Hundreds of Students Flock to Cincinnati for Community Service

Teenagers from across U.S. to visit region for weeks of service; partner with local organizations

Cincinnati, Ohio – More than 900 Jr. high and high school students from all over the country will be traveling to Cincinnati, Ohio June 15-19 and July 13-17 to participate in a number of service projects throughout town.

The groups will be joining Joplin, MO-based Christ In Youth and partnering with Cincinnati-based organizations and ministries to help serve citizens around town in a variety of ways. There are 12 specific organizations that the visiting students will work alongside while in town, including:

While working alongside these organizations, students will paint homes, serve food to the homeless, cultivate community gardens, build new homes, clear out overgrowth in parks and ultimately learn what it means to be Kingdom workers within a community.

“Any student can be a Kingdom worker wherever they’re at,” said Ben Hedger, Director of Engage for CIY. “They can create a farmers market or work with people in the community to get food to people who need it. They can find ways to be working with their schools to help meet needs in their districts. Challenges of how to meet the needs of the community are questions that today’s students should be asking, and we want to create weeks that cultivate relationships with some of the organizations that are working to address these needs so that when students go back home they’ll have this Christ-centered example of how to be a Kingdom worker in their own homes, schools and communities.”

These weeks in Cincinnati are just two out of 13 similar weeks that will take place in cities all over the country. CIY also coordinates mission trips to locations all over the world, and hundreds of students will be traveling to countries such as Cambodia and Honduras this summer.

For more information about CIY or Engage, please visit www.ciy.com/engage.

Featured

  • Can AI Help Build Stronger Communities in Student Housing?

    Student housing success is shifting from operational performance to student experience, with belonging now at the center. A recent 2025 report underscores a growing emphasis on student well-being, community, and engagement, signaling that expectations now extend beyond logistics to ensure students feel supported in their living environments. AI is enabling that shift by reducing administrative workload and giving teams more time to focus on meaningful student engagement.

  • Philadelphia Middle School Facility Earns LEED Gold Certification

    The Alternative Middle Years (AMY) at James Martin Middle School in Philadelphia, Penn., recently received a LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, according to a news release. The School District of Pennsylvania partnered with KSS Architects on the project.

  • Tennessee Middle School Completes Health, Life Safety Renovations

    The Giles County Board of Education in Pulaski, Tenn., recently announced that a series of renovation projects has been completed at Bridgeforth Middle School, according to a news release. The district partnered with Wold Architects & Engineers and Brindley Construction to modernize building systems at one of the district’s oldest schools.

  • Virginia Tech Tops Out New College of Engineering Building

    Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., recently celebrated the topping out of Mitchell Hall, which will soon stand as the largest College of Engineering building on campus, according to a news release. The university partnered with Skanska on the 285,500-square-foot facility, which has an expected completion date of winter 2028.