Volunteers from Notre Dame’s finance office were dispatched to LOGAN Industries on a beautiful fall morning to prepare flower beds for spring. Savannah Souza, the accounting manager for Notre Dame Research, and coworkers evened out dirt in beds and stained wood planters.

“This is a way that I can make a difference through Notre Dame. It’s an example of how my little footprint helps out in this big world.” The same could be said for UWSJC’s workplace campaign, which is underway at Notre Dame now through Friday, December 4.

Through Notre Dame, employees have the opportunity to offer gifts to United Way. UWSJC then distributes grants to local nonprofits with programs intended to help people be self-sufficient and thrive. The programs address everything from early learning and youth success to work readiness to emergency utility, shelter, and health services.

Case in point: LOGAN

LOGAN is one of many nonprofit organizations that have historically applied for and received United Way funds. The agency serves adults and children with intellectual and developmental disabilities in a variety of ways including day programs and employment services.

“We have been really fortunate to work closely with the United Way over the years,” said Lainie Adams, LOGAN’s director of corporate partnerships.

The grants strengthen what local organizations like LOGAN do best.

“There are more than a dozen businesses who bring work to LOGAN Industries. Sherwin Williams is one of them. We prepare paint samples here,” Adams said. “We also have a partnership with a local coffee company, Quad. The owner was interested in expanding his roasting but he really didn’t have the space for it, so he asked if we could roast coffee at Logan Industries. We have a lot of space here. It’s been a really great partnership.”

A day well spent

After a tour of the building on Boland Drive in South Bend, Brenda Kulp met the Notre Dame group behind the warehouse. She shared that she had retired from LOGAN after 42 years, but couldn’t stay away from the place. Two months into retirement, she was back working as a special projects trainer.

“I have a gardening class and a cooking class. So we grow green peppers, for example, and then I incorporate the peppers in the cooking class,” Kulp explained. “The cooking class is very popular. I do picture menus so the clients know the kinds of supplies and ingredients to buy. They can take the recipes with them. They learn transferable skills for their lives.”

Cheryl Schlimpert, manager of endowed programs with the controller’s office at Notre Dame, was happy to participate in the Day of Caring at LOGAN. She shared that she ran a United Way campaign for a previous employer for three years.

“There are so many good organizations that are supported by the United Way,” she said. “Whether you support the United Way through time, talent, or treasure, it is a good investment and it is good for the soul to help others.”

The United Way campaign at the University of Notre Dame is open until Friday, December 4. For more information about United Way and how to donate, visit unitedway.nd.edu.

Not following? Read on.

Teams from across the region representing restaurants and organizations with dining establishments, like Notre Dame, prepare specialty dishes for the YMCA event, at which guests sample the food and choose their favorites. The contest raises money for the YMCA of Greater Michiana. This year’s competition takes place on Thursday, October 15, but you don’t have to attend to vote early for your favorite team. (It costs $50 per vote.)

For the past few years, Notre Dame’s team has been a duo—a Notre Dame chef and a “celebrity” who represents a University program or initiative.

In 2024, Notre Dame featured its Campus Sustainability efforts through Senior Director Geory Kurtzhals and the culinary skills of Chef Ryli Vissers. Vissers artfully presented a fall root vegetable pavé—an elegant, layered “cake” made up of ultra-thin slices of seasonal root vegetables. The meal was locally sourced, aligning with the University’s mission to reduce its carbon footprint and promote environmentally friendly practices.

In 2025, the University’s community engagement activities took center stage at the competition through the pairing of Notre Dame Athletics’ JP Abercrumbie, and Executive Pastry Chef Sinai Vespie. Vespie’s dessert creation told the story of the Link Trail, a new urban trail which connects campus to downtown South Bend. The Link was made possible through a partnership between Notre Dame, the city, and Visit South Bend Mishawaka convention and visitors bureau.

This year, the University’s anti-poverty initiative, Padua—powered by the Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities (LEO) and Goodwill Industries of Michiana—gets the spotlight. Assistant Professor of Economics Patrick Turner, a LEO researcher, and South Dining Hall’s Executive Chef Laura Wiese make up the team.

Originally created by Catholic Charities Fort Worth and named after St. Anthony of Padua, the Padua Program inspired the team to present a Texas-Inspired dish to represent the very place the program started. Additionally, the dish is composed of affordable and easy-to-prepare ingredients, making it a dish that participants in the Padua Program may like to cook themselves.

“Dr. Turner and I are honored to represent Notre Dame at the YMCA’s Greatest Chefs Competition. The Padua program is doing such important work in so many communities, including ours. We hope that the dishes bring this work to life and we’re so grateful to be able to support the YMCA and the Padua Program,” Wiese said.

Their entry includes Smoked Beef Cheeks and Goat Cheese Tamales with Cowboy Caviar, which is a cross between bean salad and salsa.

Join Amanda Zelechoski, clinical professor of psychology at Notre Dame, as she walks with a mental health community partner, Lisa Kelly from Mental Health Awareness Michiana. Together, they explore the current state of mental health in Indiana—and how new partnerships, including the Veldman Clinic, are helping meet that moment.

Later in the episode, the conversation continues on campus, where two local teens share their own experiences and perspectives on youth mental health. Their voices offer an honest look at what young people are facing today—and what support could look like moving forward.

This episode of The Link was edited by Michael Wiens, with original music provided through a partnership with the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, and additional music provided by Universal Production Music.

The Link Podcast is available on the Public Affairs website, where episodes will be embedded alongside related stories and content.

