The President’s Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge
Advancing Interfaith Cooperation and Community Service in Higher Education
Since his inauguration, President Obama has emphasized interfaith cooperation and community service – “interfaith service” for short – as an important way to build understanding between different communities and contribute to the common good.
Interfaith service involves people from different religious and non-religious backgrounds tackling community challenges together – for example, Protestants and Catholics, Hindus and Jews, and Muslims and non-believers -- building a Habitat for Humanity house together. Interfaith service impacts specific community challenges, from homelessness to mentoring to the environment, while building social capital and civility.
American colleges, community colleges, and universities have often been at the forefront of solving our nation’s greatest challenges. The White House is encouraging institutions of higher education to make the vision for interfaith cooperation and community service a reality on campuses across the country.
The White House is launching the President’s Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge, an initiative inviting institutions of higher education to commit to a year of interfaith and community service programming on campus. This programming might take the form of diverse campus groups working together to implement a specific year-long service project. It might also involve students from a college or University partnering with local religious groups to tackle a specific community challenge together.
The best examples of students coming together to help those in need will be recognized by the White House. Click below to download more information about the President’s Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge:
Deadlines
Indication of commitment to participate: May 13, 2011
Submit plan: June 24, 2011
This initiative is led by the White House and is supported by the Department of Education and the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS).
For questions and more information, please contact: whpartnerships@who.eop.gov
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