Press Release
June 2006
The Corporation for National and Community Service announced today that Search Institute and Interfaith Youth Core have been selected to receive one of only 12 Learn and Serve America grants nationally to support community-based service-learning. The grant will support the first year of a three-year pilot project to help faith institutions better engage young people in effective, asset-based service-learning. The grant is renewable annually for up to three years.
“The high quality of the applications made the selection process extremely challenging,” said Amy Cohen, director of Learn and Serve America. “This was the most competitive round of new grants that we’ve ever seen.” The Corporation received a record-breaking total of 504 applications requesting more than $162 million—with appropriated funds being at a record low of $19.1 million. In total, 109 grants were announced in four categories: institutions of higher education; K-12 schools; community-based organizations; and state education agencies.
Through this project, Search Institute and Interfaith Youth Core will partner with several communities to develop and pilot comprehensive strategies for asset-based, interfaith service-learning. Each site will:
- Create an interfaith service-learning network;
- Recruit adult volunteers and youth participants to map community needs and resources;
- Implement asset-based service-learning programs that meet community needs; and
- Develop replicable models and tools.
The project will be designed first to impact the experiences of young people and their communities in the pilot sites. However, the ultimate goal is to provide models and resources that can be adopted by national religious service programs and systems as well as national youth service and youth development organizations, thus building bridges between the religious community serving young people and community-based youth development systems.
“Serving others is a core value and priority for thousands of churches, mosques, synagogues, and other faith communities,” said Eugene C. Roehlkepartain, co-director of the Center for Spiritual Development at Search Institute, who will serve as project director. “In fact, among young people who volunteer, 53 percent first learned about volunteer activities through their congregations. Embedding high-quality, asset-based service-learning in congregational life has the potential to dramatically increase the effectiveness and reach of service-learning activities within diverse faith communities.”“Interfaith cooperation through concrete service should be one of our country’s highest priorities,” said Eboo Patel, executive director and founder of Interfaith Youth Core. “This project gives us the opportunity to empower our nation’s greatest resource—its diverse young people—in the service of its greatest needs.”
The project combines IFYC’s innovative model of interfaith service-learning with Search Institute’s research-based framework of Developmental Assets and its asset-based approach to community mobilization. The Developmental Assets—which include service to others—identify the relationships, opportunities, and personal qualities that young people need to avoid high-risk behaviors and to thrive. IFYC interfaith service-learning methodology builds relationships and cooperative action by focusing on non-divisive issues, affirming the connections between each young person and their community, and encouraging actual cooperative action.
This initiative will be part of Search Institute’s new Center for Spiritual Development in Childhood and Adolescence, which is a global initiative to advance the research and practice of this important and understudied domain of human development. 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. For more information, visit www.search-institute.org.
Interfaith Youth Core’s mission is to catalyze a movement that encourages young people to strengthen their religious and moral identities, foster understanding across differences, and cooperate to serve the common good. Since 1999, IFYC has grown from a Chicago-based grassroots organization to an internationally recognized leader in interfaith work. In 2005, it reached more than 11,000 youth in more than 30 campuses and cities and began model interfaith youth initiatives in Chicago, Boston, and Washington, DC. For more information, visit www.ifyc.org.
Learn and Serve America is administered by the Corporation for National and Community Service, a public–private partnership that also oversees Senior Corps and AmeriCorps. The Corporation’s mission is to improve lives, strengthen communities, and foster civic engagement through service and volunteering. Together with the USA Freedom Corps, the Corporation is working to build a culture of service, citizenship, and responsibility in America. Learn and Serve America provides support to schools, higher education institutions and community-based organizations that engage students, their teachers, and others in service-learning. For more information, visit www.nationalservice.gov.
