Jackie Franco

“Today more than ever, I think it is necessary to educate ourselves in solidarity, to rediscover the value and meaning of this very uncomfortable word,” Pope Francis.

The Center for Social Concerns is an academic institute with a commitment to research that serves the common good, assesses the impact of Center programs, and explores the areas of faith formation and theological reflection.

The Center is also committed to research on community-based approaches and facilitates research projects with off-campus collaborators, especially those that address local community needs.

Through various kinds of community partnership, the Center for Social Concerns pushes the boundaries of the classroom into the neighborhoods of South Bend, across the country, and around the world.  

“The aim is to create a sense of human solidarity and concern for the common good that will bear fruit as learning becomes service to justice,” Mission Statement, University of Notre Dame.

Mission

To advance the common good through community-engaged teaching and research grounded in the Catholic social tradition

Purpose

The Center for Social Concerns is an academic institute at the University of Notre Dame whose mission is to engage the Catholic social tradition and mobilize the University's resources to facilitate community-engaged education and research. Through pedagogies of engagement, research addressing injustice and inequality, and partnerships with communities near and far, we seek to advance the common good in all we do. We seek to inspire our students as they become agents of social justice, to collaborate with our academic colleagues in teaching and research responsive to the signs of the times, and to accompany our community partners as they discern and address pressing challenges.

Catholic Social Tradition
 

Engaged Learning and Research