For the first time ever, the University at Buffalo Freshmen Honors Colloquium will focus 100% on the city rather than dispersing throughout the region. That means that over 300 honors students will dedicate upwards of 10,000 hours of community service in Buffalo, working with organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, Compass House, PUSH and ReUse. The Service Learning Program has been picking up speed over the years, and each year there has been more and more emphasis placed upon cultivating strong relationships with urban organizations.

In the past, there has been a disconnect between a vast majority of the University students and the city. Many have even graduated without even discovering that there was a city at their doorstep - understandably so, given that most students go to classes and live far from the urban core with few readily available transportation options available to them. The required Service Learning Program immerses the students not only into the volunteer world, it also introduces them to a city that is unfamiliar (yet very welcoming). It is the hope of the university that the students will help contribute to Buffalo's revitalization and ultimately consider it a place to live, work and hopefully love.