Madison House serves as the student volunteer center for University of Virginia students to address the diverse needs of the community as well as the educational and personal growth objectives of college students. The service programs of Madison House strive to achieve its mission through:
• Collaborating with community agencies to achieve their mission by providing volunteer human resources.
• Empowering and training student leaders to recruit, train, match, and supervise student volunteers.
• Encouraging students to make a weekly commitment to service.
• Providing students with a meaningful volunteer experience, which allows them to gain a different perspective and greater understanding of community and themselves.
• Fostering the development of volunteer spirit, teamwork, civic participation and empathy.
• Improving the quality and development of services through on-going evaluation by community members, students, and the Madison House Board of Directors.
The Three-fold Mission of Madison House
Leadership Development
Madison House has developed a systematic, multi-tiered approach to leadership and volunteer management. Through a train-the-trainer model, the staff of four teaches leadership skills to 170 student leaders who then recruit, train, place and manage the weekly service of 3,300 volunteers. Our student leaders are chosen by their peers through a competitive selections process to lead one of Madison House's 16 programs.
Tradition of Service
Madison House volunteers serve our partnering community agencies on a scheduled weekly basis. Students do not receive any financial compensation, grades or course credit for their service. Through their service, students build mutually beneficial relationships with people of different backgrounds and life situations. Each year, these student volunteers contribute 110,000 hours of service valued at over 2 million dollars to the agencies. Over 50% of University of Virginia undergraduates will volunteer with Madison House at some point during their college career. The tradition of service continues when they leave the University as they become active members in their own communities.
Community Partnerships
Madison House has partnerships with 70 community agencies that are planned for effective and strategic purposes. Community agencies estimate that Madison House volunteers impact the lives of over 17,000 of their clients. We collaborate with agencies that are able to accommodate the skills and academic schedules of college students. At each of our partner agencies, a coordinator develops job descriptions for Madison House volunteers and provides mentoring for our student program directors. Through an annual agreement, community partners and Madison House develop specific goals and objectives for the program.
