Intimate groups: Before students even arrive on campus, 1YC arranges groups of 8 to 12 first-year students. These groups span racial, political, and other lines of diversity on campus.
Trained facilitators: Highly-skilled facilitators lead discussions on topics from identity to religion to core personal values. 1YC draws on the virtual methods honed over 20 years by Soliya, a Search affiliate organization.
Powerful skills: Students discuss differences, dig past labels and stereotypes, and build trust. By the end of 1YC, all incoming students have a shared ability to navigate conflict and hold hard conversations.
Ongoing growth: Students who have completed 1YC can train as facilitators for the next cohort of students. This continuity helps to plant empathy, collaboration, and listening in campus culture.
Healthy communities: By equipping thousands of students, 1YC builds a healthy community that is resilient in the face of violence, controversy, and identity threats.
College campuses have become a battleground for the polarization plaguing the U.S. When arriving on campus, many students encounter diversity in deep and intimate ways. Without the necessary tools, guidance, and support, students can struggle to navigate identity challenges. Debates about politics, race, and religion can fuel ugly dynamics: anger, self-censorship, and even hate crimes.
First Year Connect is a mandatory part of orientation for first-year college students. The goal is to equip students to engage constructively across their differences—racial, political, or otherwise. Even before starting classes, students gain the skills needed to build a healthy community.
As the world’s largest peacebuilding organization, Search for Common Ground has nearly 40 years of experience resolving deep-seated conflicts, while Soliya has pioneered a virtual exchange portal that enables cross-cultural connection. Together, Search and Soliya run 1YC to build trust and respect between students, encourage constructive discourse, and equip campuses to reinforce those norms long after the program has ended.
students participated during the first year of the 1YC pilot, which launched on two campuses
of the initial pilot funding coming from private foundations and philanthropists, with the remaining 1/3 coming from colleges themselves
of students who attended the entire pilot were glad to have participated
of students agreed that “1YC helped me begin to build meaningful relationships with my peers”
of students agreed that 1YC helped build their “active listening skills”
At this current moment in time, if we do anything for our students here...it should be First Year Connect
(University administrator at 1YC pilot campus)I initially didn’t want to [train as a 1YC facilitator] because I didn’t anticipate that I as a comms professor could learn anything. But I have found it to be really intensive, extensive, and worthwhile.
(Professor at 1YC pilot campus)I don’t think that I was expecting the program to go as deep as it is…. [T]he ideas and discussions we are having feel much more powerful than just getting to know each other on the surface.
(Student in 1YC pilot)I'm very glad that I signed up for it, especially after being hesitant at the start of it. We have come a long way in terms of communication and relating to one another.
(Student in a 1YC pilot)The platform encouraged vulnerability in a small group setting which I think is very hard to achieve with college students and even more meaningful when it's able to be cultivated.
(Student in a 1YC pilot)I enjoy talking to people that I may not normally meet...and hearing what they have to say on certain issues. It’s opened me up to other possibilities and viewpoints.
(Student in a 1YC pilot)
Search for Common Ground is the world’s largest non-governmental organization dedicated to peacebuilding. Nominated by the Quakers for the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize, its mission is to transform how the world deals with conflict, away from adversarial approaches and toward cooperative solutions.
Soliya is a non-profit organization that prepares the next generation with the skills, attitudes, and commitment to engage with difference constructively using interactive media technologies. Soliya is a leader in the virtual exchange field, serving as the EU’s virtual exchange partner through the Erasmus+ program and the Aspen Institute’s virtual exchange partner through the Stevens Institute.