The inaugural Notre Dame Arts Biennial, which runs January through June 2027, will feature more than 100 public events, including exhibitions, performances, community workshops, and guest artists slated to visit the South Bend area for a six-month festival of visual, literary, spatial, and performing arts. Most events are free to attend.

The biennial—thematically focused on the concept of symbiosis—is produced by the Notre Dame Arts Initiative and curated by Initiative Director Michael Schreffler and Managing Director Rebecca Struch.

“Notre Dame’s flourishing is deeply connected to the vitality of South Bend and its surrounding communities,” said University President Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C. “The Arts Biennial exemplifies how the University’s commitment to the arts advances our Catholic mission by using creative expression to foster meaningful cultural exchanges and contribute to a thriving shared home.”

Highlights of the biennial will include a fireside chat with Maya Lin, a visionary artist and architect well-known for designing the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC. Zadie Smith, author of the acclaimed novel White Teeth, and Sougwen Chung, widely regarded as a pioneer of artistic human-machine collaboration and one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People in AI, are two featured speakers at the Franco Family Institute for Liberal Arts and the Public Good’s Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton Culture and the Public Good Symposium. Writer and photographer Cig Harvey will deliver the John J. Reilly Center for Science, Technology, and Values’s annual Ruskin Lecture. Claudia Bernardi, internationally known for her work in the fields of visual art, human rights, and social justice, will join for a weeklong residency bridging Notre Dame and South Bend.

“The Arts Initiative is a powerful catalyst that energizes creative inquiry and practice across the University,” said Schreffler, a professor of art history and associate dean for the arts in the College of Arts & Letters. “A massive undertaking like a biennial festival is made possible only through sustained partnerships with the many faculty and staff who bring research and teaching expertise to our public arts programming.”

The DeBartolo Performing Arts Center and Raclin Murphy Museum of Art also announced some of their signature biennial programming in partnership with the Arts Initiative. The 96-member National Symphony Orchestra will perform, led by esteemed music director and conductor Gianandrea Noseda, and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago will perform at Notre Dame for the first time in nearly 20 years. The Raclin Murphy Museum of Art will unveil an expansive group exhibition of contemporary art, More Than: Artists in Collaboration for a Greater Good, which will remain on view to the public throughout the biennial.

Additional signature programming will be announced throughout the fall before the biennial’s opening in January.

“In our era of cultural fragmentation, the biennial’s inaugural theme of symbiosis is a radical invitation to re-examine our interconnectedness,” Struch said. “Together with more than 85 collaborating campus units and external organizations, we are actively cultivating an arts ecosystem rooted in accessible programming that brings people together.”

Alongside a roster of distinguished visiting artists, the biennial also features public arts programming connected to nearly 40 community and campus-led projects sponsored by the Arts Initiative. For some, this support helps enhance established contributions to the regional arts scene. Fischoff National Chamber Music Association, Notre Dame’s Department of Film, Television, and Theatre and Department of Music, New Industry Dance Company, Performing Media Festival, Sacred Music at Notre Dame, Shakespeare at Notre Dame, South Bend Civic Theatre, and South Bend Symphony Orchestra are all participating to continue bringing live music, dance, theater, and experimental performance to the region.

For others, Arts Initiative support provides critical resources to help launch new partnerships or new programs. The Robinson Community Learning Center and Notre Dame’s Department of Art, Art History, and Design have teamed up to design and install public art at Eddy Street Commons, which will be unveiled during the biennial. The Acting Ensemble; Equity in the Arts, an initiative of South Bend Venues Parks & Arts; Merrimans’ Playhouse; South Bend Community School Corporation; and South Bend Museum of Art are each launching arts education programs focused on cultivating the next generation of artists and audiences. The biennial also features regional collaborations beyond South Bend, including with Elkhart County’s Goshen College Music Center and Michigan City’s Lubeznik Center for the Arts.

Supported projects also reflect the biennial’s commitment to global artistic exchange. A guest artist residency with internationally prolific Chinese theater director Wang Chong will culminate in the English-language premiere of his acclaimed Lying Flat 2.0, an immersive, participatory theater work that integrates live-feed video projection and real-time use of AI. Qhapaq Qolla, one of the most influential dance troupes in the Peruvian Andes, will make its US debut in a weeklong residency at Notre Dame. A collaboration with Ukrainian Catholic University and ICONART Gallery in Lviv, Ukraine, brings an exhibition of contemporary Ukrainian sacred art and iconography to campus, and a collaboration with Notre Dame Global launches a new artist exchange program between Mexico City, Dublin, and South Bend.

For more information about the artists and events featured in the inaugural biennial, visit artsbiennial.nd.edu. Subscribe to the biennial newsletter and follow the Arts Initiative on Instagram and Facebook (@artsnotredame) for additional program announcements.

Contact: Erin Blasko, director of media engagement, 574-631-4127, eblasko@nd.edu

Originally published by Notre Dame News at news.nd.edu on August 18, 2026.

A summer evening filled with tacos, ice cream, live performances, and games became something much bigger at the Robinson Community Learning Center (RCLC).

Held July 17, the annual Cops and Community event brought together more than 250 community members, including 14 South Bend police officers. Understanding the value of positive interactions, officers spent the evening playing games with local families, while building relationships with neighbors.

"My two officers that learned to play gaga ball ended up having more fun than the kids," joked South Bend Police Chief Scott Ruszkowski. "And they didn't need worker's comp when they were done!"

