The University Community Service Center (UCSC) has partnered with the Institute of Politics (IOP) to double the size of Chicago Bound, the UCSC’s preorientation weeklong service program. The expansion comes in light of high demand for the two-year-old program, which received 108 applications for 20 spots for the 2013 cohort.

According to UCSC Director and Associate Dean of Students in the University Amy Chan, the UCSC began considering an expansion of the program after administering a survey to previous participants about the effect of the program on their time at the University.

“It has really encouraged the involvement in service and volunteering on and off campus,” she said.

The IOP will provide financial, programmatic, and staff support to Chicago Bound. The IOP’s Director of Partnerships and Engagement Dillan Siegler said the IOP, now involved in planning the week, will add some site visits and will have a staff member serve as a program manager. The program will also create the position of IOP Chicago Bound Ambassadors, students from the cohort, to connect first-years to UCSC and IOP programming throughout the year. Siegler said she learned of the program though her work on the UCSC advisory board and thought Chicago Bound aligns with the IOP’s mission as well as the UCSC’s.

“The UCSC designed and really built a foundation for this program, and it’s very well-run, and the Institute of Politics is able to really double the size of this program by contributing a little bit financially as well as providing some staff support, and that’s a huge value add for both of our departments as well as for the 40 students who will now have that opportunity,” she said.

2013 Chicago Bound participant and UCSC advisory board member Stephen Landry, who is also highly involved in the IOP and will serve as a Chicago Bound 2014 group leader, said he wants to further develop the relationship between the UCSC and IOP.

“The IOP is obviously really new, and the UCSC is trying to expand, so I don’t think there’s a really solid relationship [between them] right now, and that’s definitely something I want to work on as a member of the Advisory Board, as a member of the Student Executive Board, establishing this really strong relationship, because there really should be one,” he said. ­—Sarah Manhardt