Interfaith Youth Core

In 2010, the President's Advisory Council on Faith-based and
Neighborhood Partnerships, on which IFYC Founder and President Eboo Patel was an inaugural member, presented President Obama with a set of
recommendations on how the U.S. government can better facilitate partnerships
with U.S. religious communities. One of the recommendations was to initiate a
public campaign within higher education to scale and strengthen program
partnerships with federal agencies that increase dialogue and service between
people from a diversity of faith-based and secular groups, building mutual understanding
and serving the common good.

Launched in
March 2011, the President’s Interfaith and Community Service
Campus Challenge
invites institutions of higher education to commit to a year of interfaith
cooperation and community service programming on campus. Through this historic
challenge, President Obama elevated interfaith cooperation as a national
priority by calling on American colleges and universities to serve as models
for building bridges across lines of difference. IFYC is a lead partner and advisor to the President’s Challenge, offering the tools,
resources, and technical assistance to support participating colleges and
universities. Following the launch, over 270 colleges and universities submitted robust plans to participate in the Challenge and executed outstanding interfaith action programming on campus during the 2011-2012
academic year.

As part of its partner role, IFYC co-coordinated a national gathering for participating campuses on August 3, 2011. The convening drew 360 attendees representing 240 community
colleges, four-year colleges, universities, and theological schools across the
country. IFYC and its partners organized sessions providing technical assistance on cultivating interfaith cooperation on campus, supporting student leadership development, and creating campus partnerships.
 Throughout
the academic year, IFYC will continue to provide support for participating
institutions to ensure that the plans submitted have the best chance of success
on each campus. IFYC will also play a key role in selecting the institutions that
are recognized as “exemplary” for excellence in programming and execution at
the end of the academic year. You may read more about IFYC's role in the President's Challenge here: http://www.ifyc.org/presidents-challenge(http://www.ifyc.org/presidents-challenge) .

Over the last 10 years our trainings, resources, and leadership programs have empowered hundreds of interfaith leaders on five continents. These alumni are part of a growing movement of young leaders working to make interfaith cooperation a social norm on campuses, at work, and in their communities. Our newly launched alumni network supports and engages these young leaders to be advocates for change, as part of a community of peers committed to building interfaith cooperation. Offerings of IFYC's alumni program include:
 A connection to interfaith career opportunities or other influential positions in higher education and national religious bodies;
An opportunity for alumni to speak to audiences nationwide about interfaith cooperation through the Alumni Speakers Bureau, a group of 20-25 outstanding alumni leaders;
Funding for interfaith and community service projects started by IFYC alumni; and
Networking opportunities, national gatherings, and other professional development opportunities!

 You may read more about IFYC's alumni offerings here: http://www.ifyc.org/content/alumni(http://www.ifyc.org/content/alumni) .

The Campus Religious and Spiritual Climate Survey (CRSCS) is an assessment tool designed to assist campus leaders as they navigate the challenges and possibilities that religious and worldview diversity bring to higher education institutions. The survey gauges college students’ perceptions of key climate dimensions and profiles attitudes and behaviors related to interfaith engagement.
 
The CRSCS was developed in 2009 and piloted on two occasions by higher education scholars, Dr. Alyssa Bryant Rockenbach (North Carolina State University) and Dr. Matthew Mayhew (New York University). Recently, Dr. Mayhew and Dr. Bryant Rockenbach partnered with Interfaith Youth Core to integrate the campus climate dimensions of the instrument with new measures specifically intended to assess interfaith action and related attitudinal and behavioral outcomes. The partnership led to the development of a comprehensive instrument designed in response to the many questions and challenges with which postsecondary administrators and educators are currently contending. You may read more about the CRSCS at www.ifyc.org/crscs.

College campuses that intentionally engage religious diversity can serve as models of interfaith cooperation for the rest of society. IFYC partners with institutions of higher education, ranging from two-day trainings to multi-year engagements, to foster relationships, programs, and priorities that will ignite and sustain a campus-wide movement for interfaith cooperation.
 
In its assessment partnerships, IFYC works with key stakeholders on campus to survey and asset-map existing institutional strengths and opportunities to engage interfaith cooperation. Based on this assessment process, IFYC presents a two-year roadmap of strategic initiatives to make interfaith cooperation a reality on campus - by deepening student interfaith leadership, aligning institutional assets and priorities, and  engaging religious diversity in the  classroom. You may read more about IFYC's campus engagement services at http://www.ifyc.org/engagements(http://www.ifyc.org/engagements) .