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.
FOCUS: To work together to make healthy food available at affordable prices in our local community; to source the food and other goods as locally as possible; and to educate members about the benefits of good nutrition and the practices of healthy, ecological eating and environmental responsibility.
FOCUS: To provide homes, employment services, and educational and training programs for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in St. Joseph and Elkhart Counties.
FOCUS: Dedicated to improving the lives of youth.
FOCUS: To bring students and volunteers together with individuals returning from incarceration to help them successfully reenter the community as contributing members.
FOCUS: To promote the educational, social, and economic success of culturally diverse children and families by providing high quality child care and parent programs to those most in need.
FOCUS: To enhance the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being of the communities we serve as the community's provider of outstanding quality, superior value, and comprehensive health care services.
FOCUS: An opportunity for all. Faith in Indiana is a catalyst for marginalized peoples and faith communities to act collectively for racial and economic equity in Indiana.
FOCUS: To provide crisis intervention, support, and advocacy to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.
FOCUS: To work in partnership with the community to feed the hungry, increase awareness of the effects of hunger, and to lead programs to alleviate hunger.
FOCUS: Improving the quality and dignity of senior adult life through continuing intellectual challenge, spiritual reflection, and social interaction.
FOCUS: To build girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place.
FOCUS: To inspire 3rd–5th grade girls from all walks of life to be joyful, healthy and confident using an interactive curriculum that creatively integrates running.
FOCUS: To serve children ages 3–14 using the Montessori method, the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, and nature education; we form students to be good stewards of the Earth through weekly lessons and work on local farms as well as permaculture practices on our urban school-farm, and we become good community members by practicing peace and offering service to the poor and elderly.
FOCUS: To provide jobs, training, and placement services for people with barriers to employment.
FOCUS: To create hospice care that includes a team of doctors, nurses, social workers, counselors, aides, chaplains, and trained volunteers who work together focusing on the patient's needs.
FOCUS: To produce fresh, healthy food using sustainable agricultural innovations such as aquaponics, while providing training and employment to under-resourced young adults on the autism spectrum who have aged out of available services and confront a 90% unemployment rate.
FOCUS: To improve the quality of life for children and adults with special needs.
FOCUS: We empower pregnant women, facing homelessness to begin a process of transformation.
FOCUS: To create hospice care that includes a team of doctors, nurses, social workers, counselors, aides, chaplains, and trained volunteers who work together focusing on the patient's needs.
FOCUS: Holy Cross School is a place where faith could be taught, nurtured, and practiced freely.
FOCUS: To support men, women, and children who are homeless through a variety of Christ-centered programs and services.
FOCUS: To infuse social justice into behavioral health by providing prevention, education, and advocacy.
FOCUS: To offer low-income people legal services in certain civil cases.
FOCUS: To nurture a neighborhood where we value, care and respect our 16,000 year old soil and each other.
FOCUS: To empower the Latino/Hispanic community within Michiana by providing educational, cultural, and advocacy services in a welcoming, bilingual environment.
FOCUS: To strengthen our community by positively impacting the lives of men and women afflicted with various forms of addiction.
FOCUS: To support people with disabilities in achieving their desired quality of life.
FOCUS: Tens of thousands of volunteers, donors and supporters advance the Make-A-Wish® vision to grant the wish of every child diagnosed with a life-threatening medical condition.
FOCUS: To provide an exceptional experience for every patient, visitor, and guest.
FOCUS: To work in the near northwest neighborhood of South Bend to ensure the lasting success of our community by providing affordable housing, organizing and empowering neighbors, and promoting our neighborhood and neighborhood needs within the wider community.
FOCUS: To provide a transitional housing program for men re-entering society after incarceration.
FOCUS: To serve and be an advocate for first-generation and low-income high school students from the South Bend community and to help them successfully graduate from high school, enroll in and graduate from a post -secondary institution.
FOCUS: To practice "works of mercy" through offering breakfast, laundry, and shower facilities to people on the streets of South Bend, with particular emphasis on rebuilding relationships in the South Bend community across divisions of race, class, and gender. Also home to Common Goods Co-Operative Grocery (CGCG), which seeks to build relationships between local growers and urban residents to make healthy food available at affordable prices to everyone, but especially low-income residents in our area.
