scientists.

Photo courtesy of PAWS Research Collaboration.

Cross-Age Tutoring using Peer Assisted Writing Strategies (CAT PAWS)

Community Collaborator: Santa Clara Unified School District

Faculty and Researcher Leadership: Chris Lemons, Rebecca Silverman, Lakshmi Balasubramanian and Lena Phalen, Stanford Graduate School of Education

The Learning Differences Initiative of the Graduate School of Education’s Research Practice Learning Partnership with Santa Clara Unified School District is developing a Cross Age Tutoring (CAT) program using the Peer Assisted Writing Strategies (PAWS) kindergarten intervention curriculum. CAT PAWS engages high school emerging readers and writers in tutoring TK/Kindergarten students who need additional literacy support. SCUSD and LDI share an interest in supporting emerging readers and writers, including students with learning differences and multilingual learners. This year-long program helps secondary students reimagine their relationship with literacy, give elementary students additional social-emotional and academic benefits, and develop a model for innovative and sustainable cross-age tutoring programs for SCUSD and beyond.

Expanding access to neurologic care: A novel community partnership model

Community Collaborator: Asian Americans for Community Involvement

Faculty Leadership: Sandeepa Mullady, Rachelle Dugue, Olga Fedin Goldberg, Nirali Vora and Neelam Goyal, School of Medicine

The School of Medicine’s Partners for Brain Health: Neurology Community Engagement Hub and Asian Americans for Community Involvement are partnering to improve access to neurologic care. The project addresses barriers to effective neurologic care, including geographic distance and transportation burden to access neurology subspecialty care, unclear and inefficient processes for neurology subspecialty referrals, and education of primary care providers on best practices for common neurologic complaints and conditions. This novel, hybrid case-based neurology subspecialty consult service and educational program increase access to neurologic care and empower primary care providers to assess and initiate workup and treatment of common neurologic complaints. Funding supports the project’s four primary efforts: provider education through development of an educational repository and hybrid educational series to support primary care providers in the diagnosis and treatment of neurologic disease; infrastructure building to support AACI community partner staffing to facilitate hybrid case-based neurology subspecialty consult services and neurology subspecialty referral pathways; local patient education through interactive sessions for patients and staff at AACI on primary prevention of neurologic disease and treatment options; and data collection to identify opportunities to improve and sustain a hybrid consult model and educational repository resources.

A school group extracted DNA with the help of a graduate student, and put it in necklace pendants to take home. Photo courtesy of Abbey Thompson/The Tech Interactive.

Expanding Accessibility of Genetics Learning Activities to Spanish-speaking Communities

Community Collaborator: The Tech Interactive

Faculty and Staff Leadership: Lars Steinmetz and Ruth Schade, School of Medicine

For over 20 years, the School of Medicine’s Department of Genetics is partnering with The Tech Interactive to engage graduate students in facilitating hands-on genetics learning for thousands of learners each year. This project develops Spanish-language resources for the 14.8% of Santa Clara County students who are English learners with Spanish as their native language. The need for these resources was emphasized during listening sessions with caregivers at The Tech Interactive. The project creates Spanish-language materials and activity guides for Spanish-speaking facilitators. The resources are available to all visitors at The Tech interactive and through programming at Bay Area schools.

From Astrophysical Research to Classroom: STEM Teacher Summer Fellowship

Community Collaborators: East Side Union High School District and Ignited Education

Faculty and Staff Leadership: Risa Wechsler, Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology and School of Humanities and Sciences; Xinnan Du, KIPAC

The Office of the Vice Provost and Dean of Research’s Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology is partnering with East Side Union High School District and Ignited Education to bring scientific thinking and practices to high-school STEM classrooms through teacher professional development. Building on shared goals to inspire and prepare students for STEM careers, this program equips teachers to integrate scientific research into instruction, giving students real-world applications of science while teachers gain confidence, deepen content knowledge, and strengthen standards-based teaching. It provides a valuable opportunity for Career and Technical Education teachers to fulfill required industry hours. The project places three ESUHSD STEM teachers in an 8-week summer research program with KIPAC scientists through Ignited in 2026. Teachers engage in interdisciplinary astrophysical research, develop research-inspired lesson plans with support from senior teachers, and implement them in the 2026-2027 school year, culminating in a report reflecting on teaching and curriculum integration.

Photo courtesy of iStock.