Ruszkowski said the event gives officers an opportunity to interact with residents outside of their everyday roles.

"Just like police, we know the Robinson Center works on behalf of the community all the time," he said. “It's such a great, stress-free environment for our officers to interact with the community. It's an opportunity to get to know the community, and our cops love it."

Twenty-four AmeriCorps members helped lead activities throughout the evening, while campers in RCLC's summer theater program entertained the crowd with a preview of their upcoming production of Señorita Mariposa.

For parents, the event reflected what makes the RCLC a special place.

"The event at the Robinson Center was really just what community is all about," said Michael Griffin, whose daughter attends camp. "To see the kids from the camps singing, local nonprofits and the police all enjoying a great evening—even in the heat—was what makes this community great."

Elisa Campos Duarte, whose two sons attended camp this summer, said the evening mirrored the positive experience her family has enjoyed the past few months.

“The sports are great and the teachers are amazing," she said. "I love seeing all these families out supporting our kids. My boys want to come back next summer!"

For Clare Roach, associate director of the Robinson Community Learning Center, events like Cops and Community embody the center's mission of bringing people together.

"These kinds of events are exactly what the Robinson Center does best—building bridges throughout our community," Roach said. "Positive interactions between our South Bend police officers and our families help strengthen relationships that last long after the evening ends."

The event was made possible through the generous support of Notre Dame Federal Credit Union, which underwrote the evening as part of its ongoing partnership with RCLC. Red Ball Tennis and USTA also provided nets, balls, and rackets for the event, as well as the training for staff. Families enjoyed tacos from Frankie's Tacos, ice cream from The Paddy Shack, and shade provided by Notre Dame Gameday Events—all local NDFCU members who helped bring the community celebration to life.

Photos provided by Matt Cashore, University Photographer

Awarded through Indiana's Community Collaboration Fund, the grant will fund the development of the AI Pocket Mentor, a digital business coach platform designed specifically for microentrepreneurs in northwest Indiana. Available 24 hours a day and accessible by smartphone, the platform will provide personalized guidance on competitor analysis, pricing, supplier sourcing, marketing, hiring and business compliance. Built to adapt to varying literacy levels, it will retain interaction history, allowing it to serve as an ongoing business coach rather than a one-time resource.

The AI Pocket Mentor builds on the work of the McKenna Center's Urban Poverty and Business Initiative (UPBI), which equips entrepreneurs with the tools, knowledge and support to overcome barriers to starting and growing successful businesses. Since its founding, UPBI has expanded to 59 cities, with more than 11,000 entrepreneurs having completed the program, more than 4,000 businesses launched and 4,500 jobs created.

"Too many aspiring entrepreneurs lack access to the kind of business guidance that can make the difference between struggling and succeeding," said Michael H. Morris, professor of the practice and founder of UPBI. "The AI Pocket Mentor puts practical, personalized coaching in entrepreneurs' hands whenever they need it. It extends our mission of helping people use entrepreneurship as a pathway to greater economic opportunity and long-term stability."

The AI Pocket Mentor will complement UPBI's in-person coaching and entrepreneurship training by providing structured guidance between meetings and outside traditional business hours. By reinforcing UPBI's proven 80-Step Journey to Sustainable Success framework, the platform will help entrepreneurs make informed decisions, strengthen their businesses and build a more secure economic future.

The project is one of 22 initiatives selected for funding through Indiana's Community Collaboration Fund, which supports community-led projects that strengthen entrepreneurship and accelerate small business growth across the state.

"Making Indiana the very best place to start, build and grow a business is a driving force of my administration,” said Indiana Governor Mike Braun. “These grants will support programs identified by communities as critical to the growth and success of their entrepreneurial and small business economies, supporting long-term job creation and wage growth. Thanks to the commitment and creativity of our regions, these programs will help founders and leaders bring new ideas to life, implement new technologies and future-proof their businesses.”

Media Contact: Tracy DeStazio, associate director of media relations, 574-631-9958 or tdestazi@nd.edu

Originally published by April Toler at keough.nd.edu on July 08, 2026.

Join podcast host Tim Sexton, associate vice president for Public Affairs at Notre Dame, as Caylie Peet from Notre Dame's Bridging to Business program walks with Kelli Cooper, owner of Serendipity Baking Co. Along the way, they discuss the realities of entrepreneurship, the importance of community support, and how programs like Bridging to Business help connect local businesses with new opportunities.

This episode of The Link was edited by Michael Wiens, with original music provided through a partnership with the Fischoff National Chamber Music Association and additional music provided by Universal Production Music.

The Link Podcast is available on the Public Affairs website, where episodes will be embedded alongside related stories and content.

In his role with Notre Dame Athletics, Cassidy oversees marketing and fan experience initiatives, helping shape the atmosphere at home football games while leading strategic efforts to drive ticket revenue and fan engagement. His work contributes to creating memorable experiences for thousands of fans who visit campus each year.

Outside of Notre Dame, Cassidy has volunteered as a mentor with The Clubhouse, a mentorship community for emerging sports industry professionals. Through one-on-one mentoring and career development guidance, he helps aspiring leaders build connections, develop skills, and navigate careers in the sports industry.

“Working at the University of Notre Dame has given me the opportunity to collaborate with talented people, serve passionate fans, and contribute to a university that means so much to our local community and people around the world,” Cassidy said.

“I’m excited to continue serving our passionate fans and the local community to make a positive impact.”

