IRD Activities

• Alumni Network

  IFYC Alumni are bringing interfaith cooperation to every corner of American life, and transforming the way we engage with religious and worldview diversity. We set a big goal for ourselves at IFYC: to make religious pluralism a social norm within the course of a generation. We believe our alumni are the interfaith leaders who will make it happen. Recognizing that we had a decade’s worth of talented interfaith leaders with the potential to achieve our lofty mission, in 2010 we began a formal Alumni Network rogram with the goal of ensuring that graduates continue to receive the resources they need o advance interfaith cooperation throughout their lives. Today, over 70% of alumni in our network are applying their interfaith leadership skills in their personal and/or professional lives—and our dedicated alumni relations team is working to support and network this community with valuable resources and mentorship as they continue to utilize their interfaith leadership skills

• Guiding Transformational Change

  Across higher education, campus leaders are grappling with complex issues of religious and worldview diversity, inclusion, conflict, and cooperation. The questions are many, but clear solutions are often elusive. IFYC offers consultative engagements to guide and support institutions seeking to address these issues and make interfaith cooperation a greater part of their diversity strategy and broad institutional priorities. Colleges and universities have partnered with us to explore new strategies and introduce new initiatives as well as reinvigorate longstanding religious diversity efforts

• Interfaith Leadership Gatherings

  IFYC's Regional Interfaith Leadership Gatherings empower interfaith leaders at the local level. Campuses across the country work with IFYC to bring interfaith leadership skills to the issues that are most pressing for their campus and community. Through this collaboration, regional gatherings serve as a place to launch core groups of young leaders to tackle these issues and inspire ongoing interfaith initiatives on multiple campuses. This year, in partnership with the Fetzer Institute, IFYC is pleased to offer additional funding for regional gatherings that focus on healing the heart of American democracy. In a time of divisive political and cultural rhetoric, our nation is in need of interfaith leaders who will move us toward a vision of interfaith cooperation that helps achieve a flourishing democracy

• Assessing Interfaith Initiatives

  As campuses increasingly prioritize interfaith cooperation in and out of the classroom, educators and other leaders are asking important questions about students’ progress toward those ends. Are students learning the knowledge and skills they need to positively engage modern religious diversity? To what degree are campus interfaith programs effective? Do students of diverse worldviews feel safe, included, and supported on campus? IFYC believes in the importance of asking and answering these questions. In fact, we believe that gathering this knowledge and using it to improve programs is a hallmark of excellence as well as a valuable contribution to the emerging best practices in this field. As part of our Assessment and Research initiative, we help colleges and universities to measure student learning, better understand success, and pinpoint opportunities to improve students’ experiences with religious diversity on campus. IFYC supports campus assessment in three key ways: measuring interfaith and experiences with worldview diversity, partnerships and trainings, as well as resources and literature

• Interfaith Leadership Institute

  The Interfaith Leadership Institute (ILI) is the largest gathering of students and educators with a vision for interfaith cooperation in America. Each year, hundreds of people who care about the future of our religiously diverse society converge in Chicago to learn, train, share, and get inspired to bring the movement for interfaith cooperation back to their campuses and communities

• Interfaith Youth Core International Work

  IFYC has had a presence on six continents, including running programs in Australia, India, Qatar, and across Western Europe. IFYC’s international experience includes broad networking and consultation, large public talks, intensive skill-based trainings with young people, and intensive leadership exchanges empowering youth to collaborate on local interfaith initiatives. Additionally, IFYC has worked in cooperation with U.S. Embassies around the world to provide trainings and intensive interfaith leadership experiences to young people, targeting those in marginalized religious communities. The organization’s work has had immediate and long-term impact. In 2009, IFYC organized and implemented its first year-long international initiative - Youth Interfaith Leadership Program in New Delhi, India. IFYC introduced a cohort of NGO leaders to the idea of interfaith cooperation as a means of building a robust civil society, and trained them to create and advance interfaith cooperation in their local communities. Additionally, IFYC organized a training institute that brought together 60 young leaders, youth service organizations, and interfaith groups to mobilize youth service projects in Delhi. In Western Europe, IFYC created a network of practitioners who share best practices and collaborate on programs that advance interfaith cooperation through service. Its mini-grant programs have catalyzed interfaith initiatives in the UK, India, Belgium and the Netherlands. In the UK, IFYC’s programs sparked the creation of an “IFYC UK Exchange Program Alumni Network”, in which participants are collaborating on interfaith projects summer and fall 2009. These activities will draw insular constituencies into interfaith activities and create networks of positive engagement between these different communities.

Main Focus Countries of Activities

USA - USA - USA - USA - USA - India - UK - Doha, Qatar - Melbourne, VIC, Australia - Brussels, Belgium - Ghent, Belgium - Rotterdam, Netherlands - Paris, France - Barcelona, Spain - Turin, Italy - Milan, Italy - Kuwait - Jordan