At Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center, elementary school students participate in Outdoor School programs that immerse them in hands-on environmental learning. In South Williamsport, Penn College paramedic students steady gurneys and radios during the crush of the Little League Baseball World Series. Across Pennsylvania’s cities and campus communities, families and students open the Free Food Map to find the nearest pantry or meal site in their neighborhood.
All three examples, and thousands more like them, are newly represented in the Penn State Community Impact Map, which Penn State Outreach is sharing with the University community to visualize where and how Penn Staters engage across Pennsylvania. The latest update includes nearly 4,000 activities and more than 50 million total engagements, with views filtered by county, Pennsylvania House and Senate districts, and U.S. congressional districts.
To underscore the significance of the newly expanded dataset, Vice President for Outreach Larry Terry said the growth reflects the collective effort of faculty and staff across the University.
“We want to take a moment to thank everyone across the University for their contributions and updates to the Community Impact Map,” Terry said. “The map helps illustrate Penn State's collective community engagement across impact categories and campuses and aligns with the University's presidential goals. It gives University leadership a clear view of how our work is reaching communities across the commonwealth and supports strategic planning and reporting efforts.”
The map’s entries demonstrate the breadth of Penn State’s impact across the commonwealth, reflecting work from every campus, college and major administrative unit. Activities range from outreach programs and K–12 partnerships to public facing research, arts and cultural events, community health initiatives, and large-scale collaborations with local governments, nonprofits and statewide agencies. These efforts take place in rural, suburban and urban communities across all 67 Pennsylvania counties, underscoring Penn State’s role as a land-grant institution serving the entire state.
Penn State campuses, colleges, units, departments, centers and institutes are encouraged to continue to review existing activities and submit new ones. Updates ensure continued visibility on the map, and the new academic year toggle allows users to compare activities across years.
Units also are asked to coordinate with co-owners to avoid duplicate submissions for shared activities. Instructions, submission guidelines and access to the activities dashboard are available on the Community Impact Map page on the Penn State Outreach website.
The Penn State Community Impact Map was created in collaboration with Continuing Education and Workforce Development; Penn State Outreach; University Libraries; Office of the Vice President for Commonwealth Campuses; Penn State Dickinson Law; Penn State Health; College of Medicine; Office of the Senior Vice President for Research; Broader Impacts Committee; Office of Government and Community Relations; Strategic Communications; Penn State Extension; College of Agricultural Sciences; Faculty Affairs; K-12 Education; Office of Planning, Assessment, and Institutional Research; Penn State Sustainability; Invent Penn State; College of Education; Penn State Museum Consortium; and Social Science Research Institute.