For the fourth time, California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) has earned a spot on the 2014 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, distinguishing the institution as a center engaged in solving social and economic problems and achieving meaningful outcomes on behalf of the region it serves.

“We are delighted to once again be named to the President’s Community Service Honor Roll. When students engage in service, everyone benefits,” said Jane Close Conoley, president, CSULB, in a press statement. “College students who are taught to apply classroom learning to life off campus are nearly three times as likely to be more engaged in their workplace and the surrounding community upon graduation.”

Housed at CSULB, The Center for Community Engagement reports that approximately 12,109 students engaged in some form of community service in 2012 and 2013, including the 5,311 who were involved in academic service-learning, were able to log more than 1.2 million community service hours during that time period. According to CSULB, roughly 800 faculty and staff were also involved in some kind of community service that same year.

“At Cal State Long Beach, we are continually emphasizing our commitment to service-learning and working together with various community-based organizations in Long Beach and the surrounding area,” said Juan M. Benitez, director, Center for Community Engagement, CSULB, in a press statement. “Many of our students, faculty and staff are from the region and they are strengthening their communities by engaging with their neighbors through service.”

Community service at CSULB includes assisting the youth of our community in learning the skills that will set them apart and ahead in their future careers. Faculty and staff hosted more than 1,000 K-12 girls through the Women in Engineering Outreach Program, as part of a national initiative to increase the number of women working in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). CSULB also worked with Century Villages to develop job skills and training programs for its homeless clients. They also helped rebuild and improve Colorado Lagoon’s natural physical landscape by re-establishing drainage trenches and removing non-native plants.

According to a report conducted by Volunteering and Civic Life in America, 3.1 million college students participated in 118 million service hours in 2012. Their work provided $2.5 billion in value to communities throughout the U.S.

The President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll is part of the Corporation for National and Community Service’s (CNCS) strategic commitment to engage millions of college students in service and celebrate the critical role of higher education in strengthening communities. It has administered the award since 2006 and manages the program in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the American Council on Education and Campus Compact.

Established in 1993, CNCS is a federal agency that engages more than 5 million Americans in service through its core programs, Senior Corps, AmeriCorps and the Social Innovation Fund, and leads President Obama’s national call to service initiative, United We Serve.