The four-week SUSI academic residency at Green River College includes several visits to local not-for-profit organizations whose mission and activities are relevant to the academic program.

USI participants volunteer by performing habitat restoration at Northwest Trek.

You will have opportunities to meet and interact with Americans of diverse backgrounds at women's organizations, community groups, business, industry, local government and non-government organizations, schools, outreach and social service organizations, for example. It is important that you understand how American communities approach service to the community, including volunteerism, charitable giving, and community outreach and how they provide social services and serve the less fortunate in our society, not only those experiencing financial hardship, but also those in the midst of dispossession, victimized by domestic violence, or struggling to manage long term issues.

You will visit organizations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Tacoma YWCA. In addition to learning about the operations of community service organizations, participants will volunteer at the Auburn Food Bank, Elk Run Farm, and perform habitat restoration along the Green River.