Engaged civic learning has significant, positive impact on nursing students' confidence, social skills, and appreciation of diversity. Students become better equipped to recognize the causes and innovative solutions to complex social problems, while they develop critical workplace skills and use their voices as professional nurses. They become effective change agents by participating directly in service, capacity building, advocacy, and evidence-based, participatory research — all core parts of the Rutgers–Camden student experience.
There are multiple ways to engage in civic learning initiatives as a nursing student at Rutgers–Camden. Find one that’s right for you!
Offers outreach opportunities for cross-sector stakeholders to better understand the vision and goals that Camden residents have for a healthy community. Provides high-level insights and concrete strategies to improve public health through policy and planning-based tools — and to promote health as a priority for Camden’s future growth and development.
Partnering with the Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine on the New Jersey Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program (NJGWEP), which aims to educate students about the complex care often required by older adults through experiential learning at Northgate II, a low-income apartment complex in North Camden that is home to many senior citizens. Students work collaboratively across disciplines to deliver team based care to a vulnerable community.
A project of the Camden Collaborative Initiative focused on policy and environmental change that directly affects the quality of life, health, and well-being of the residents of Camden. Initiatives are designed to offer residents the opportunity to pursue the healthiest life possible.
Together with the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers, we offer an immersive curriculum for first-year nursing students that ensures they develop measurable knowledge and skills in complex community-based care, workforce development in public health nursing, the social determinants of population health, and health system transformation.
An interdisciplinary coalition of Rutgers University–Camden campus programs joined forces to create an award-winning certificate program that prepare nurses and other health providers to communicate with Spanish-speaking patients. Enrolled students participate in bi-lingual community health screenings, such as the diabetes awareness days hosted by The Salvation Army Kroc Center in Camden’s Cramer Hill neighborhood.
The USDA calls Camden a “food desert” since it has just one supermarket for 77,000 residents — 40% of whom live below the poverty level. As part of a ongoing community health project, Clinical Assistant Professor Kathy Jackson partners with New Jersey Farmers Against Hunger & the Housing Authority of the City of Camden to bring fresh produce to more than 500 low-income housing units.
Clinical Assistant Professor Kathy Prihoda oversees a collaboration between our students and the community, with a special focus on at-risk, pre-school populations. Prihoda and her students deliver health outreach, screenings, and education through partnerships with Head Start programs led by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Trenton and the Center for Family Services, which provides Head Start programs throughout Camden and the surrounding county.
As a member of Public Health AmeriCorps, Rutgers Camden School of Nursing has the opportunity to provide nursing students a chance to gain a deeper insight into the connection between civic engagement, equity, and improving health and wellness — allowing students to simultaneously earn a living stipend and credit toward clinical.
In Fall 2024, Dr. Rachel Derr, Rutgers–Camden nursing students, and Cooper Medical School physicians and students launched the SPARKS initiative, funded by a South Jersey Institute of Population Health grant. They visited Camden elementary schools to educate 4th graders about stroke symptoms and the importance of calling 911. SPARKS empowers young learners to recognize strokes early, aiming to improve community health outcomes.
Rutgers–Camden offers a variety of challenging and rewarding Learning Abroad, Scholar Exchange, and Certificate Programs across the globe that give nursing students exposure to international perspectives in classroom learning, nursing care, and health care innovation.