For more than 50 years, Global Communities (formerly Project Concern International/PCI) has partnered with San Diego schools to bring global learning to life—connecting students with people who are solving real-world challenges and providing opportunities for meaningful engagement beyond the classroom.
Our Global Learning Lab complements classroom education through speaker engagement, academic and service learning, and volunteer pathways that link local action with global impact.
Each partnership is co-designed with schools and tailored to reflect their academic and community priorities.
ENGAGEMENT OPPORTUNITIES
Global Communities partners with schools to co-create meaningful, real-world learning experiences designed around your students, your curriculum, and your goals. Whether starting with a single engagement or building toward a multi-year journey, our approach is flexible, collaborative, and built to grow with your students.
Speaker Series & Classroom Engagement
Bring global perspectives directly into the classroom.
Schools can schedule interactive sessions with Global Communities leaders and practitioners, tailored by age group and aligned with curriculum topics such as innovation, global health, human trafficking, education, food security, financial inclusion/opportunity, and humanitarian response.
Local Service Learning
Connect to issues impacting our community.
San Diego is a global community, and students experience that firsthand with opportunities designed as service-learning projects, connecting students to community-driven work while supporting local programs, events, and partners. Students engage with Global Communities’ programs where they learn alongside communities whose experiences reflect global challenges and solutions.
Immersive Global Learning & Travel
Extend learning beyond the classroom.
Students and faculty can engage with Global Communities’ programs around the world through immersive service learning experiences in locations like Guatemala, India, Kenya and Tanzania. These educational adventures are designed to foster critical inquiry, deepen students’ understanding of how communities solve real-world challenges, and strengthen both cultural understanding and human connection.
Student Projects & Applied Learning
Turn learning into action.
Global Communities provides rich content and guidance for capstone and research projects, supporting students to apply classroom concepts to real world challenges. Whether a standalone experience or connected to immersive global learning, these opportunities encourage students to explore ideas, think both critically and creatively, and apply rigorous research methodologies.
Students become real world problem solvers, tackling challenges faced by Global Communities or our partner communities, whether that’s, for example, mapping climate-related vulnerabilities, developing strategies to expand girls’ access to education, evaluating AI tools for low-resource healthcare settings, or designing cost-effective marketing and fundraising strategies.
Preparing Students for a Connected World
Learning that lasts beyond the classroom.
Through these experiences, students engage with diverse perspectives and real-world contexts that deepen their understanding of today’s interconnected world. They build curiosity, confidence, and critical thinking—gaining not just knowledge, but deeper awareness of how communities around the world create and implement solutions. From classroom to community and beyond, students leave with the skills, perspective, and inspiration to navigate and share the world around them.
Let’s Build Something Together!
We’d love to partner with you to create a global learning experience tailored to your school, students and community.
To learn more contact Uli Imhoff Heine at (858) 205-6102.