Community Partners Directory

COVID-19 UPDATE: The current Coronavirus outbreak has ongoing, direct consequences for both the operations and needs of many community organizations. In accordance with public health guidelines, some organizations are still not able to accept on-site volunteers and some are unable to accommodate remote collaboration. Please reach out to an organization directly to learn more. Learn more

Connect with Local Community Partners

The Institute for Social Concerns invites you to expand your learning and work into the neighborhoods of South Bend and beyond. Thousands of Notre Dame faculty, staff, and students take part in opportunities offered through the center and our many partners. Consider engaging with an organization in the directory below through a Community-Engaged Course, research project, or volunteer opportunity.

Community partners listed in this directory work with the center’s Community-Engaged Learning Program Director to better understand the center’s core principles for academic community engagement:  university/community courses, research projects, and volunteer opportunities are designed and delivered collaboratively to meet the needs of community partners as well as the learning goals of university members,  outcomes and deliverables from the collaboration are designed with community partners to advance their work and belong to them upon completion, and. the aim of such collaborations is social justice.

Seven of these partner sites host Community-Engaged Learning Coordinators (CELC) who are part of a practitioners group on community-engaged research, teaching, and learning. CELCs have significant experience partnering with individuals at Notre Dame and can help students and instructors find agencies to collaborate with in mutually beneficial ways.

Students, Faculty, and Staff: Get Started!

To start your community engagement, contact a CELC or any of the organizations listed here to ask what they need and develop ways to collaborate together. Contact the Community-Engaged Learning Program Director (Dave Lassen, dlassen@nd.edu) if you have any questions.

Community Organizations: Apply to Partner with the Institute for Social Concerns

If you are a community partner who would like to be considered a partner of the Institute for Social Concerns and added to this directory, contact the Community-Engaged Learning Program Director (Dave Lassen, dlassen@nd.edu). Partners of the center must:

  • Do work that aligns with the mission and values of the University and the Institute for Social Concerns; 
  • Provide ongoing evidence of compliance with risk mitigation and safety efforts for volunteers;
  • Provide excellent orientation, placement, supervision, reflection, and assessment of volunteers;
  • Communicate accurately and responsively with University partners and volunteers;
  • Participate as they are able in events and activities that advance academic community engagement, such as the Social Concerns Fair.

We look forward to seeing the positive community impact that happens when we collaborate!

SOCIAL ISSUES

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FOCUS: A Rosie Place provides respite for families & sleepovers for children who are medically fragile. The first (and only) licensed specialty hospital in the state of Indiana dedicated exclusively to serving children who are medically fragile, their nature-inspired home provides respite for families. A Rosie Place for Children is a home where caring and supportive people celebrate the gift of life, embrace human diversity, and empower families.
FOCUS: To provide therapeutic activities to adults who need supervision during the day, many of whom have Alzheimer's disease or dementia.
FOCUS: To provide compassionate care to those in need, and to prevent and relieve suffering locally and globally through five key service areas of disaster relief, health and safety services, international services, support to military families, and biomedical services.
FOCUS: To illuminate inherent youth value (societally blinded by neglect and underexposure) and use the light of heroic human capital investment to restore great possibility thinking and inspire transformation.
FOCUS: To connect people to local food production in order to promote sustainable agriculture, health, and earth stewardship.
FOCUS: To offer one-on-one mentoring for school-aged children in St. Joseph County.
FOCUS: To engage youth in educational activities that prepare them to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Law and Scout Oath.
FOCUS: To provide holistic, high-quality, co-educational programming in after-school settings throughout the community which support youth in realizing their potential.
FOCUS: Camp Mariposa® is a free addiction prevention and mentoring program that combines traditional camp fun with education and support exercises led by mental health professionals and trained mentors. Camp Mariposa is part of Eluna’s national Camp Mariposa program.
FOCUS: To recruit, screen, train, supervise, and support volunteers who advocate for abused and neglected children who are wards of the Department of Child Services in St. Joseph County.
FOCUS: To serve those in need as Christ would have us do. Our vision is to eradicate poverty and strengthen families to help create Generation Zero, the first generation free of poverty.
FOCUS: To practice the "works of mercy" by offering hospitality (overnight shelter and dinner 6:30 p.m. nightly) to folks who find themselves on the street in South Bend.
FOCUS: We build safer communities by providing pathways to healing for those in need.
FOCUS: To improve the quality of life both for persons facing the end of their lives and their families.
FOCUS: To offer life-changing services and programs for 200 men, women, children, and military veterans as they work to break the cycle of homelessness.
FOCUS: To support families and caregivers by providing out-of-home respite care for individuals with medical and special needs.
FOCUS: Children's Dispensary provides a safe and nurturing environment for young people with developmental, physical, and cognitive disabilities where they can enhance their social interactions, learn important life skills, and enjoy new experiences.
FOCUS: To offer, in the love and spirit of the Christ Child, personal service and clothing to all children and infants in need.
FOCUS: To deliver services which empower everyone to thrive.
FOCUS: The Clubhouse is a supportive community for people whose lives have been interrupted by mental illness. We provide opportunities for employment education and wellness.
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