As the inaugural assistant dean for inclusive excellence, Lee-Johnson leads programs designed to expand access to graduate education and research opportunities. She oversees Our Futures, a weekend program that introduces undergraduate students to graduate education at Notre Dame, and the Summer Research Opportunities Program (SROP). She also co-leads ASPiRE-ND, which helps recent college graduates gain the research experience needed to pursue doctoral degrees in biomedical sciences.

Her work in the community includes mentoring young women and co-leading a program that prepares emerging leaders to serve on nonprofit boards and foundations. Lee-Johnson also serves on the board of the Jaden Sebastian Blake Foundation, established in honor of her brother. Since 2022, the foundation has collected more than 2,200 units of blood. She is also a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

“When I moved to South Bend, I knew that I wanted to not only do my best in my current role, but also do work in the community and surrounding areas,” Lee-Johnson said. “I am grateful for my nominators of this award, mentors, family, and friends who continue to support me and all of my aspirations.”

The annual Michiana Forty Under 40 program recognizes professionals under the age of 40 who have distinguished themselves through their careers and community involvement. This year's class was honored at a ceremony on May 29.

The annual event celebrates the partnerships that are helping shape the future of the South Bend-Elkhart region and brings together leaders from education, healthcare, government, nonprofit organizations, and business.

This year’s program featured a panel discussion titled Building Bridges: Strengthening Our Community Through Partnerships, moderated by Tim Sexton, associate vice president for public affairs. Father Dowd, Executive Vice President Shannon Cullinan, Notre Dame Law School Dean G. Marcus Cole, and Kristin Valentino, director of the Veldman Family Psychology Clinic, explored how collaboration between the University and community partners is driving progress across the region.

Offering the opening prayer was Carl R. Buchanon, chief of the South Bend Fire Department. Following the panel, the benediction was offered by Jacqueline Barton, president and founder of Specialized Staffing Solutions.

Check out photos below from the event. Photos by Matt Cashore/University of Notre Dame.

This collaborative environment is the centerpiece of a significant initiative supported by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) through the Chair’s Extraordinary Action Award. As part of the NEA’s Celebrating America250 program, the Institute for Social Concerns launched the project “Cultivating Beauty through Printmaking.” The project puts the institute’s mission into practice, utilizing research and arts engagement to promote the dignity and wellbeing of populations often unseen or unheard.

By partnering with the St. Peter Claver Catholic Worker—a local community that runs the drop-in center—the institute has created an innovative story lab where academic inquiry meets community flourishing. The project honors the legacies of Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton, two American exemplars of mercy and hospitality, by using their writings to spark an embodied conversation between campus and city residents.

“I am a printmaker because of the Catholic Worker, which is to say: I am a printmaker because of Dorothy Day,” said Rachel Mills, a printmaker living and working at the St. Peter Claver Catholic Worker House who created the portrait of Day for the project. “I began creating prints in dialogue with the tradition of printmaking in the movement and continue to find creativity in this lived conversation.”

Through the grant-supported workshops, participants conceptualized, designed, and carved linoleum blocks. The resulting works—on both paper and fabric—became a physical manifestation of the values Day and Merton held dear. The fabric prints were sewn into quilts, symbolizing the individual’s place within the larger community, while framed paper prints offered a striking, graphic testimony to the Gospel of Mercy.

“The slow and attentive process of printmaking shows the care all the creators have to put into their final product,” said Gia Villegas ’26, a science business major and student in the course, “and it has been an amazing and beautiful process doing it alongside others.”

Jon Schommer, executive director at Our Lady of the Road, stated, “It has been such a gift to have this printmaking workshop hosted at Our Lady of the Road drop-in center to empower our own community to participate in this tradition of beauty as healing.”

The portraits of Day and Merton found an audience on campus as they were featured at the Franco Institute’s inaugural Dorothy Day & Thomas Merton Culture and the Public Good Symposium in April. For the students in the Art and Social Change course, this was an opportunity to engage with conference attendees, sharing their creative process and the insights they gained from the literature. This fall, the works will be permanently installed at Our Lady of the Road to commemorate its 20th anniversary of providing care to the community.

This NEA grant–supported project is the latest initiative to emerge from the institute’s South Bend Citizens Collaboratory. By hosting creative projects in schools, neighborhoods, and community centers, the Collaboratory’s story lab creates a platform for people from different walks of life to tell their stories through art. These programs are designed to honor the dignity of all participants by providing the resources and space to express their own history, culture, and identity.

Originally posted May 14, 2026, at https://socialconcerns.nd.edu/news/

As it turns 25 (a celebration is planned for Wednesday, April 29), the Notre Dame Robinson Community Learning Center stands as a lasting symbol of trust and shared purpose between Notre Dame and its closest neighbors—the many and diverse residents of the Northeast Neighborhood—as well as a source of support and encouragement for those who have passed through its doors.

Starting from its original location in a former shopping center and continuing at Eddy Street Commons, the center, with support from Notre Dame and others, has served thousands of men, women, and children across generations, engaged hundreds of volunteers, and distributed tens of thousands of books, promoting service and learning throughout the community.

But the center is also a physical space, and in that capacity, it has served as a hub for events, celebrations, lectures, performances, competitions, and student- and community-organized service projects such as Back the Bend and Turning Over a New Leaf—always with a deep and abiding commitment to the underserved, particularly children, families, and the elderly.

