The “Greatest Small City in America”

We think New Haven is a special place. Affectionately known by its residents and local business industry as the "Greatest Small City in America,” New Haven is a small city with a big, diverse cultural scene and rich history. It is home to art galleries, historical tours, theaters, night life, and award-winning restaurants that offer a wide variety of local and global cuisine. Students also enjoy the city’s beautiful parks, bike trails, and beaches.

The New York Times even ranked New Haven as one of the top places to visit in 2023.

Community Action and Experiential Learning

Yale and New Haven also provide unique opportunities to get hands-on experience in community action, collaborative research, health care work, and racial justice. Our Office of Public Health Practice serves as the hub for experiential learning and community-engaged practice. Through internships, practicum courses, and community service, Yale School of Public Health students work with local organizations to help address pressing public health issues. In partnership with organizations, practice experiences are crafted to be mutually beneficial and community-centric.

Here are some of the ways that students apply what they’ve learned to New Haven and beyond:

• At the Community Alliance for Research and Engagement (CARE), students partner with state and local leaders to identify solutions to health challenges such as diabetes, asthma, and heart and lung diseases through community-based research and projects focusing on social, environmental, and behavioral risk factors.
• Volunteering at the student-led HAVEN Free Clinic gives students the opportunity to help provide primary care, wellness education, and health awareness to uninsured New Haven residents.
• Students, faculty, and staff come together to ensure Hamden residents have access to healthy and hearty meals by volunteering with the YSPH Dinner for $1 team to cook or serve a warm meal once a month to over 100 people.
• In practice-based health research classes at YSPH, students work together with community organizations on projects that range from working to improve pregnancy outcomes for marginalized women to assessing the supports of transitioning transgender and gender diverse youth to adult care, among many others.
• Students at the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center help develop and implement public health initiatives aimed at reducing health disparities and racial inequality in New Haven and the surrounding area.
• And for those looking to make an impact outside of Connecticut, students have addressed some of the biggest health care challenges across the globe through the Yale Institute for Global Health.

It’s clear that Yale School of Public Health students and faculty give back in big ways. And as a member of our community, you will gain further experience in public health research and practice that can’t just be found in the lecture halls, seminar areas, and conference rooms on College Street.

In New Haven, the classroom isn’t limited to our vibrant campus — it’s all over town.