FAQs

No. Service hours must be earned from monthly, individual (e.g., Solo Service or Individual Pathways), or annual (e.g., #1Day4Dallas, Alternative Breaks) service opportunities hosted or supported by Engage Dallas.

 If you wish to use a combination of external volunteer hours and Engage Dallas hours, you may submit a petition to the Office of General Education for the Community Engagement proficiency.

It is possible. While Engage Dallas is the most readily available way for you to earn these proficiencies, other organizations such as Hilltop Scholars and Mustang Heroes offer ways to earn the proficiency.

Engage Dallas strives to make the process as simple as possible. By following the Engage Dallas Canvas Course, you are completing the necessary academic work required for approval of the Community Engagement or Civics and Individual Ethics Proficiency and Experience. Engage Dallas also organizes the service events so you can volunteer with students in your Residential Commons.

Yes, and you have a few options! Engage Dallas has three types of direct service that may be available to do on your own:

• Solo Service. Short volunteer projects done on your own with one of your Residential Commons' Community Partner(s). 

• Ex: pack food one Saturday, provide afterschool tutoring on Tuesday afternoons, staff a food pantry, answer phones on Tuesday mornings

• Individual Pathways. Longer commitments, normally 5 - 20 hours, to volunteer with one of your Residential Commons Community Partners. Usually, this type of service requires a specific skill or passion.

• Ex: redesigning a non-profit partners website, designing a marketing campaign for a large-scale fundraising event

• Internships. Summer commitments to serve with one of your commons Community Partners. Internships are paid experiences and do not count towards your required proficiency hours.

• Ex: serving as a social media coordinator for a STEM education program

Talk to your Engage Dallas Director about opportunities that may be available with your community partners. We also publish opportunities in the Engage Dallas Canvas Course under your Residential Commons group within the Find Opportunities module.

For general engagement hours, students can complete supplemental training in the Engage Dallas Canvas Course at any time.

Students are encouraged to volunteer within their Residential Commons. If you unable to attend the service events hosted within your Commons, talk to your Engage Dallas Director about opportunities available to complete service on your own or with another Commons.

Please note, while we do allow students to serve with another Commons, students that reside or are affiliated with the host commons will have priority if the service event is full.

Typically, yes. If the participant needs to arrive late or leave early, depending on the event, the student may be able to drive themselves, use a ride-sharing service, or take a DART train or bus. Talk to your Engage Dallas Director about your specific situation.

No. A student may participate in a general engagement opportunity at any time.

No. We prioritize direct service as being interactions with members of the South and West Dallas community. 

Faculty who are interested in supporting Engage Dallas within their coursework, can do so in various ways. Such as:

• Encouraging students to participate in a monthly service opportunity or an individual pathway.
• Faculty can select a community partner to work with for a semester, and we help to facilitate the partnership based on the course objectives and community partner missions..
• Faculty are also welcome to use Engage Dallas Canvas materials to supplement their teaching.
• Faculty can participate in research related to Engage Dallas topics and small research grants may be available.

If you would like to get connected, please email Engage Dallas at: engagedallas@mail.smu.edu

We are developing an hour-checker tool where you can request the number of direct and general engagement hours you've accrued at services events organized by Engage Dallas. Check back soon!

Please note, solo service and individual pathways service hours are not reflected in the report. Request your report here.

If you are using these service hours for the Community Engagement and/or Civics & Individual Ethics proficiencies, be sure to use the Engagement Hours Log form (available in Canvas). You are responsible for tracking your service hours to submit when you apply for your degree requirement.

Service opportunities are published on your Residential Common’s SMU 360 webpage. You can find all Engage Dallas service events listed on SMU360, filtered by the Engage Dallas category.

Individual service opportunities like Solo Service, Individual Pathways, and the Internship Program are shared through the Engage Dallas Canvas Course under your Residential Commons' homepage within the Find Opportunities module.

Community Partners were interviewed and selected based on several factors including:

• The partner’s capacity for volunteer service
• SMU’s ability to provide volunteer service to the partner
• The partner’s alignment with one of the residential commons’ social problems
• The geographic location in South and West Dallas that the partner serves

See a complete list of our Community Partners.

When Engage Dallas was launched in Fall 2020, research and focus groups were conducted within each Residential Commons to understand which Community Identified Need mattered most to those students and the Residential Commons’ identities.

Community Identified Needs where also selected with consideration to providing the greatest impact to Dallas, utilizing the Dallas’ Resilience strategies, and community partners present in Dallas and capacity for students to volunteer and serve.

Engage Dallas does not promote any specific political agenda. Students may encounter speakers, other volunteers, or neighbors who may share their opinions, including those of a political nature.

In these circumstances, it is important to recognize the value of having civil and constructive conversations, even those where differing opinions may be shared.

The 2-in-2 is an Engage Dallas pathway that allows students to earn two of the required proficiencies within their first two years at SMU. Through sustained participation in Engage Dallas, over the course of two years, students can earn both the Civics & Individual Ethics and Community Engagement proficiencies required for graduation.

Learn more here.

For those seeking to only earn the community engagement proficiency through Engage Dallas, 10 hours of direct service and five additional hours of direct service or general engagement (which can be done online) must be completed, totaling 15 engagement hours.

For those seeking to only earn the Civics and Individual Ethics proficiency through Engage Dallas, 15 general engagement hours must be earned, which can be done fully online through the Engage Dallas Canvas Course.

For those seeking to earn both the Community Engagement and Civics & Individual Ethics proficiencies through Engage Dallas, we encourage participation in the 2-in-2. Through this pathway, students are required to complete 10 hours of direct service, and 20 hours of either general engagement or direct service, or a combination of both. Learn more here.

Before a student can participate in direct service, there are a few requirements that must be completed first:

1. Login to Canvas: Don't see the course on your Canvas dashboard? Request the Engage Dallas Canvas course be added to your account.
1. To begin, sign in to Canvas.
2. Use your SMU ID and password as your login.
3. Select the Engage Dallas Canvas Course on your dashboard.
2. Watch The Basics Video: Mustangs that join Engage Dallas must understand the basics of the initiative and how we approach our work together.
3. Complete the Groundwork Training: We want to be helpful and not harmful in your service to the West and South Dallas community. Once you complete the learning modules in Canvas, you will see a flashing banner. At this point you are eligible to participate in direct service.

Each Residential Commons’ community identified need is intended to be a long-term commitment to the community that grows stronger over time. Community identified needs are inherently designed to address systemic and chronic problems our Dallas neighbors face.

Many of these problems have been present for decades. By actively focusing on one community-identified need, each Commons is positioned to provide a greater impact to the community over time.

Please note, community-identified needs are reviewed every five years and necessary adjustments are made based on the changing needs of the community, though many of the community-identified needs will remain.

Engage Dallas focuses on serving the following zip codes: 

• 75212 – West Dallas
• 75215 – Cedars/South Blvd, Park Row/Wheatley Place
• 75210 – Fair Park
• 75227 – Riverway Estates/Bruton Terrace/Parkdale
• 75217 – Pleasant Grove

When Engage Dallas was developed, extensive research was conducted into the areas of Dallas where the greatest impact could be made. We used city data and reports to identify communities with the greatest identified needs.

Focusing on an established geographic area can make it much easier to decide where to deploy resources and which partnerships to prioritize and thus increase the ability to form strong and sustainable partnerships of greater value to all stakeholders.

Transportation to monthly service events will be provided in the form of either car-pooling or ride share. However, participating in a solo-service or individual pathway, students will be responsible for their own transportation.