U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. will give welcoming remarks at the Sixth Annual President’s Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge Fall Gathering in Washington, D.C. on Friday, Sept. 23 at 9 a.m. Secretary King will discuss why the President created the challenge and describe how acts of service can unite people of different backgrounds around a common purpose of helping those in need. The theme of this year’s conference is “Where do we go from here?”
The Department’s Center for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, in collaboration with the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, and the Corporation for National and Community Service, is hosting the two-day event that kicks off this Thursday, Sept. 22, at Gallaudet University and runs through Friday, Sept. 23. President Obama established the Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge in 2011 to build bridges of understanding across our differences, especially among rising leaders, and to serve our neighbors.
The Gathering will bring together more than 500 educators and students and 60 international guests representing 31 countries. Over the two-day gathering, participants will learn from each other and share their experiences, successes, challenges, and best practices of interfaith service work in higher education.
On Thursday, Tina Tchen, chief of staff to First Lady Michelle Obama, will participate in an armchair conversation with Peace Corps Director Carrie Hessler-Radelet, and Melissa Rogers, executive director of the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, will deliver remarks.Mohamed Abdel-Kader, deputy assistant secretary for International and Foreign Language Education at the U.S. Department of Education, will moderate a panel as part of the Thursday program, “Interfaith/Intercultural Program Design: Innovative Methods from Around the World.” Panelists include representatives from Ireland, Pakistan, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Iran, and Morocco.
Additional breakout sessions on Thursday include “Understanding How Cultural Values Shape Behavior;” “Creating Inclusive Programs: Secular Student Engagement in Interfaith;” “Know Your Neighbor;” “Let Girls Learn and the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll;” “What Does Spirituality Mean to Millennials;” “Faith, Sexuality and Human Rights: Safe Spaces for LGBTIQ People of Faith;” and others.
Friday’s opening plenary session, Where do we go from here: What works in Interfaith and the Academy, will begin at 9 a.m. with opening remarks by Brenda Girton-Mitchell, director of the U.S. Department of Education’s Center for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Secretary King will also make welcoming remarks during this session.
Friday’s breakout sessions include “Preventing Violence/Extremism Among Youth: International Voices;” “Exploring Faith That Does Justice: Alternative Breaks and Interfaith Dialogue;” “Gender, Faith and Leadership;” “International Media and Communications Strategies to Combat Intolerance;” “Building Interfaith Communities of Welcome: Engaging Immigrants, Refugees and International Students on College Campuses;” and others.
The President’s Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge isan initiative inviting institutions of higher education to commit to a year of interfaith cooperation and community service programming on campus. Programming may include diverse campus groups working together to implement a specific year-long service project, partnering with local faith groups to tackle a specific community challenge together, or more.
Press planning to attend should RSVP to [email protected] by 5 p.m. ET, on Wednesday, Sept. 21.
WHAT:
Sixth Annual President’s Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge Gathering
WHERE:
Gallaudet University
Elstad Auditorium
800 Florida Ave. N.E.
Washington, D.C.
WHEN:
The full agenda is located here and all plenary sessions will be live-streamed via the below links:
Plenary Session 1 Link
http://webcast.gallaudet.edu/?id=279
Plenary Session 2 Link
http://webcast.gallaudet.edu/?id=280
Plenary Session 3 Link
http://webcast.gallaudet.edu/?id=281
Thursday, September 22:
12:55 p.m. ET – Armchair Conversation with Tina Tchen, Chief of Staff to First Lady Michelle Obama, and Carrie Hessler-Radelet, Director, Peace Corps
1:30 p.m. ET – Remarks by Melissa Rogers, Special Assistant to the President and Executive Director, White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships
4:15 p.m. ET – Panel discussion on Interfaith/Intercultural Program Design: Innovative Methods from Around the World, moderated by Mohamed Abdel-Kader, Deputy Assistant Secretary for International and Foreign Language Education, U.S. Department of Education
Friday, September 23:
9:00 a.m. ET – Opening remarks by Brenda Girton-Mitchell, Director of the U.S. Department of Education’s Center for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships
9:05 a.m. ET – Welcoming remarks by Secretary King
Press planning to attend should RSVP to [email protected] by 5 p.m. ET, on Wednesday, Sept. 21.