Welcome to SPACE, an online journal that promotes student service-learning and civic engagement experiences in metropolitan Chicago. SPACE invites students to submit manuscripts about their service-learning and civic engagement experiences. Our goal is to publish scholarly and reflective writing that enlightens service-learning and civic engagement practitioners and scholars about student experiences that extend beyond the classroom and into communities.

We publish work from students who seek to extend their learning through reflection, by connecting their experiences to extant research, and/or by conducting their own research through their civic experiences. All papers that reflect a service-learning or civic engagement course experience will be considered.

Topics of interest include:

Aging
Children and Youth
Community Development
Community Organizing
Criminal Justice
Diversity, Environment
Food Access
Housing and Homelessness
Immigrants and Refugees
Public Education
Public Policy
Social Justice

SPACE 2025 Call for Papers

The editorial team of SPACE seeks creative and critical work by all those engaged with service learning, be it as an undergraduate or graduate student, as faculty or staff, or as a professional within the community. We invite submissions for our 2025 issue that engage with the intersections of legislation, policy, and curriculum, particularly as our nation’s schools and libraries see a rise in book bans, challenges to curriculum content, and policies that outline whose histories can be taught in schools.

Deadline for Submissions

Please submit a paper abstract of a minimum of 150 words

Priority deadline: March 31

Final Deadline: April 15

If your paper abstract is selected by the editors, you will be contacted and asked to submit a full copy of your article, which will then be reviewed