“We have a mission and a passion to serve the breadth of the community; we make efforts to reach the under-resourced and the vulnerable,” said Susan Devetski, an educational consultant and former chief academic officer for the South Bend Community School Corp. who has served as director of the RCLC since 2023.

In that sense, the center’s impact is practically immeasurable.

Read the story

Originally published by Erin Blasko at news.nd.edu on April 27, 2026.

“Muko tayari, chefs?… Are we ready, chefs?”

Working in both Swahili and English, a group of South Bend students embarks on a culinary adventure combining literacy skill-building with multicultural understanding. This experience, led by a former undergraduate in an Institute for Educational Initiatives (IEI) academic program, paired with a member of the university’s dining hall staff, is part of a community tutoring program designed to deepen learning through experiential opportunities.

Research-practice partnerships are at the heart of the IEI’s work. The institute’s initiatives connect teachers and students with the research, resources, and ideas that serve as foundations for cultivating relationships and hands-on learning. The way these efforts build on one another, fostering inspiration and collaboration, is what makes the institute unique in the field of education. For Meg Beuter '24, this was integral to her formation, opening windows in her thinking that bridged an interest in education with service in action.

Beginning with an Interest in Education

The story begins with Meg Beuter, an AmeriCorps member serving at the Robinson Community Learning Center (RCLC) in South Bend, an off-campus educational initiative of the University of Notre Dame that hosts programs and enrichment activities for all ages. Meg graduated from the university in 2024 and spent a year in Kenya as a Fulbright scholar teaching English. “I came to Notre Dame as a student interested in education,” said Meg, who majored in American Studies and English. This interest led her to minor in Education, Schooling, and Society (ESS), a program at the IEI designed to help undergraduates understand education systems through an interdisciplinary lens. Because ESS challenges students to examine education and ways to bridge gaps, they often find they can connect their learning to deeper societal problems. “ESS made me think about education as a means for justice and a way to empower youth,” said Meg.

Each ESS student completes either a semester-long capstone project or a year-long thesis. Working with Professor Mike Macaluso, Meg’s thesis analyzed transcripts from a Tutor-ND book club for middle school children that focused on the graphic novel When Stars Are Scattered. Recipient of the Alexandria Award, a literary prize recognizing literature for young people that reflects Catholic Social Teaching, When Stars Are Scattered follows Somali children growing up in a refugee camp in Kenya. Meg’s undergraduate research examined book clubs as a tool for literacy education and effectively connected several IEI initiatives: Service-focused Tutor-ND, which supports impactful tutoring with research-based practices, and the Alexandria Award, named for St. Catherine of Alexandria in honor of her brave and tenacious character. Both efforts call the institute home.

Turning Research Into Practice

But what began as a research project became something more. After completing her Fulbright-funded teaching assignment, Meg found an opportunity to combine her experience in Kenya with her thesis work on literacy and adolescents. As part of her new work as an AmeriCorps member, she was tasked with enhancing students' reading experience. Meg began developing a new book club for students at the RCLC, utilizing Tutor-ND resources to support reader engagement and discussion around When Stars Are Scattered. The book club offered an additional opportunity to bring the novel to life for local children. To do this, she sought out someone who could demonstrate Kenyan life and culture: Elizabeth Ndani

Mama Elizabeth, as she is fondly called, has worked in North Dining Hall at the university for eight years. Originally from Kenya, she is always eager to share her culture with others. Meg met Elizabeth during her time as a student through Swahili Masses held on campus. “She cooked these amazing meals after Mass, feeding all of us,” said Meg. “When I was planning the enrichment activities for the book club, I knew that Mama Elizabeth needed to be part of it.”

Together, they planned an afternoon of cooking and Swahili culture. On her day off, Mama Elizabeth spent the entire morning at the center preparing the meal, including dishes such as pilau, kuku, and mandazi. The children could smell the aromas wafting from the small kitchen, waiting for the moment when they would don their chef hats and help prepare the food. “I enjoy cooking so much,” said Elizabeth. “My skills are a gift, and I feel so excited to share them with the kids. It will make the book more real and alive.” Using both English and her native Swahili, Elizabeth and the children created a Kenyan feast to help them connect with the book in a new and meaningful way.

Rooted in Care and Connection

Bringing the book to life is not just about making it exciting for the children; it is also about creating connections that deepen their lived experience. “Our students are learning about so much together,” said Meg. “They are making connections to what they know, while also being introduced to the unfamiliar through someone they would never have met otherwise.” This approach is central to the Robinson Community Learning Center, where care and connection create the conditions for meaningful learning.

Meg’s work with the center’s book club illustrates how those connections take shape. “She took the seeds of her time at the university to her work in Kenya,” said Clare Roach, associate director of the Robinson Community Learning Center. “Then she brought back what she learned and kept it growing, bringing in the children at the center and inviting Elizabeth to broaden understanding through her firsthand knowledge and expertise.”

Meg Beuter drew on her background as an ESS student, the resources of Tutor-ND, and ties at ND Dining to create a book club at the Robinson Community Learning Center that continues to build relationships through learning. “The Swahili word for community is ‘Jumuiya,’ and that is what we have here,” said Meg. “Through this book club, we are sharing thoughts, food, and fostering community. It has helped the kids understand how literature can connect them to a deeper understanding of themselves and the world around them.”

The Link Podcast pairs a Notre Dame faculty member, staff member, or student with a regional collaborator to discuss a shared project or initiative, with a focus on community partnerships, economic growth, and regional engagement. Conversations are recorded as the participants walk along the trail that physically connects the University with downtown South Bend.

