Interfaith Youth Core

Overview

The reality of our world is that there are hundreds of millions of religiously diverse young people who are interacting with increasing frequency. This interaction tends in one of two directions - conflict or cooperation. IFYC envisions a world in which religiously diverse young people interact peacefully to create understanding and collaboration, thereby strengthening civil society and stabilizing global politics.

Mission

Through our unique shared values and service learning approach, Interfaith Youth Core seeks to build a movement that encourages religious young people to strengthen their religious identities, foster inter-religious understanding and cooperate to serve the common good.

Program

Interfaith Youth Core is catalyzing a movement of interfaith cooperation amongst religiously diverse young people by training, networking and equipping young people around the world to organize cooperative service work. Our programs bring together young people from diverse faith traditions for service projects, asking these young people to express how the scripture, stories, rituals and heroes of their particular tradition speak to these projects. As youth articulate the impulse to service in their own tradition, they discover a corresponding impulse in those they have served with, even as they recognize the uniqueness of each tradition. IFYC has three strategic programmatic areas. Through media attention and high level networking, the Public Issue Program is creating broad public awareness of the critical need for inter-religious civic engagement and fostering widespread participation in interfaith youth service activities by providing accessible, exciting, entry-level projects. By training and networking potential interfaith organizers, particularly in youth-focused institutions such as college and university campuses, the Outreach Education & Training Program turns public interest into concrete, sustainable interfaith youth service projects. By offering internships, fellowships, and conferences, the Leadership Program is developing grassroots leaders who are committed to advancing effective interfaith youth work.

Impact

Since 1999, IFYC has grown from a Chicago-based grassroots organization to a leader in national and international interfaith youth work. We have now directly reached 36,000 people with our message, involved 10,300 youth on five continents in our programs, and trained 770 organizers to create and lead their own interfaith youth service programming. We’ve participated in high-profile events such as the Clinton Global Initiative in New York, and received media coverage from CNN, NPR and PBS, as well as published articles in The New York Times and The Chicago Tribune.

Chief Executive

Eboo Patel

Countries of Operation

United States, Jordan, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Tanzania, United Republic of, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Israel, Philippines, India, Japan, Spain, Ireland

States of Operation

Illinois, New Jersey