Community Contributions

Serve Day

Every fall, George Fox closes campus for a day and sends more than 2,000 George Fox students and employees into the community to volunteer at about 100 service sites throughout the region. Typical projects include painting, yard work and assisting seniors.

Students Serve

George Fox students routinely perform more than 250,000 hours of community service annually, serving at a wide range of venues that include local clinics, schools and retirement communities. The university's commitment to service has landed the school on the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll.

In addition to Serve Day, in which more than 1,700 students provide 11,900 hours, annual commitments to service include …

• MLK Day of Service (100 students/700 hours)
• Winter, spring and summer serve trips (150 students/6,700 hours)
• Servant engineering classes (30 students/4,000 hours)
• PsyD clinics (60 students/45,000 hours)
• Physical therapy treatments (100 students/2,600 hours)
• Social work community internships (40 students/19,000 hours)
• Counseling practicum courses and internships (70 students/58,000 hours)
• Nursing practicum courses (140 students/44,000 hours)
• Undergraduate student teaching assignments (25 students/19,000 hours)
• Science Outreach youth classes (16 students/700 hours)
• Flu clinics (130 students/1,300 hours)
• Associated Student Community outreaches (210 students/3,500 hours)
• Master of Arts in Teaching initiatives (65 students/48,000 hours)

Service Trips

George Fox annually sends out weeklong service trips. Groups of 10 to 25 students are led by George Fox employees and volunteer at various projects, including building houses in Mexico and working with inner-city populations in West Coast cities.

International Service Trips

George Fox annually organizes employee-led student groups to volunteer on monthlong international service trips. Past trips have included working in orphanages, churches, and camps in India, Brazil, Ukraine, and Romania.

Student Ministries

Organized by the student government office, students travel weekly to Portland and Salem to assist the homeless. They also have a student-led program to build relationships with local seniors.

Citizenship

George Fox employees volunteer on numerous city and county commissions and committees, including the Newberg Planning Commission, the Newberg Downtown Coalition, the Focus on Newberg's Future Commission, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Traffic Safety Commission.

Behavioral Health Clinic

This clinic, run by the Graduate School of Clinical Psychology, offers mental health therapy to low-income or uninsured Yamhill County residents who otherwise would have difficulty getting this care. The clinic also provides psychological assessment. Other clinical settings include rural school districts in Yamhill County and the Willamette Valley Medical Center in McMinnville. Additionally, an APA-accredited internship program allows fifth-year interns to tend to the underserved in primary care clinics. Learn more on the Behavioral Health Clinic site or here.

Physical Therapy Community Clinic

This clinic is staffed with clinicians trained to address all orthopedic conditions, from over-use wear and tear to after-surgery cases. The staff is also available to provide therapy for children, rehabilitation for those who have experienced a cardiac event or who have had cardiac-related surgery, and educational sessions on nutrition, exercise, pain and stress management, and smoking cessation. Learn more here.

Mental Health Consultation

Staff and graduate students in the Doctor of Clinical Psychology program provide 24-hour coverage, seven days per week in the emergency department at Providence Newberg Hospital. They provide consultations on all patients with mental health concerns. In a recent calendar year, 59 PsyD students provided a total of 50,000 hours of free services to children and adults in 20 clinic, health and community settings.

Red Cross Blood Drives

George Fox University has hosted more than 70 Red Cross blood drives. Faculty, staff and students have donated more than 1,500 gallons of blood, averaging more than 70 gallons per year since 2000.

Senior Citizens

Any person 62 years of age or older may be eligible to enroll in traditional undergraduate courses at a cost of $50 per credit during fall and spring terms.

Bruin Sports Day

Each August, the university invites more than 200 second- through eighth-grade boys and girls to campus to participate in free sports clinics facilitated by members of its athletic teams and coaching staff. Instruction is offered in a variety of sports, including football, soccer, baseball, golf and tennis.

Volunteer Internships

Numerous students - many from the psychology, sociology or social work departments - have volunteer internships in local agencies and nonprofit organizations.

America Reads/America Counts

Using federal work-study funds, George Fox students work with the America Reads and America Counts programs at Newberg public schools.

Workforce Training

The majority of George Fox graduates stay in the Northwest, contributing to the region's workforce. George Fox is one of the largest producers of teachers in the state. George Fox's bachelor's degrees in engineering and nursing ease labor shortages in the region.