Hosted by Tim Sexton, associate vice president for public affairs at Notre Dame, the podcast will be released every other month, with episodes running 15–30 minutes, roughly the length of a walk along the trail.

The first episode, “Let’s walk: The story behind the Link Trail,” looks at how the trail came together. Sexton is joined by Jeff Jarnecke of Visit South Bend Mishawaka and Jitin Kain of the City of South Bend to discuss the vision, planning, and collaboration that brought the project to life. The project represented a collaborative investment from the City of South Bend, Visit South Bend Mishawaka through the Hotel-Motel Tax Board, and Notre Dame.

The Link Podcast is an extension of the BeyoND platform, which highlights Notre Dame’s work across the region. Future episodes will feature partnerships connected to areas such as mental health, education, housing, and economic development.

Some of the music featured in the podcast is provided through a partnership with the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, including performances by Grand Prize and Senior String Division Gold Medal winners from the Katarina String Quartet. The artists are from the Juilliard School and include Jeanel Liang, Jérôme Chiasson, Celia Morin, and Maya Enstad.

Episodes are edited by Michael Wiens from the Office of Public Affairs and Communications and additional music is provided by Universal Production Music. 

The Link Podcast is available on the Public Affairs website, where episodes will be embedded alongside related stories and content.

Led by Notre Dame’s Student Government, the initiative connects students from Notre Dame, Saint Mary’s College, and Holy Cross College with community partners. About 500 students took part, supporting 25 nonprofits through a mix of indoor and outdoor spring projects.

For sophomore Owen McDonald, who served as Student Government’s director of community outreach during the 2025-26 academic year, Back the Bend was the culmination of months of preparation. He addressed his fellow students who assembled at Stepan Center before being dispatched into the community on 15 buses.

“Right now, there’s a lot of darkness and division in the world and it can be hard,” McDonald said. “We can feel hopeless, but as the great Dr. Martin Luther King, Junior, said, ‘darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that.’ Each of you has a light inside of you. As members of the Notre Dame community, we are called to go out and share that light with others and that’s what we’re trying to do.”

For students, Back the Bend also shed a light on the depth of engagement that exists between Notre Dame and the community.

Andee Huxhold, executive director of Dismas House, welcomed a crew of 12 Notre Dame students to the group home, where individuals find stability, support, and belonging after incarceration.

“Our relationship with Notre Dame has been dynamic,” Huxhold said after offering the students a tour of the historic house in South Bend’s Monroe Park neighborhood. “It was really neat to be able to share all the different ways Notre Dame has touched our home and program.”

The tour included a stop in the large, recently renovated kitchen that features a professional grade stove and granite countertops.

“The kitchen was designed by students in Notre Dame’s School of Architecture, and the Philanthropy and the Common Good class, over two years, donated $18,000 towards the kitchen project. Student groups also come out. Keenan Hall residents come here on Mondays and Mercy Works comes on Wednesdays, so we have Notre Dame students here every week,” Huxhold said, adding that the University has also contributed in a unique way to the new Dismas Hub, three blocks from the home.

“Through a partnership with the Institute for Social Concerns, we were able, over the course of 10 weeks, to sit with students who met with our residents, our alumni, and other justice-impacted individuals in the area. We talked about what re-entry really looks like here in South Bend and, with a muralist, they translated that dialogue into this beautiful 80 foot by 30 foot mural that is a joy to us and the whole neighborhood.”

On Saturday, the Back the Bend students removed a deck from the back of Dismas House. The demolition was necessary to make room for a handicap-accessible back entrance and more green space.

“It is important to address residents’ mental health and well-being, and we know one of the things that is important is to have green space. We have a decent-sized backyard for being in the city and there’s so much we can do with it. We’re hoping to put in a patio here and some flower gardens and a fire pit.”

A couple neighborhoods away, another Back the Bend group of volunteers spread mulch at Kelly Park in the Northeast Neighborhood. Up the street at the Robinson Community Learning Center, meanwhile, students were paired with senior citizens for a bus trip to two new centers operated by South Bend’s Venues Parks & Arts.

“We’re going to go see the new Martin Luther King Dream Center and the Raclin Murphy Encore Center, which is the new extension of the Morris Performing Arts Center.” said Lu Ella Webster, RCLC’s adult programs coordinator. “The students will learn a little bit about the city, the neighborhood, and RCLC and they can meet some of our senior citizens who have been participating in programs at RCLC for many, many years. It’s a good intergenerational activity and perhaps we can get some pen pals out of this.”

At the opening of Back the Bend, Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C., president of Notre Dame, prayed with students, “We pray that we might deepen our connection to people in and beyond the city of South Bend…” By day’s end—no matter the service assignment or location—students could confidently say, mission accomplished.

The evening marked the second installment of the Letras Latinas Community Reading Series, led by Notre Dame’s Institute for Latino Studies, and was designed to bring people together through conversation, storytelling, and shared experience.

The audience reflected exactly what the series is building: a stronger community between local residents and Notre Dame faculty, staff, students.

For Professor Francisco Aragón, that mix is intentional and rooted in a larger goal.

“The Letras Latinas Community Reading Series is a direct response to the University’s Strategic Framework, which calls upon the University to have more meaningful engagement with the city of South Bend,” said Aragón, director of Letras Latinas and professor of the practice for the Institute for Latino Studies.

This is only the second installment of the series, but the intention is already clear: bring powerful Latino voices into a shared community space. That’s exactly why Aragón invited Reyes to South Bend.

