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. In response to the first year of the President’s Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge, this year over 250 institutions of higher education are making the vision for interfaith cooperation and community service a reality on campuses across the country.
The White House invites all institutions of higher education to join this powerful movement for the coming year.
For regular updates on this program including program deadlines, information on our Summer Convening July 9th-10th, a list of participating institutions, and documents for participants please visit the Department of Education’s initiative page: www.ed.gov/EdPartners
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
Read more at our blog.