Where Classwork Meets Community: Janney Carpenter’s Social Impact and Sustainability Lab

Each spring, Professor Janney Carpenter’s Social Impact and Sustainability Lab offers students a unique opportunity: ten weeks of hands-on project work that connects classroom theory with engaged community work. Within the first few seminars, students are introduced to leaders from local and global institutions that face real-world challenges, like nonprofits, funders and impact investors, and other social enterprises. Soon after, students partner with these organizations, gaining hands-on experience that often kicks off a new career with renowned institutions like the American Red Cross, the Gates Family Foundation, and others. 

This class’s designation as a “lab” is a meaningful one. The stakes are real, the deadlines matter, and the work students produce doesn’t sit on a shelf. It influences how organizations make decisions about sustainability, funding, and community impact. 

“I come up with students’ projects by working with the client ahead of time,” Professor Carpenter said. “I develop a scope of work for each project and then present everything to the students. They rank which ones they like the most. Then, I put them into teams, which gives them about eight weeks of project work.” 

With Professor Carpenter’s scope of work in hand, students develop a plan together and communicate directly with the client. Most of the time, their projects involve systems mapping, which tasks students with understanding how the organization works and identifying key stakeholders, partners, and obstacles. Current Korbel graduate student Aidan Smith, who recently shared his experience as an AmeriCorps fellow, used this class to interview internal staff at the American Red Cross. 

“Aidan and his team partner did interviews locally,” Professor Carpenter said. “They spoke with Veterans Affairs (VA) offices for the Red Cross, and they identified an issue I’d never considered. The VA was going digital, moving all appointments and announcements online. But that was excluding people who were less digitally inclined, particularly seniors. Aidan and his partner figured that out and became part of the solution. They connected the VA with nonprofits who specialize in helping seniors get more comfortable with digital tools.” 

Aidan’s story is one of many. Another graduate student and AmeriCorps fellow, Kip Newman, worked with the African Community Center — a refugee resettlement organization — by helping them grapple with new funding challenges under the current administration. Others worked with a D.C.-based B Corp, Cambium Carbon, to help create a supply chain that transports chopped wood from cities into a supply chain that turns trash into recycled products. The scope of these projects highlights the many paths that students can take, and with Professor Carpenter at the helm, every project leaves a tangible mark on the organizations and communities they serve. 

Before joining Korbel as an adjunct professor, Professor Carpenter started at JPMorgan in Corporate Finance. She eventually took those skills into three decades of consulting work at the intersection of finance, philanthropy, sustainability, and education. As an expert in all these fields, she knows firsthand what today’s organizations need from emerging professionals. 

“I teach students to ask the right questions in these spaces, which isn’t easy,” she shared. “How do you balance social or environmental impact goals with financial sustainability? How can organizations develop strategy with insights and feedback from customers and communities?   How can you align strategy with available funding resources?   How do you choose and measure the indicators of progress? All organizations need data for continual learning so they can adapt to changing market conditions and client needs. 

But Professor Carpenter insists those challenges mirror the realities of social impact work. One common revelation for students is that scaling an organization — particularly a nonprofit — isn’t always about growth. “There are lots of ways to scale impact,” she said. “It could be increasing awareness, sharing information to inform policy decisions, or finding corporate funding partners.” 

Based on her course evaluations, Professor Carpenter shared the biggest takeaway students often have: “You don’t design the best solutions in a conference room. You do it by going out there and talking to people. That’s what this class helps students do, sometimes for the first time. Building the communities you want to see starts by being a part of them.” 

The Social Impact and Sustainability Lab is a prime example of what makes Korbel distinctive: rigorous academic training that’s applied to solving real problems with practitioners in the field. Learn more about our master’s programs to see how you can gain the skills to make a greater impact in your career and community.