SELF-HARNESSING ACTIVITIES TOWARD PROFICIENCY IN ENGLISH AND OTHER RELEVANT SKILLS (SHAPERS) is the flagship community extension initiative of the Bachelor of Arts in English Language Program under the College of Arts and Sciences Education of the University of Mindanao. Established in 2018, SHAPERS exemplifies the University's commitment to social responsibility by transforming academic expertise into sustainable community impact through prison education. Rather than providing short-term assistance, the program empowers Persons Deprived of Liberty (PDLs), particularly inmate-educators facilitating the Alternative Learning System (ALS) at Davao City Jail, through capacity-building, values formation, and educational support. The project aims to (1) strengthen the pedagogical competence and leadership of inmate-educators; (2) cultivate teacher identity, responsibility, and personal transformation; (3) improve educational opportunities for incarcerated ALS learners; and (4) foster a culture of civic engagement among faculty, students, alumni, and institutional partners. Implemented annually in Davao City since 2018, SHAPERS adopts a sustainable university–community partnership model that mobilizes faculty expertise, student service-learning, alumni volunteerism, and collaboration with the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP). Its key activities include needs assessment, targeted teacher training, instructional material development, resource-sharing drives, mentoring, research, and program evaluation. In 2026, the initiative trained 21 inmate-educators through workshops on teacher identity, pedagogy, classroom management, and low-cost instructional material development while mobilizing faculty, students, alumni, and BJMP personnel in a shared mission of rehabilitation through education. By integrating instruction, extension, research, and community engagement, SHAPERS advances SDGs 4, 16, and 17 while demonstrating how higher education institutions can become catalysts for inclusive learning, restorative justice, and sustainable social transformation.

“ABNKKBSNPLAko?: Alleviating Reading Struggling Learners Monthly Program” is a banner project of UM Tagum College’s Basic Education Department, designed to assist students of Liboganon Integrated School who struggle with reading. Located in a coastal barangay, Liboganon Integrated School serves learners who have had limited access to structured reading instruction, especially during the pandemic and amid the community's problematic situation. This initiative directly addresses the need for early reading intervention by offering monthly sessions to strengthen literacy skills, including comprehension, vocabulary, phonemic awareness, and fluency. The project, which began its implementation in 2022, is jointly facilitated by both the Junior High and Senior High School departments. Its target beneficiaries are 40 students identified through PHIL-IRI assessments—32 of whom exhibit slow- paced reading with literal comprehension, and 8 of whom struggle with basic phonics and syllabic reading. Key activities include monthly reading workshops using the SRA Reading Laboratory by Don H. Parker, small-group instruction, individual mentoring, and regular learner-teacher conferences. The program emphasizes inclusive, individualized instruction and builds on collaborative engagement, with volunteers from JHS, SHS, and department alums participating. Its innovative use of multi- level reading materials, student-volunteer interaction, and community involvement aligns with SDG 4 (Quality Education) and SDG 17 (Partnership for the goals), making the project both timely and impactful in addressing reading gaps in the school/community partner.

The University of Mindanao College of Accounting Education (UM-CAE) Alumni Sports Festival is an annual alumni engagement initiative that transforms alumni participation into meaningful opportunities to uplift students, strengthen communities, and support the University`s mission. Implemented from 2023 to 2026, the initiative was established to foster lasting alumni involvement while mobilizing resources for scholarships, learning facilities, student welfare, and humanitarian outreach. Its primary objectives are (1) to strengthen alumni engagement, (2) provide educational assistance to deserving students, (3) promote student well-being, and (4) cultivate a culture of volunteerism and social responsibility among stakeholders. The project primarily benefits UM CAE students, scholars, alumni, faculty members, and partner communities, while bringing together graduates, university leaders, sponsors, volunteers, and friends of the College in a shared commitment to service. What began as an annual sports festival evolved into a platform where fellowship and camaraderie inspire generosity and collective action. Over four years, the initiative engaged more than 1,000 alumni and stakeholders and generated over P500,000 worth of educational and humanitarian support. Key milestones include sustaining six student scholars, donating four 75-inch classroom televisions and 150 Basic Accounting Books, providing meals and care packages to students during final examinations, and extending humanitarian assistance to communities affected by disasters in Masara, Maco, Davao de Oro and Sarangani. More than a fundraising event, the UM CAE Alumni Sports Festival demonstrates how alumni solidarity can create lasting educational opportunities, strengthen communities, and nurture a sustainable culture of compassion, collaboration, and service.

CHSE UMagapay is a progressive public health and social service framework designed to address a critical systemic gap. While urban health sectors advance, Geographically Isolated and Disadvantaged Areas (GIDA) and vulnerable communities remain neglected and continuously afflicted by preventable illness. Anchored on being Committed to Care, this initiative transforms the University of Mindanao’s College of Health Sciences Education (CHSE) into an incubator for active change, molding students into "thinkers and doers" who bridge the gap from social dilemma to sustainable practice. Implemented as a continuous, multi-year initiative (2022–2026), the project operates in three core pillars: • Transformative Community Extension: Research becomes practice through direct field actions, including Pahimangno sa Panglawas (disease awareness), Protektado (maternal-child health), and diagnostic operations like fecalysis parasitic surveillance, blood typing, and sugar monitoring and more; • Tangible SDG Research: A historic Balik-Scientist partnership mobilizes student researchers utilizing advanced medical concepts and explored related fields (Drosophila models for drug discovery), focusing public health studies on neglected communities, translating abstract SDGs into evidence- based solutions for vulnerable sectors; and • Mobility & Capacity Building: Student and faculty mobility, bench-marking (such as programs both in national and international) and advanced biotechnology seminars in the field of health sciences import global healthcare concepts to optimize local competencies. Driven by a defining culture of “People First” and a profound philosophy of being “Committed to Care”, a major milestone of Project CHSE UMagapay is its dual-impact alumni network, which spans dynamically across the country and around the world. By targeting SDG goals at all levels, the college relives its core culture and creates graduates who serve as structural pillars of public service—ultimately bridging the gap by bringing world-class healthcare standards directly into the poorest of the poor communities. Definitive in its purpose, this initiative establishes an exit-ready strategy ensuring that once institutional intervention concludes, the empowered community possesses the sustainable capability to stand on its own.