Let's Go Volunteer! | Student Clearances

Thank you for expressing interest in volunteering at Dickinson!

Anyone who wishes to volunteer while at Dickinson must complete the required 3 background clearances mandated by Pennsylvania Act 153 when working with minors in any capacity. Even if the volunteer program you are interested in does not work with children, you are required to complete these clearances. They are the PA State Criminal Clearance, the PA Child Abuse Clearance, and a Federal Criminal History Record/FBI Fingerprinting check.

Follow these step by step instructions to obtain all 3 clearances and be ready to volunteer! Clearances are good for 5 years. Please retain them for your records throughout your time at Dickinson. CCLA will not pay for duplicate clearance requests. Additionally, please note that CCLA does NOT store or retain copies of student clearances. Students are responsible for holding on to clearances and providing them to their host organizations when necessary.

Please feel free to contact us at engage@dickinson.edu with any questions.

Information you will need for each clearance:

PA State Criminal Clearance	PA Child Abuse Clearance	Federal Criminal History Record/FBI Fingerprinting Check
Standard contact information (name and email)	Standard contact information	Standard contact information
Social Security Number (SSN)*	SSN*	Service code: 1KG6ZJ
	Current address	Citizenship information
	Dickinson address**	Authorization code for payment (given to you by CCLA)
	List of previous addresses you have lived since 1975	Physical personal information: height, weight, hair color, eye color, gender, race, ethnicity
	List of people you have lived with since 1975 (name, age, relationship)	Dickinson address**
		Documentation

*Having your SSN will speed up the process of obtaining clearances.

**Your Dickinson address will be entered as such:

Dickinson College HUB (your HUB #)
28 N. College St.
Carlisle, PA, 17013
The county is Cumberland County.

Overall Process Instructions:

Before you begin, open your Dickinson email in a separate window. You will need this for email confirmations and links to set up accounts.

You will have to obtain all 3 clearances separately. Detailed instructions for each one are available at the links below. All 3 clearances must be completed in order to volunteer.

To complete the PA State Criminal Clearance, request a record check on yourself and enter your contact information. Results typically happen quickly and will be available to check through email. There is no fee for this clearance.

To complete the PA Child Abuse Clearance, you will need to create a Keystone Key account that you will access your clearances from. Once you create the account, you can enter all the required information and view the results within a few days. The fee for this clearance is waived for volunteers.

To complete the Federal Criminal History Record/FBI Fingerprinting Check, you will need to pre-register with the company (IdentoGo) that provides the fingerprinting services at the Professional & Educational Empowerment Center (PEEC) located at 219 N. Pitt Street. This venue is within walking distance to campus. The fingerprinting process should only take about 10 minutes, and your results will arrive in the mail around 2-3 weeks. The fee for this clearance will be covered by the Center for Civic Learning & Action (CCLA) if you make an appointment to fill out the clearances at our office (255 W. Louther behind Old West), attend an event with us, or contact us at engage@dickinson.edu in advance of starting the online registration process to receive an authorization code. At the end of your appointment, you will receive two receipts. If you used a code to waive your appointment fee, make sure to give one of these receipts to Kim Flinchbaugh at CCLA/Clarke Forum either in person at our office (255 W. Louther Street, behind Old West) or at flinchbk@dickinson.edu so we can know that your code has been applied.

**If you have lived in PA continuously for the past 10 years, you do not have to complete the FBI Fingerprinting Check. Instead, you must fill out PA Residential Affidavit Form.

Once you have copies of each of the 3 clearances, you are set to go! Make sure you show your clearances to the organization you are volunteering with; some of them require you to renew your FBI clearance each year. If you have any questions concerning clearances or any questions about CCLA's partnerships and ways to get involved please reach out to engage@dickinson.edu. We're excited to help you get connected with the community!