Launching in the 2025-2026 academic year, Residence Life will now collaborate with the office for Academic Civic Engagement (ACE) on a new housing initiative: the Neighbors with Neighbors Program. Through this new program, students will have the opportunity to apply for an off-campus housing release so long as they identify a community engagement project to partake in throughout the duration of their stay. The program aims to create a synergy between St. Olaf and the greater Northfield community while also providing students with more housing opportunities.
“When assessing the residential college model and opportunities to support students’ housing options, [we] wanted to find an impactful way by which students slated to be in their last year at the college could choose to live off-campus… service to the local community was identified to be ideal,” said Associate Dean of Students for Residence Life, Christopher Medley in an email interview with The Olaf Messenger. “Partnering with ACE to synergize the college service and commitment to the community was the logical next step.”
Community engagement projects must be located within Rice County and students must work a minimum of four hours a month at their identified service site. “Students are first invited to think about what might be most meaningful to them. What issues do they care about? What might they already be involved with?” said ACE Program Director Alyssa Melby in an email interview with The Olaf Messenger. “Students can find opportunities to join a service student organization on Presence, look through the Northfield Share volunteer hub, or fulfill the hours through a community-based work study position.”
Eligible students will also participate in a “Northfield 101” orientation, which educates participants on the history of Northfield and the greater Rice County area while encouraging them to contemplate their role within those communities. “The session will also provide some critical frameworks to move beyond a ‘charity’ mindset to a ‘solidarity’ mindset in how we view living and working alongside others, particularly those who might have a different background than our own,” Melby said.
Both Residence Life and ACE hope to see greater connections between students and local community members. “The goals are to move students beyond just seeing Northfield as a place they happen to live in for four years to a place where many people live, including them, and that they can actively contribute to in meaningful ways,” Melby said. “I hope that people get to see St. Olaf students stepping up and giving back alongside our neighbors to ensure that everyone in our community can thrive.”
Applications for the Neighbors with Neighbors program are due Dec. 10. To learn more, visit stolaf.edu/residencelife.
