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Want your students to feel a sense of belonging on campus?

Helping them make real friendships makes all the difference. 

ProjectConnect has a proven track record for reducing loneliness and helping students make friends.


According to the National College Health Assessment, HALF of students are lonely, despite being surrounded by peers. You’ve probably witnessed the impact this has on their mental health, student experience, and retention.

Instead of hoping friendships develop on their own, we take an intentional approach, offering programs that make it easy for students to get to know each other and make friends. Our goal is for every student to have at least one close friend—and our programs work!

Students (and staff/faculty) who participate in ProjectConnect groups:

  • Are significantly less lonely than those who don’t.

  • Make new friends or deepen existing friendships. Students report making an average of 2 new friends.

  • Are more satisfied with the college, and more likely to feel the college cares about them as a person.

If you want students to thrive at college, help them build meaningful relationships.
We can help!

ProjectConnect Programs that Build Connection on Campus

1

Host a Talk, Workshop, or “Friending” Event

Want to help students (or staff and faculty) build connection quickly? Consider inviting ProjectConnect Founder, Jessica Gifford, to give a fun, engaging talk, workshop, or friend-making event.

2

Become a ProjectConnect Facilitator

Want to create a culture of connection that’s sustained over time? Consider becoming a Certified ProjectConnect Facilitator so that you can lead groups—year after year—that help participants connect and make friends.

3

Purchase the Secret to Making Friends in College Mini-Course

Want to set students up for better friendships? This 30-minute video series breaks down how to make friends, shares evidence-based strategies, and debunks common myths holding them back.

 
 

#2 on Princeton Review’s “Happiest Students” list.

Kansas State University has implemented ProjectConnect in a BIG way—over 1000 students, staff, and faculty have participated in groups! This is one of many initiatives that no doubt landed them at the top of the list.

 

Talks, Workshops & Friending Events

Did you know that over half of college students report feeling lonely? And the idea that they should be surrounded by friends, having “the best four years of their lives” only increases their sense of isolation.

Students crave deeper, more meaningful friendships, but aren’t sure how to go about making them.

If you’d like a quick introduction to why we’re in a loneliness crisis, and how to create deeper, closer friendships, invite ProjectConnect Founder, Jessica Gifford, to give an engaging, funny, and practically useful talk or workshop. Participants will leave feeling less alone, with simple, actionable steps for making friends in a fraction of the time.

Sample talk and workshop titles:

  • The Secret to Making Friends in College

  • The Friendship Formula: how to have deeper, more meaningful relationships

  • Friends with Benefits (but not the kind you’re thinking)!

Fun, inspiring, connecting, and useful!
— Greenfield community college audience member

Friending Pop-Ups

If you’re looking for something more experiential, consider hosting a friending event. It’s like a speed dating, but without the dating or the speed 😂! Seriously, real connection takes more than a few minutes. At a friending pop-up, participants meet in small groups of 4-5 (relieving the pressure of 1:1 interaction) for 45 minutes or so. Groups are given a “menu” of question prompts to guide the conversation (relieving the anxiety of what to talk about). This structure helps participants move beyond small talk and makes it more introvert-friendly. Friending Pop-Ups are a great way to introduce (and get participants to sign up for) 6-session ProjectConnect groups.

We’ve helped 100+ campuses build stronger connection and community.

 

Facilitate ProjectConnect groups

Participating in ProjectConnect groups has been shown to significantly reduce loneliness and help students make friends. If you want to give students ongoing opportunities to create meaningful connections, consider training a group of students, staff, and/or faculty to become ProjectConnect group facilitators. Once certified, they can lead ProjectConnect groups on campus year after year.

My time as a ProjectConnect Facilitator is no doubt among some of my most cherished, fulfilling memories of my college career.
— Lynn, Student ProjectConnect facilitator
 

Thousands of students have participated in ProjectConnect … and love it!

95%

Of participants said they would recommend ProjectConnect to their friends.

93%

Said they would like to meet again with their group after the program ended.

TESTIMONIALS

Administrators

Facilitators

Participants