Inclusive, AI-driven Deliberative Polling® for Public Input on the Unhoused Crisis in San José

Community Collaborator: City of San José Housing Department

Faculty Leadership: Sarah Billington, Rishee Jain, School of Engineering and Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability; Ashish Goel, School of Engineering; Gabrielle Wong-Parodi, Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability; Alice Siu, Freeman Spogli Institute

This interdisciplinary team is working through the Stanford Sustainability Accelerator to collaborate with the City of San José Housing Department to address the pressing issue of homelessness and affordable housing. The project uses AI-driven Deliberative Polling® to gather public input on interim housing solutions to inform discussions that can guide the city's planning and policy decisions. Over the next year, the team is engaging approximately 250-300 community members in structured dialogues to understand their perspectives on transitional housing. The project involves recruiting a representative sample of San José residents, conducting pre- and post-deliberation surveys, and providing actionable policy recommendations for the city and a playbook for municipalities and organizations to run future Deliberative Polls.

Participatory Design of an Outdoor Walking Companion Robot for Older Adults

Community Collaborator: Channing House

Staff Leadership: Michelle Baldonado and Steve Cousins, School of Engineering

The School of Engineering’s Stanford Robotics Center—with support from the Stanford Center on Longevity—is collaborating with Channing House in downtown Palo Alto on the design of an outdoor walking companion robot. Physical activity, time outdoors, and social connections all contribute to healthy aging. Through participatory design sessions, the residents and staff at Channing House are helping Stanford scholars explore how an outdoor walking companion robot can encourage walking, improve safety, provide navigation assistance, and support social interaction. The Robotics Center has obtained a wheeled quadruped robot (a robotic “dog”) to use as the hardware basis for a prototype. The goal is to use a robotic system to encourage outdoor walking that improves health and longevity for older adults.

Alba Vivas reads a book to her daughter Ariana, 9, at their San Jose home. Alba is a parent involved with the nonprofit Parents Helping Parents. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group, photo courtesy of PHP).

Partnering for Success: Improving Educational Access for Children with Special Health Care Needs

Community Collaborator: Parents Helping Parents

Faculty and Staff Leadership: Ria Pal, Casey Krueger, Janine Bruce and Ryan Padrez, School of Medicine

The Health and Education Access Hub, part of Stanford School of Medicine’s Office of Child Health Equity, is partnering with Parents Helping Parents to improve access to comprehensive services and support for Children with Special Health Care Needs (CSHCN) at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health. These children face challenges in accessing appropriate educational services, therapies, and medical care, and parents must navigate complex systems, understand their child’s rights, and coordinate support across school, home, and community life. The project helps detect disparities in service acquisition, particularly by families from low-income backgrounds or those who face language barriers. Leaders create clear, practical recommendations to improve hospital and school coordination, design a pilot program to provide resource navigation and enable department and hospital-wide system change, and work with the SMCH chief health equity officer and other hospital administrators to integrate these changes into inpatient and outpatient systems across multiple subspecialty areas.

Planting Trees,Together: Community Connection in Urban Forestry

Community Collaborator: Canopy

Faculty Leadership: Nicole Ardoin, Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability

The Ardoin Social Ecology Lab at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability is partnering with Canopy, a nonprofit urban forestry organization serving Palo Alto, East Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Mountain View, and North Fair Oaks. Recognizing that collective environmental action builds community resilience, this collaboration investigates how participation in community tree planting events fosters social cohesion, sense of place, and capacity for collective environmental action. Researchers document social outcomes at 5-10 planting events and co-design photovoice participatory methods to be incorporated into Canopy events. The project engages graduate and undergraduate research assistants for consistent data collection in collaborative research design with Canopy.

Members of Australian circus Circa visit Garfield Community School in Redwood City for a performance and workshop with students.

Redwood City School District-Stanford Live Arts Learning Partnership

Community Collaborator: Redwood City School District

Staff Leadership: Iris Nemani and Ben Frandzel, Stanford Arts

Stanford Live is collaborating with the Redwood City School District to expand arts learning opportunities at Garfield and Hoover schools. The project increases access to arts programming through in-school residencies by teaching artists Quinteto Latino, artist performances and workshops at school sites, attendance at Stanford Live student matinee performances, and professional development in arts integration for district educators in Stanford Live’s teacher workshops.

Redwood City Together Governance

Community Collaborator: Redwood City Together, City of Redwood City

Staff Leadership: Amy Gerstein, John W. Gardner Center, Graduate School of Education

The Graduate School of Education’s John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities is collaborating with Redwood City Together to develop a governance design for this community collaborative. The Gardner Center serves as a core member and partner with Redwood City Together. Redwood City Together seeks to advance the success of youth and families in Redwood City and North Fair Oaks through community collaboration. Funding supports staffing capacity and convenings as the Gardner Center collaborates with RCT to refresh the original governance design streamlined, focused approach that better serves its mission.

