Center for Civic Education & Justice (CCEJ) offers curricular and co-curricular opportunities that:

• Expand students’ capacity to effectively engage in dialogue and perspective taking.
• Create transformative learning spaces that encourage critical self-reflection and intersectional solidarity, advocacy, and action.
• Develop a community of students committed to fairness, justice, and collective democratic engagement.
• Empower our students with the knowledge and skills to become social justice leaders and positive community change agents.

Our Philosophy

Let’s be real: volunteering is great, but true civic engagement goes deeper than just signing up for a single service day. At CCEJ, we believe that democracy and social justice are deeply connected, meaning we cannot fix community issues without understanding and dismantling the systemic inequities that cause them in the first place. We use a critical, justice-centered framework to help you connect the dots between policy, privilege, and community needs. Our goal is to help students develop the critical thinking, empathy, and leadership skills necessary to become a lifelong changemaker who fights for equity and collective action.

Building Real, Reciprocal Partnerships

We do not believe in "drop-in" volunteering where students enter a community, do a quick project, and leave. Instead, CCEJ focuses on building long-term, reciprocal relationships with local schools, non-profits, and grassroots organizations in the Urbana-Champaign area. We listen to what our community partners need and collaborate with them on projects that create real, lasting benefits for everyone involved. By joining us in our efforts, you are not just building your resume—you are joining a movement of students, educators, and local organizers working together to build a more just and democratic world.

How to Get Involved:

At CCEJ, we offer workshops, trainings, courses, programs, and events that are designed to create transformative experiences at the University of Illinois.

1. Civic Engagement & Civic Action: We oversee volunteer programs, service-learning initiatives, dialogues across differences, partnerships with local organizations and student democratic engagement.
2. Social Justice Learning and Education: Social Justice learning is at the foundation of everything we do. We develop and deliver educational courses, workshops, trainings, and immersive learning experiences centered on social justice. We pride ourselves on our peer-educator model for workshops and trainings.
3. Leadership & Social Justice Advocacy: We offer experiential learning opportunities, internships, scholarships, and other leadership programs that help develop student leaders who are focused on collective advocacy and prepared to lead in a global society.