Thank You!

Thank you to all who came out on February 14th & 15th to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Project 2009; heralded as one of the largest one-day student and community-run service events in the nation.  
 
Established in 1999 by the Volunteer and Service Learning Center (VSLC) of The University of Texas at Austin, the Project is a collaborative effort between The University of Texas at Austin and Keep Austin Beautiful and a number of city, community and campus organizations.  Since its inception, the Project has involved over 18,000 student volunteers completing over 57,000 hours of direct service in ten Austin neighborhoods.
 
In celebration of the volunteer spirit and student commitment at The University of Texas at Austin, The University was selected as the site of the second annual Clinton Global Initiative-University (CGI-U) conference.  This three-day national leadership conference for college students was purposely scheduled in conjunction with the 10th anniversary of the Project. To coincide with the conference, Project 2009 became a two-day event with 50 service projects carried out over Saturday and Sunday throughout the Rosewood community in East Austin.  
 
Student volunteers painted homes, churches and businesses, planted trees and shrubs, cleared out weeds and garbage and removed graffiti.  The number of individual projects combined with their diverse locations and the collaboration with the Clinton Global Initiative University on Sunday, made Project 2009 the most complicated of all of the previous projects.
 
Project 2009 was made possible by the hard work of our community partners and our supporters including Home Depot and the University Federal Credit Union.

    

Related links:
President Powers Praises Students for Volunteering
Project 2009 Volunteer Effort Collaborates with Clinton Global Initiative
President Power’s CGI U Welcome Speech

About The Project

The Project is a premier service event at The University of Texas at Austin, designed by students to benefit the many Austin neighborhoods. Started by students who wanted to make a lasting community impact, the Project brings together students, faculty, and staff volunteers to complete a variety of community revitalization projects. Headquartered at a local elementary school or community center, jobs are spread throughout one neighborhood and include painting, landscaping, trash pick-up, constructing playground equipment, and other general projects specific to the site.

To date, the Project has involved over 18,000 volunteers and has contributed an estimated 57,000 hours of service in nine Austin neighborhoods.

There are THREE WAYS to be involved in the Project!

• General Volunteers sign up to participate in three-hour shifts or all day, and are assigned a duty upon arrival.
• Student Organizations can sign up as a group to work together on one project for the day, to be assigned upon arrival.
• Team Leads are responsible for directing a task on-site, and will be in charge of the volunteers assigned to that site. (2 day commitment).

The Project has won local and statewide awards acknowledging the scope of UT's efforts and the dedication of its volunteers, and in 2000 The Project earned the Keep America Beautiful National Award for Community Improvement.

Questions? Please email us or contact the VSLC at 512-471-6161.