Immigrant and Refugee Partnerships

The Center for Citizenship and Community (CCC) has developed partnerships with local immigrant and refugee serving organizations, including the Indianapolis Public School English as a New Language Department, the Center for Interfaith Cooperation, Immigrant Welcome Center, Exodus Refugee Resettlement, Catholic Charities, and the Immigrant and Refugee Service Corps.

These partnerships help Butler students, faculty, staff, and immigrant and refugee communities connect with others through curiosity and empathy in order to learn from commonalities as well as differences in beliefs, world views and cultures. These experiences also allow participants to comprehend the complexity of difference and to develop capacities for respect, mutuality, and reciprocity in collaborative relationships.

Examples of Past Partnerships:

Immigrant and Refugee Service Corps: Every year more than 75,000 Americans donate their time in national and community service. The Immigrant and Refugee Service Corps (IRSC) is a grassroots program headquartered in Indianapolis, with 16 members, the program is able to provide service hours in a variety of non-for-profit sites that work directly and indirectly with local immigrant and refugee communities. The CCC has been a host site for an IRSC member for the past 4 years. This partnership has opened up numerous opportunities for teamwork and collaboration between Butler and a variety of organizations.

Center for Interfaith Cooperation (CIC): An organization with the goal of inspiring interfaith collaboration in order to strengthen civil society. Through our current partnership, service-learning students have worked with Iraqi and Palestinian refugees new to the Indianapolis area. For more information contact Hanako Gavia.

Immigrant Welcome Center (IWC): An organization that helps new immigrants integrate into American society. Potential opportunities include teaching ESL courses, and outreach work with recently arrived refugee communities. For more information, contact our Assistant Director Hanako Gavia .