Reyes shared excerpts from his work before joining a public discussion led by Notre Dame English Ph.D. student Paulina Hernández-Trejo. The dialogue carried into the reception, where attendees stayed, asked questions, and continued the conversation.

By the end of the night, a line formed for book signings.

It was a special event for all, but especially for Reyes, who was impressed with the moderator’s questions and the audience’s deep engagement about the book during the reception.

“Not every book event feels as intimate and substantive as this one did,” says Reyes. “At a time when Central American politics and immigration are top of mind, it was particularly invigorating to explore how storytelling intersects with the defining social and political issues of our day.”

Work that reflects the moment

Reyes is part of a new wave of Latino writers who are gaining national attention. As the son of Salvadoran immigrants, much of his work centers on identity, migration, and the lasting impact of political conflict, often blending realism with more speculative storytelling.

He trained at Harvard and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and his writing has appeared in outlets like The New York Times and The Washington Post. His debut collection, There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven, has already earned strong national recognition. His debut novel, Archives of Unknown Universes was released in 2025.

In 2026, he was named to Forbes’ “30 Under 30,” a reflection of how quickly his work is reaching a broader audience.

For Aragón, bringing a writer like Reyes to South Bend is not accidental. It is the kind of work he has been building toward for years.

The son of Nicaraguan immigrants, Aragón joined Notre Dame’s Institute for Latino Studies in 2003 and launched Letras Latinas the following year, creating a platform to elevate Latino voices and connect them with broader audiences.

He sees events like this as an opportunity to do both at once. To bring nationally recognized voices into the community, while also creating space for stories that feel more personal and real.

Partnerships that open doors

The series is a collaboration between Notre Dame’s Institute for Latino Studies and the St. Joseph County Public Library. It is rooted in a shared goal to bring meaningful programming into the heart of the community.

“We are honored to partner with Letras Latinas to connect award-winning authors and Notre Dame scholars with the greater South Bend community,” said Mel Lutz, community services senior manager at the St. Joe County Public Library.

“Our partnership supports the library’s mission to connect members of our diverse community to learning, resources and each other.”

There is also a strong connection back to the classroom on Notre Dame’s campus.

Each visiting writer spends time with Notre Dame students, offering a chance to engage directly with authors whose work they are studying. It adds a layer to their education that can’t be replicated on the page. It’s why Reyes was invited to serve as a writer-in-residence at the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art the day after his library event. The writing he produced at the Museum, in response to its permanent collection, is part of a multi-year initiative and partnership between the ILS and the Museum, one which involves poets and writers creating art-inspired writings.

Building something that lasts

The Letras Latinas Community Reading Series is still in its early stages. This was just the second installment. The response to this year’s event suggests real momentum. Aragón’s vision is to make this an annual spring tradition. Each year, he wants to introduce a new prose writer and a new set of conversations.

Plans are already in motion for next spring’s author and more importantly, more opportunities for students to create deeper connections with the community.

The line up for the 2027 Letras Latinas Community Reading Series will be available on the Institute for Latino Studies’ website.

Photos provided by Michael Caterina, University photographer. 

The University’s Facilities Design & Operations team hosted the third annual BLDG Trades Day in partnership with MACIAF, St. Joseph Valley Building Trades, and the South Bend Regional Chamber. The goal was simple: give students a chance to see what a career in the trades actually looks like.

Throughout the day, students connected directly with contractors, union representatives, and trades professionals, asking questions and learning about different career paths. For many, it was their first time seeing the range of opportunities available—from electrical and plumbing to carpentry and construction.

BLDG Trades Day continues to grow each year, creating more opportunities for connection and helping students across the region see a future they may not have considered before.

Check out photos below from the event. Photos by Matt Cashore/University of Notre Dame.

What brings out an architecture major, an elementary school teacher, a nursing mother, a realtor, and a pastor to gather around a community room table in South Bend, Indiana, during the dead of winter?

For forty community members, it was the opportunity to deepen their understanding of Catholic social tradition (CST) and learn ways to put it into practice. This microcosm of the city is learning to build a more just and thriving community through the three-part workshop “Evangelized by Christ in the City.”

By creating these spaces of encounter, the Institute for Social Concerns bridges the gap between campus and community, transforming CST principles into a shared power for local change.

The series brought together parishioners from across the city of South Bend—as well as Holy Cross and Dominican sisters—to learn alongside Notre Dame theologians and community organizer Rev. André Stoner of We Make Indiana(link is external), a non-partisan organization that helps move ordinary people from being spectators to agents in the work for justice in Indiana.

Each session combines theological reflections with training on community-building practices to demonstrate how CST can address the most pressing issues within the community—from poverty to immigration.

The workshop is the latest initiative to emerge from the Leadership Forum, a component of the institute’s South Bend Citizens Collaboratory. Fostering civic leaders across various sectors—academia, government, industry, faith communities, and neighborhood associations—the Leadership Forum equips them with tools that promote human flourishing.

In the January session, Notre Dame theologian David Lantigua, the William W. and Anna Jean Cushwa Co-Director of the Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism, described how the theme of the series is inspired by recent papal teaching that the vulnerable are not only recipients but also agents of evangelism.

Participants read and discussed sections of Pope Leo XIV’s Dilexi Te (On Love for the Poor), where Leo describes how “lives can actually be turned around” by the realization that people who are poor “have much to teach us about the Gospel and its demands.” The workshops, Lantigua explained, are designed to provide training on how to do such listening and learning with marginalized people in the city.