FOCUS: To find placements of unwanted and abandoned pets into responsible permanent homes. Pet Refuge sees to the needs of ALL the animals in our facility as they await their forever homes.
FOCUS: To protect and help save animals that can no longer live on their own in the wild, and to participate in conservation efforts to save threatened species.
FOCUS: To provide nature and farm education, with an emphasis on sustainability, by hosting farm visits and day camps for youth.
FOCUS: To ensure that all children in St. Joseph County, birth to eight, have the foundation to thrive in school and in life, with efforts focused on Quality Early Learning, Health & Wellness and Family Support.
FOCUS: To assist in establishing a community in which those we serve can maintain their independence to the maximum degree possible and find meaning and satisfaction throughout their lives.
FOCUS: To provide equine-assisted activities and therapies to children and adults with special needs.
FOCUS: To improve the quality of life for cancer survivors, their families, and caregivers through helpful advocacy, hopeful support, and innovative programming.
FOCUS: To facilitate community and Notre Dame partnerships and to strengthen the Northeast Neighborhood of South Bend through relationship building and educational opportunities.
FOCUS: To take care of the families of hospitalized children.
FOCUS: To promote physical and mental health and facilitate the prevention of disease, injury, and disability for all St. Joseph County residents.
FOCUS: To provide health care for the underserved in our community.
FOCUS: To improve the health of our community and to create a health system to deliver exceptional care close to home.
FOCUS: To serve as an unprecedented place of gathering and enrichment which houses an array of education, sports, faith, arts and supportive programs to deliver a world class experience.
FOCUS: To care for the mind, body, and spirit of those entrusted to our care as they age and are unable to remain in their homes.
FOCUS: To serve the residential, vocational, and social needs of other-abled adults.
FOCUS: To give and share educational, spiritual, and social experiences with our retired population.
FOCUS: To provide re-entry services to offenders being released throughout Indiana. The Center has both a Work Release Program and Level 1 Program component for offenders with two years or fewer to serve.
FOCUS: To strengthen the community by inspiring life-long learning and career advancement.
FOCUS: To provide instructional and support services to Grades pre-K - 12 English Language Learners, immigrant, migrant, and refugee students.
FOCUS: To advocate, promote and fund initiatives to enrich learning experiences for students and staff of the SBCSC.
FOCUS: To strive to educate children in the faith and in general academics.
FOCUS: To conserve and care for significant natural areas, and promote understanding and stewardship of our natural and cultural heritage through park programs and services for families and individuals.
FOCUS: To help women who struggle with economic poverty and to attempt to meet guests' immediate needs while inviting them to reflect on their lives so as to take their next best step.
FOCUS: To offer food, clothing, and household necessities as well as emotional, spiritual, and financial support through one-on-one interactions with those who are less fortunate and living in poverty.
FOCUS: To provide conflict resolution education curriculum that teaches youth and adults to respond to conflict non-violently.
FOCUS: We seek to transform the hearts and minds of youth and their families while connecting others to the city in a positive way.
FOCUS: To encourage interreligious dialogue and to provide basic assistance to individuals in need.
FOCUS: To mobilize the community collectively to reduce poverty.
FOCUS: Unity Gardens is a uniquely dignified free food model that supports over 40 open gardens, free gardening classes, and summer wellness programs like Garden Camp, chef potluck picnics, and more through a seven-acre urban ecosystem.
FOCUS: To empower women to choose life for their children, have healthy pregnancies, and become better parents.
FOCUS: To provide outstanding services that encourage healthy lifestyles for everyone in the community, with particular focus on shaping the values of young people and families.
FOCUS: To assist women and children who are victims of domestic violence achieve self-sufficiency, and to advocate for change within the community to eliminate racism and sexism.
FOCUS: To assist youth in crisis or at risk of homelessness, ages 12-22.
FOCUS: EnFocus works with their fellows to help local sponsors and create projects of their own, with the goal of retaining talented individuals in the community to better the community.