What does it look like for a school dedicated to public service to build community around that shared value?
The inaugural Community Service Week was the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs’ answer to that question. Over the course of a week in April, nearly 60 students, staff, and faculty participated in 11 local service projects as a way of giving back to others and working together to make a difference.
“I see Community Service Week as an opportunity to put our commitment to service into practice in a very tangible way,” said Anna Fedewa MPA ’27. “There was a real desire among students to get connected to local organizations and to give their time and resources to these organizations.”
In addition to helping organize the week, Fedewa participated in a project at the St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in Hightstown, N.J., where she and five others supported a mobile screening clinic for Trenton Health Team, a nonprofit that helps expand access to health care.
“Service to others is what drives my work, both personally and professionally,” Fedewa said. “Princeton SPIA’s unparalleled commitment to public service is what attracted me to the program in the first place, so I was really excited to be able to take part in an event like Community Service Week.”
Other service opportunities throughout the week included sorting items at a Trenton food pantry, planting trees at a community park in Princeton, helping staff with various tasks at Special Olympics New Jersey, supporting homelessness assistance programs with HomeFront, and helping residents gain community-issued IDs with the Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund.
The idea of launching a week of service came from students who participated in the School’s annual Service Auction in the fall, which benefits one local nonprofit each year. In 2025, the event raised more than $25,000 for HomeFront.
“In addition to that impactful event, we learned there was a real desire among students to get connected to local organizations and to give their time and resources to these organizations,” said Hope Crockett MPA ’27, who co-led Community Service Week.
At a panel discussion that kicked off the week, the nonprofits hosting the week’s service opportunities had a chance to share the work they do and how policy shapes it.
“It’s important that policymakers understand the role that nonprofits play in society,” said Rylee Evans, volunteer manager at Special Olympics New Jersey, which offers its services at no charge to athletes or families. The organization has lost some of its federal grants. “If Special Olympics New Jersey were to just go away, we would have a massive void for the thousands of athletes we serve in our community.”
Amanda Mungcal, senior program manager at Trenton Health Team, discussed how medical billing procedures make it difficult for community health workers to get reimbursed for the time they spend caring for patients.
“As policy students, that’s something I encourage you all to think about, because I think the space that community health workers are in is only going to continue to grow, and they fill a very necessary gap,” she said.
A key goal of the service week was to demonstrate how policymaking and direct service work connect, Crockett noted.
“Policymaking can sometimes feel removed from the people it's designed to serve, and Community Service Week offered an opportunity to reinvigorate the motivations that drove many of us to this work in the first place,” she said. “Getting outside the classroom and into the community takes the theoretical and makes it practical.”
Top: Volunteers planted approximately 50 trees with Friends of Princeton Open Space (FOPOS).
Photo courtesy of Ivan Robles MPA '27.