"Discipline, Relationships, and School Climate" findings and recommendations session at the 2025 Roses Talk Project Convening. Photo courtesy of Christine Baker.

Roses Talk: Elevating At-Promise Student Voices in San José Unified

Community Collaborator: San José Unified School District

Faculty and Staff Leadership: Subini Annamma, Graduate School of Education; Ralph Richard Banks, Hoang Pham, Stanford Law School

Stanford Law School’s Stanford Center for Racial Justice is partnering with the San José Unified School District to advance the Roses Talk Project, a community-engaged research initiative focused on elevating at-promise student voices in education policy. The project addresses the challenge of integrating marginalized student experiences in decision-making—a pressing need SJUSD has identified. Phase II supports the implementing, assessing, and refining student-informed policy recommendations from Phase I. Over the next year, the engagement is going to support policy implementation, expand qualitative and comparative data collection and analysis, and assess policy impact—including through a Phase II report and ongoing community feedback from district and school stakeholders. Funding supports moving beyond recommendations toward sustained implementation and evaluation, ensuring that student perspectives help shape SJUSD policies, and inform a replicable model for community-based policy making in K–12 education.

School Meal Action: Mobilizing students to Improve School Meals

Community Collaborators: Center for Ecoliteracy, Dolores Huerta Foundation, Cultiva la Salud and California Association of Student Councils.

Faculty and Researcher Leadership: Anisha Patel and Aditi Sharma, School of Medicine

School meals are the healthiest food many students get in a day, and are all the more important now because restrictions on CalFresh (formerly known as SNAP and Food Stamps) will reduce nutritious food resources and education at a time of extremely high levels of food insecurity and obesity. School Meal Action is bringing together academic partners (Stanford’s Partnerships for Research in Child Health Lab and University of California Nutrition Policy Institute) with statewide and San Joaquin Valley-based non-profits (Center for Ecoliteracy, Dolores Huerta Foundation, Cultiva la Salud) and a student leadership organization (California Association of Student Councils). School Meal Action builds on students' and community partners’ identified desire to improve meal quality and increase participation in school meals. Adapted from the evidence-based Youth Engagement and Action for Health curriculum, the project works with students in high schools, where school meal participation is the lowest despite school meals being free of charge to all six million California TK-12 students. The program trains students on (1) history, requirements, and logistics of school nutrition programs and (2) Photovoice, a method that uses photography and discussions to highlight challenges and solutions to a community-identified issue, and (3) working with school and community leaders to advance identified solutions.

The 2025 Second STEP kick-off. Forty new teachers re-connect with teacher training.

Second STEP Coaching Project for New Teachers

Community Collaborator: San Mateo County Office of Education

Staff Leadership: Sarah Levine, Graduate School of Education

The Graduate School of Education’s Center to Support Excellence in Teaching is collaborating with the San Mateo County Office of Education to support new teachers. In the U.S., most university teacher education programs, including Stanford's, end just before teacher candidates begin their first year as teachers of record. Even though those programs train candidates in student-centered instruction, research consistently shows that when candidates leave their programs, they default to the kind of teacher-centered instruction that has dominated too many schools for more than a century. Second STEP uses funding for online coaching and in-person workshops to help new local teachers remember and practice the student-centered teaching approaches they learned at Stanford. The goal is for early teachers to hold onto their pedagogical roots as they grow in their classrooms.

Supporting the Safety Net: Building Palo Alto Suicide Postvention Resiliency

Community Collaborator: Project Safety Net

Faculty and Staff Leadership: Steven Adelsheim, Shashank Joshi,and Vicki Harrison, School of Medicine

The School of Medicine’s Center for Youth Mental Health and Wellbeing and Project Safety Net are carrying out suicide pre- and post-vention support for youth and families in Palo Alto and surrounding communities. PSN is a youth suicide prevention coalition working on community education, outreach, and training, access to quality youth mental health services, and policy advocacy in Palo Alto. PSN is collaborating with the Center’s Media and Mental Health Initiative partners to support efforts including media trainings, expert consultation, the Reporting Responsibly on Campus Suicide (RROCS) youth advisory group, and educational and outreach campaigns in collaboration with the Santa Clara County Office of Suicide Prevention and #chatsafe from Orygen Australia.

In addition to the above, two-year projects focused on deeper engagement commitments continue through summer 2026 and one global project continues this year.