Mr. Bruin Pageant

George Fox students annually hold a male "beauty" pageant to raise money for a local charity. Pageants have raised about $5,000 each year.

Little Bruin

George Fox's students manage a big brother/big sister program that pairs students with at-risk and low-income children in the community.

Elementary Education After-School Program

Students in the university's elementary education major teach after-school classes at Edwards Elementary School in Newberg. The George Fox students create curriculum and teaching reading and language arts to students.

Youth Science Classes

George Fox undergraduate science students teach science courses in campus laboratories to local elementary students. The areas of science studied may include general science, biology, chemistry, physics and/or computer science.

Science Laboratory Use

Many high school groups studying human anatomy use the university's laboratories, equipment and resources to augment their classroom lessons. Demonstrations of onsite equipment can also be scheduled.

Science Equipment Loans

Several public and private K-12 schools in Oregon and Washington borrow science equipment from George Fox's science department.

School Visits

George Fox sends a representative to elementary, middle, and high schools to judge science fairs, make presentations and assist in outdoor schools.

Star Lab

George Fox's portable planetarium is used both on campus and on location to provide elementary and midde school students instruction on astronomy.

SMART (Start Making a Reader Today) Program

Working through the SMART program, George Fox language students visit local elementary schools and assist both Spanish- and English-speaking children by reading to them on a weekly basis.

Theatre Design Institute

Each summer, a George Fox theatre professor runs the Theatre Design Institute, a series of summer workshops that equip high school educators in the areas of design and technical theatre, inspires them to turn their production ideas into reality, and helps them build stronger arts education programs.

George Fox offers hundreds of free or inexpensive theatrical, musical, artistic, educational, and sporting events to the public.

Chehalem Symphony

George Fox provides staff and facilities for the Chehalem Symphony, an orchestra made up of local residents, faculty and students.

Art

George Fox professors and students annually volunteer help on art projects for nonprofits including the Portland Youth Philharmonic.

Art Exhibit Judging

George Fox art professors regularly serve as judges for local art exhibitions, including the Newberg Harvest Festival.

ArtReach

George Fox art students annually teach summer arts camps for local children. The camps are provided at cost.

Oregon Symphony

George Fox and A-dec annually host a Newberg performance of the Oregon Symphony as a gift to the Newberg community. Tickets are distributed free to community residents.

The Newberg School District, church groups, and other organizations use the campus auditorium, gymnasium and other facilities throughout the year, particularly during the summer months. George Fox also provides meeting facilities for the Chehalem Valley Chamber of Commerce, the Tilikum Retreat Center, the Oregon School Activities Association, the Chehalem Park and Recreation District and numerous other groups.

Field Use

Chehalem Park and Recreation District uses George Fox fields for summer park programs, such as softball tournaments. Local high schools and churches have used fields for practice and games. The turf field at the Austin Sports Complex has served as a venue for the Special Olympics.

Tennis Court/Track Use

George Fox's tennis courts and track are available to the public for use free of charge.

Library

The George Fox Murdock Library and Portland Center library are open to the public and share their volumes and journals through the Orbis Cascade Alliance and interlibrary loan. 

Summer Camps and Conferences

During the summer, George Fox opens its facilities to dozens of groups for camps and conferences. The influx of thousands of visitors contributes to the local economy.

Sports Camps

George Fox coaches and alumni host low-cost youth sports camps on campus and volunteer with youth athletics programs in the community.

Green Space

Much of George Fox's 108-acre campus is green space open to the public.

Economic Impact Study

A 2015 economic study of Yamhill and Washington counties found that George Fox was responsible for approximately $140,065,887 of the local economy’s income in 2014, including nearly $111 million in “direct” spending and more than $29 million in “indirect” spending – income and jobs created through the spending of students and university employees.

Results were derived using the Bureau of Economic Analysis’ Regional Input-Output Modeling System (RIMS II), a standard model applied by economic development practitioners.

The university’s sources of income and spending in the local economy considered in the report included revenue from undergraduate and graduate tuition, spending on new buildings, undergraduate student spending, capital and operating expenditures, and employees’ salaries and benefits.

The full report can be viewed here and a story on the university's economic impact is available at this link.