Inspired to Serve: Youth-Led Interfaith Action
A Pilot Project of Search Institute and Interfaith Youth Core.
Supported by Learn and Serve America.
Inspired to Serve: Youth-Led Interfaith Action
is a three-year pilot project to enhance the
capacity of America’s 350,000 churches, mosques, synagogues, temples,
and other faith-based organizations to engage young people in effective
service-learning that increases interfaith cooperation, contributes to
healthy development, and enriches community life.
The approach combines Interfaith Youth Core’s innovative model of
interfaith dialogue and service-learning with Search Institute’s
framework of Developmental Assets and its asset-based approach to
community and social change.
This project is made possible with major support from
Learn and Serve
America’s community-based grants program.
What's Here
Approach: Four
Critical Shifts
The project focuses on building the will and capacity of faith-based
organizations to strengthen their programs and impact in the following
areas:
Toward More Effective
Service-Learning
Apply the principles and practices of effective
service-learning—including youth-led planning, meeting real community
needs, and active reflection—into their service projects and activities.
Download a fact sheet on effective service-learning (PDF file).
Toward Greater Interfaith
Engagement
Build cooperation and dialogue across America’s diverse faith
communities around their shared commitment to service and community
building, thus creating a stronger sense of mutual trust, respect, and
understanding.
Download a fact sheet on interfaith engagement (PDF file).
Toward Asset-Building Approaches
with Youth
Integrate into their service-learning and other program areas a
commitment to holistic youth development, building on the principles
and practices of Search Institute’s framework of Developmental Assets.
Download a fact sheet on asset-building approaches (PDF file).
Toward City-Wide Movements
Partner with emerging interfaith networks in pilot cities to develop
models, approaches, and momentum to foster citywide movements of
faith-based organizations that are engaged in interfaith
service-learning.
Download a fact sheet on citywide movements (PDF file).
Pilot Cities
Chicago
Building on five years of
pioneering interfaith youth service programming, this network now seeks
to make interfaith service core to faith-based youth development
efforts throughout the city. This network is convened by
Interfaith Youth Core.
New Orleans
A partnership with the Roman
Catholic Archdiocese, the Jewish Federation, the Muslim Association,
the Episcopal Diocese, and others to engage young people in
post-Katrina recovery and renewal. This network is convened by
Interfaith Works.
Philadelphia
Three interfaith networks in
different parts of the city will engage young people in in-depth
service-learning and leadership experiences throughout the year. These
networks are convened by the
Interfaith Center of Greater
Philadelphia.
Saint Paul
Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and
other youth will come together for an annual Interfaith Teen Day of
Service and an ongoing Interfaith Youth Council. This network is
convened by the
Saint Paul Area
Council of Churches.
The National Partners
Search Institute is a leading innovator in discovering what children
and adolescents need to become caring, healthy, and responsible adults.
Drawing on extensive research, Search Institute brings solutions to
pressing challenges in the lives of young people and their communities.
This project is part of Search Institute’s new
Center for Spiritual
Development in Childhood and Adolescence.
Interfaith Youth Core is building a world in which youth from diverse
religious backgrounds come together to act on the inspiration of
service in their own tradition, deepen mutual understanding, and
cooperate to serve the common good. The Interfaith Youth Core’s core
competency lies in developing effective and innovative interfaith youth
service-learning models that are implemented in communities around the
globe.
This pilot project is made possible through a grant from Learn and
Serve America. Learn and Serve America provides grants to schools,
colleges, and nonprofit groups to support efforts to engage 1.5 million
students each year in community service linked to educational goals.
Learn and Serve America is administered by the Corporation for National
and Community Service, which also oversees Senior Corps and AmeriCorps.
Major Project
Activities
Each pilot city is designing its own specific activities and
approaches, based on the capacities, priorities, and readiness within
that city. The following types of activities will be implemented across
all cities:
Identifying Community Resources and Hopes
Teams of young people
and adults will engage in an intentional community listening process to
learn about their neighborhood or city’s resources, hopes, and
opportunities as a foundation for future service-learning activities.
Interfaith Youth Service-Learning Projects
Local networks will
organize a series of interfaith service-learning projects that model
and teach the principles and practices of effective service-learning
while also increasing interfaith understanding and providing a positive
youth activity.
Tools and Training
Training, coaching, and other practical tools
will increase the capacity of local partners and faith-based
organizations to integrate service-learning, interfaith cooperation,
and asset building into the programs, practices, and cultures.
Local Network Expansion
Through networking, mini-grants,
publicity, and other methods, each city will expand the number and
diversity of faith-based organizations engaged in interfaith
service-learning. Through the pilot project, we seek to engage 3,000
young people in service-learning.
Research and Evaluation
Ongoing evaluation will track project
activities and the impact on young people, participating faith-based
organizations, and the broader community. Research will examine the
relationship between service-learning practices and youth outcomes
within a faith-based context.
National Service-Learning Clearinghouse
The Learn and Serve America
National
Service-Learning Clearinghouse supports the service-learning
community by providing timely and relevant information on
service-learning principles, practices, techniques, and methodologies.
It gathers and catalogues research, evaluation, and best-practice
information from across the United States. Staff are available to
assist in locating materials, referrals, reference information, and
technical assistance.
Research, tools, and resources developed as part of the Inspired to
Serve project will be available through the clearinghouse.
Contact Us
Email us spiritualdevelopment@search-institute.org
Search Institute
615 First Avenue Northeast, Suite 125
Minneapolis, MN 55413
612-376-8955 or 800-888-7828 |
Interfaith Youth Core
1111 N Wells Street, Suite 501
Chicago, IL 60610
312-573-8825
|
This website is based upon work supported by the Corporation for
National and Community Service under Learn and Serve America Grant No.
06KCHMN001. Opinions or points of view expressed in this site are those
of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position of
the Corporation or the Learn and Serve America Program.
