Djennin Casab is a professional matchmaker.
As the Community-Engaged Learning Coordinator for the Learning, Equity, and Problem Solving for the Public Good (LEAPS) undergraduate program, Casab is responsible for pairing students with Detroit-based organizations for community-engaged internships.
“My main role is to create, develop, and nurture external partnerships so that our students can be matched according to community-defined needs and student interests,” says Casab, who draws on years of experience working in Detroit in the higher education field with a focus on community-engaged learning. She emphasizes that each relationship with an organization is a partnership.
“Community partners are fulfilling a function of need in the city—whether it’s tackling homelessness, food deserts, or education—anything that is a societal need. Our students have different interests. My role is to match them with organizations and supervise the relationships to make sure that they are mutually beneficial.”
According to Program Chair Barry Fishman, community-engaged learning is the heart of the LEAPS program. “One of the most effective ways to learn is through application. LEAPS students are actively building connections between their classroom-based learning and their community-engaged learning. This creates both more engagement and more meaningful learning.”
In the winter semester of their freshman year, the first cohort of LEAPS students engaged with partner organizations across the city of Detroit, including the Coalition on Temporary Shelter and Google Code Next.
COTS was founded in 1982 when a group of local churches and local leaders observed a rise in homelessness among single men.
