USD students in Dr. Mercado's LATS 494 Día de Muertos and Community course collaborated with members of the Jardín Mixteco (Mixtec Garden) in Linda Vista. The collaboration revolved around teaching art workshops in the community. Workshops were created to make papier mâché sculptures with the theme of the Day of the Dead. Community members and USD students worked together to share important knowledge about this celebration. The art was in preparation for the celebrations and altars taking place in the Mixtec community and at the USD campus. Students and community members collaborated, exchanging ideas for art-making, sharing at least two art-making workshops, coordinating visits to each other's altars, and learning about the celebration of Day of the Dead among Mixtecs in diaspora.

Friends of Friendship Park is developing a community-based archive to preserve the rich history of Friendship Park—a cross-border site located on the traditional homeland of the Kumeyaay/Kumiai Nation. This archive seeks to begin telling the full story of Friendship Park and those who enjoy it, gathering disparate materials from community members, artists, transnational families, and community activists. In its early stages, the archive committee is learning to inventory collections and engaging the community. Students from COMM 370: Rhetoric supported this effort by creating informational sheets using Maria Teresa Fernandez’s artwork and insights from community organizers Natalia Ventura, Nanzi Medrano, and Fernandez herself. They also helped organize La Posada sin Fronteras at the border fence.

In a collaboration between Sandra Sgoutas-Emch's PSYC 357 Health Psychology class at USD and Patrick Meehan's 7th-grade English class at Montgomery Middle School in Linda Vista, teams engaged in the co-creation of an interactive health fair presentation for Montgomery students. Teams made up of both USD and Montgomery students met throughout the semester to design an age- and culturally relevant presentation as well as interactive activities for the fair. This project educated students on what the concern is and why it is relevant to pre-teens, what can be done, where help and advice can be obtained (names, organizations, internet addresses, phone numbers, etc.), solutions to the problem and anything to draw people’s attention to the issue. The goals were aimed at giving students an opportunity to learn more about health issues and how communities work together to support the wellness of a community.

For this initiative students in Carlton O'Neil's MKTG 300 Fundamentals of Marketing course learned about ongoing ILVI initiatives in October. The student teams developed a marketing plan—putting into practice the marketing knowledge acquired during the first half of the course—with one of the ILVI partner organizations, as ILVI co-directors helped them co-create an initiative. In the fall semester a student team developed a marketing plan to help raise funds to support the “I’m a Scientist” After-School Science Program at Linda Vista Elementary. This involved holding a fundraising event at Skate World in the spring semester.

This ongoing initiative involves USD Nursing courses MEPN 546P and 547P, where 6–8 students complete clinical hours at Bayside Community Center. Through weekly meetings across two terms, students build meaningful relationships with Bayside’s diverse clients—many of whom are isolated seniors. In addition to leading weekly health-focused activities, students help organize the annual Holiday Party, creating a positive, inclusive event that benefits both the community and the students.

Dr. Smith's MEPN 547 Care of Populations Theory and Practicum class collaborated with the LV Universal Methodist Church to offer a health fair. This event targeted interventions for vulnerable communities that include the following: flu vaccination, blood pressure screening, health and nutrition education, behavioral health strategies, 1st aid/hand’s only CPR/emergency preparedness and chronic disease management tools. The event seeked to engage the local LV UMC community members and activate them with shared collaboration for health promotion and risk-reduction along with improving access to care and resources. This initiative prioritized reducing health disparity and improving health equity with the LV community.

This is a multi-year ongoing collaboration in which USD students in the PSYC 360 Psychology of Stress course work with a class of 7th graders at Montgomery on managing different types of stress. Collectively, the students co-create stress management workshops. The students at

Montgomery read The Outsiders and discuss how life circumstances impact people. The USD students help educate the 7th graders on how to manage stress and cope with various life situations related to economic factors, relationships, the environment, and academics. In November the initiative participants hold workshops for the entire seventh grade at Montgomery. The collaboration involves three in-person meetings and three virtual meetings in addition to the two-hour culminating workshop.

Students from the USD Chemistry and Biochemistry Club and Ellis Bell’s and Jessica Bell’s courses design science experiments aimed at promoting the sciences among children in the community. In collaboration with partners Luan Pham and Jeff Davis at the Linda Vista Branch Library, the team holds “Super Science Saturday” events for kids grades 3 to 5 and their parents at the library. The children learn to see science everywhere in their daily lives through fun and exciting hands-on experiments guided by the USD students, who learn how to make science more accessible to the general public and community residents of all ages.

USD staff, students, and faculty worked in close collaboration with Carson STEAM Magnet Elementary School to create a Family STEAM night for the school’s families and the community. The USD students, in collaboration with some Carson teachers and inspired by the concepts they are learning in their classes, prepare activities for the students and their families to explore. This project engages the community families in exploration and learning experiences together and allows all the students to enjoy STEAM activities. USD students both strengthen their understanding of the concepts they are learning in class and become familiar with the assets of the Linda Vista community while engaging in meaningful ways with their peers, staff, faculty, and the community outside of the classroom.

The “I’m a Scientist” After-School Science Program was initiated in Spring 2024. It is led by USD students in the STEM Outreach Club under the guidance of biology professor Dr. Laura Rivard and in collaboration with Linda Vista STEAM Magnet elementary school staff. The goal of the program is for Linda Vista Elementary school students to develop a love for science by engaging in fun interactive STEM activities together with positive role models, gaining the interests, skills, and confidence they need to pursue continued education and/or a career in STEM fields. This school year, Linda Vista Elementary offered both a fall and a spring session serving a total of 50 students.

Theatre and Community is the capstone project for theatre majors at USD in which they learn and practice the art of community-based theatre. Working with San Diego Rescue Mission, students facilitate a series of events during which they share snacks, fun theatre games, and stories. The theatre students (and often one or two brave community participants) improvise the stories. USD students are required to write a short scene or play inspired by the Playback Theatre event and the stories that were shared. They bring the drafts of the scripts back to the partner organization for a table reading during which they collect feedback from Rescue Mission participants. USD students must implement that feedback into their scripts before the final presentation.

In this initiative USD students in Jennifer Tillman's PHIL 346 Public Health Ethics course collaborate with the Bayside staff and residents in Linda Vista to identify public health areas—emphasizing the local neighborhood and practical applications—in which to develop initiatives that will promote positive outcomes. In general, this course focuses on various issues in public health, which includes population level health, community engagement, epidemiology, health behavior, local policy work, health disparities, and social determinants of health, among others.

"Visualizing Our Roots" is a five-week summer art program for low-income, first-generation college-bound high school students from Linda Vista and City Heights, part of the University of San Diego’s TRIO Upward Bound program. Participants will explore their cultural and migration histories through research and painting modular panels. These panels will be displayed as a unified centerpiece at the 41st Annual Linda Vista Multi-Cultural Fair & Parade in April 2026 and annually thereafter. The project builds on the legacy of the “World Arts Village” mural, inviting a new generation to celebrate identity and heritage through public art. The course includes visual research, storytelling, and studio practice, helping students build confidence, artistic skills, and community pride.

This community-focused section of ENGR 103: User-Centered Design engages students in co-developing assistive technologies with the blind and low vision community in San Diego. Since 2018, it has emphasized equity-driven, real-world problem solving through a co-design approach. Recently, the focus has shifted to creating non-GPS navigation solutions for both indoor and outdoor use. Students work closely with community partners, analyze existing technologies, and develop prototypes. The course ends with a public presentation where students share their concepts with organizations like the Braille Institute, Blind Community Center, and others, encouraging feedback and collaboration for future development.