SBC is a University of Cincinnati student organization. We exist in order to fill a need within the population of students at UC. As a student group, our true mission is and must remain with students. The University has given us a great deal of support in our efforts. The members of the Board of Trustees at UC donate $50,000 of personal funds to sponsor the first house built in Lanett, Alabama in March of 2007. Various staff members throughout the University aid in many of our efforts to get funding, submit paperwork, and assure that we are meeting the necessary guidelines and fulfilling our mission of serving students in the best way.

More and more staff members and departments are learning about what we do and are becoming eager to get on board. We are in the midst of forming a partnership with the Romance Language department so that students majoring and skilled in the languages spoken at SBC travel locations, who are also interested in our service opportunities, can receive credit for acting as official translators for the group. A group within the college of business is working on forming a summer class experience partially based on SBC's trips to Mexico. We receive funding for ground transportation, some registration costs, and various supplies from the University Funding Board. Not to mention, UC generously provides us with a never ending supply of fresh new students eager to make an impact in the world and accomplish something meaningful.


Center for Community Engagement

The CCE is an office at the University of Cincinanti which has supported SBC since the beginning. Previous directors of the CCE were the originators and leaders of Alternative Break trips at the University of Cincinnati and served to inspire and shape the mission and focus of Serve Beyond Cincinnati. In the past, the CCE office has helped SBC with funding, promotions, and personel to aid in the growth and success of SBC.


Methodist Border Friendship Commission

The University of Cincinnati has been working with the Methodist Border Friendship Commission since 1999 when the Center for Community Engagement began organizing Alternative Spring Break trips for eager university students. SBC took over ASB in March 2006 with a trip to Saltillo, Mexico where we built three homes in one week in a severly impoverished neighborhood. Homes fabricated with scrap metal, wooden palletes, tarps, and rope were replaced with quality homes built with decent materials and a lot of love.

Serve Beyond Cincinnati now travels to Mexico during Winter and Spring Break every year to work on various construction projects. UC students have built single family homes, church and community buildings, bunk housing, bathroom facilities, and huricane proof roof systems accross Mexico. We have worked in cities from Reynosa on the border with Texas to Tuxpan, eight hours south on the Gulf Coast. Over the years, University of Cincinnati students have formed a lasting relationship with the people and projects in Mexico and have built a partnership that will continue well into the future.


Fuller Center for Housing

Serve Beyond Cincinnati began a strong partnership with the Fuller Center for Housing during the Alternative Spring Break trip to Lanett, Alabama in March 2007. SBC, with support from the University of Cincinnati had the privilege of building the first home in a 10 year, 500 house project to completely eliminate substandard housing in the Chattahoochie Valley area. SBC returned with a fresh group of students in December 2007 to build a "Home for the Holidays" in the same neighborhood and will continue to return to the Valley area through the completion of the project.

While in Alabama, SBC made connections with Trish Stoops who was starting a brand new housing project in El Salvador. A team of 15 students ventured on SBC's first trip to Central America in December 2007 to build homes 3 - 6 in a new, 100-home village in San Louis Talpa in conjunction with the Fuller Center and St. Joseph's Home for the Poor.

SBC's relationship with the Fuller Center continues to grow with new projects and an exchange of fresh ideas, inspiration, and the bond of improving quality of life for people around the world.


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