Maitripa College’s Service Learning program is designed to offer students the opportunity to integrate their education into action and to offer their best back into our community and the world. Please email us if you are interested in becoming a Service Partner with Maitripa, or for more information about our Service Learning program.

It is not enough to become passionate. You must act. There are two aspects to action. One is to overcome the distortions and afflictions of your own mind, that is, in terms of calming and eventually dispelling anger. This is action out of compassion. The other is more social, more public. When something needs to be done in the world to rectify the wrongs, if one is really concerned with benefiting others, one needs to be engaged, involved. —His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Service Learning at Maitripa College

In their first semester of Service Learning education, students focus on a needs-analysis study of targeted social service groups in Portland. In the following semesters, students train and eventually serve with selected partner organizations, and participate in regular sessions of structured reflection and analysis in small groups with Yangsi Rinpoche and other Maitripa staff. Simultaneously, students benefit from the experience of a number of guest speakers from local service organizations, who will join the class to share their knowledge and inspiration.

The Service Learning program culminates at the end of two years with oral and written presentations which seek to integrate the students’ internal and external experiences in service, as well as contextualize their service experience within the larger paradigm of their education at Maitripa.

Maitripa’s Community Service Partners over the years have included:

Cascade AIDS Project (Men’s Wellness Center )
Chapman Elementary School
Columbia Slough Watershed Council
David’s Harp
Dharma Rain Zen Center Dharma School
Hopewell House
Juvenile Justice Complex Residential Alcohol and Drug Program
Larch Correctional Facility
Liberation Prison Project
Living Yoga
Loaves and Fishes, Belmont Center
Morrison Child and Family Services
Northwest Portland Ministries
Portland Police Bureau Sunshine Division
Providence Hospital
Signature Hospice
Sisters of the Road
Step-Up and Renaissance Arts Academy
Trillium Family Services Horticultural Therapeutic Program
Wallace Medical Concern Urgent Care