Community Linkage Center

The Community Linkage Center or CLC (Centro de Vinculación Comunitaria in Spanish) is housed in the Sacred Heart University in Santurce, Puerto Rico.

The CLC has implemented a community-based curricular reform based on the pedagogy of service-learning since 1998. The service-learning model has been incorporated into around 60 junior and senior year courses, offering more than twenty "linked courses" per semester. In these courses, students carry out on-site projects in non-profit organizations such as: designing marketing plans, computerized accounting systems and databases, public relations and promotional plans, business strategies, management services, trading, strategic planning, advertising campaign design, proposal writing and research in areas including natural science, social science and the humanities. Community-Based Organizations (CBOs), low-income, small businesses and our students have greatly benefited from this program.

A second project of the CLC is the Community-based Learning Project which is sponsored by the Corporation for National and Community Service Learn and Serve Program. This project produces four educational TV programs with USH’s internal TV station (TeleSagrado). These programs, which focus on themes of interest to local CBOs, particularly in the areas of health, education, economic development and conflict resolution, have been in production since 2004. To date, the project has produced 120 TV programs with the collaboration of 38 CBOs, broadcasted to all of Puerto Rico on three cable channels: Onelink (10), Choice (8) and Liberty (3). Currently, the Community- based Learning Project is writing a series of educational modules to accompany the TV programs and to be used for benefit of personnel at schools and community centers across the island.

Thirdly, the CLC’s Virtual Capacity-Building Project for Non-Profit Sector Leaders has impacted 20 nonprofit organizations in developing their organizational structure over the last year. The Virtual Project offers on-line intensive workshops to non-profit organizations’ leaders needing further preparation in their area of work.

Finally, the CLC has developed an initiative with 16 Federal Work-Study Program students working closely with CBOs in different initiatives such as: publishing the CLC bulletin Puentes, design of public relations campaigns and other communication-related efforts such as producing flyers and brochures and production of our institution’s Cable TV programs.

Mission and Vision
*To promote the construction of a truly more christian society, solitary with the quest for peace and justice.
*Integrate faculty and students with the external community.
*Offer a participatory, pertinent and personalized education.
*Ensure that the classroom is the world that surrounds us and learns from the community.
*Equip students to work in teams to solve complex problems, develop leadership skills and assume responsibilities.
*Support the investigation of the Puerto Rican reality, examine the pertinence of theory and promote the creation of new consciousnesses.
*Contribute to the solution of local problems, especially in our most needy communities.

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