“I’ve been energized by the way this series is putting Catholic social tradition into practice,” said Lantigua. “So often we can make theology into an abstract academic discipline, but this series demonstrates the desire and pressing need to open theology to the Gospel by addressing the needs of our community.”

At the February session, Notre Dame theologian Todd Walatka described how St. Oscar Romero’s encounter with poor Salvadorans transformed his faith. The core of Romero’s theology, Walatka said, was the central insight of CST that every human has dignity as a creature of God. The struggle of the Christian life, according to Romero, is to see that dignity in oneself and others and to respond accordingly.

“Christian life is an exercise in holy seeing,” Walatka said. “We don’t yet see the splendid beauty in every person, but we should long to. Life’s a journey of learning to see and respond to humanity—our own and that of those around us.”

“One of the strongest ideas I am gleaning from this series is the importance of relational ministry–of encounter,” said Fr. Jim Fenstermaker, C.S.C., pastor of Holy Cross Catholic Parish(link is external), which co-sponsored the institute’s series along with the Cushwa Center.

Fr. Fenstermaker described the institute’s community partnerships as the embodiment of CST’s principle of subsidiarity, which teaches that social issues should be dealt with at the most local level possible and the highest level necessary. The local community brings its experiences of listening to the needs around them, and the institute partners with the community, recognizing that community members bring their own expertise on the work of justice at the local level.

For participants like Heidi Witte ’09, a graduate of the institute’s Catholic Social Tradition Minor and director of children’s catechesis at Holy Cross Parish, the workshop bridges the theology she learned in the classroom with the realities she encounters in the community. As part of a nationwide group of Catholic women seeking to educate the public on the principles of CST, Witte described the way the workshop animates CST through one-on-one relational meetings as “eye-opening.”

“It was powerful,” Witte said. “I will carry that with me—trying to hear someone’s ‘why’ in a non-judgmental way.”

By bringing this workshop to local parishes, the institute ensures that the principles of CST are not kept to the academy but are embodied in the city through the concrete work of justice.

In the final session on March 26, Notre Dame theologian and St. Adalbert parishioner Rebecca Ruvalcaba will present on CST and immigration. All are welcome. Contact Michael Hebbeler, assistant director of community partnerships and programs, for details.

Originally published March 17, 2026, at https://socialconcerns.nd.edu/happenings/institute-stories/.

The entry, created by students from the Robinson Community Learning Center, featured fourth-grader Siya as Tubman and fifth-grader Dante as God, joined by more than a dozen participants in the Afterschool Theatre Lab. Ranging from first to eighth grade, half of the students took turns narrating an adapted version of the book “Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom,” while the other half sang along to an early recording of the song “Swing Low Sweet Chariot.”

“I was really impressed by their creativity,” Gillaspy said. “They took music from the public domain and a story that they had been learning about, and incorporated them all together with sound effects. They weren’t just reading the words; they were reinterpreting them. It was a comprehensive way of engaging with the story.”

The music contest, in its fourth year, serves as a staple of the Hesburgh Libraries’ annual Public Domain Day slate of events. It invites members of the campus community to create original compilations using sound recordings and samples that have recently entered the public domain.

“The exciting thing about this contest is that you don’t need fancy equipment; you can do it with a computer,” Gillaspy said. “I just love that there are so many opportunities available to take public domain music and create something new.”

Creating the entry

In early January, after spotting an article about the annual contest in a campus publication, Robinson Center staff saw an opportunity.

“Part of our mission at the Robinson Center is to leverage all the expertise and the innovation at Notre Dame in the service of the community,” Clare Roach, associate director, said. “This competition was an authentic opportunity for kids to showcase their talent.”

The contest was just another reason to get excited about the readers’ theatre project Robinson had already planned for Black History Month. Readers’ theatre is a strategy that helps students improve their reading skills by working together to read a script while focusing on their vocal expressions.

“Our program strategy interweaves fun, engaging enrichment opportunities,” Roach said. “One of the big challenges of tutoring programs is retention. Kids go to school for a long day, and adding even more school support can be exhausting, but when you add in fun opportunities, our students want to come back. Readers’ theatre isn’t just fun theatre; it’s helping children become stronger readers by practicing again and again.”

Jennifer Jermano Miller, theatre and fine arts program director, who adapted the original book into parts, worked with the students to decide who would take each part.

“We sat them all down and asked, ‘Who wants to be a narrator or who wants to be Harriet?’” she said. “I don’t want to ask a student to do something they’re not comfortable with, so I really try to give them a lot of choices.”

On the musical side, AmeriCorps member and music teacher Emma Connors worked to teach the students the words to “Swing Low.”

“I just taught it one sentence at a time,” she said. “We do a lot of repeating. So, I’ll sing it, then they repeat it, and then I’ll speak the words so they can really internalize them. We just went back and forth until they were independently singing it.”

Repetition also helped students’ reading.

“We kept going again and again, but we got through it,” Dante said. “I was really happy because I didn’t think I could keep remembering the voice.”

Throughout the process, instructors worked with students to help them understand and use inflection as they spoke into the microphone.

“Jennifer will teach things that are absolutely integral to reading, like ‘when you see a question mark at the end of a sentence, your voice tends to do what?’ Or what word in this sentence do you pause on? What word do you emphasize?” Roach said. “Strong readers have intuited a lot of these things; they can read out loud the way we talk.”

Siya, who described her character, Tubman, as “passionate, strong and fearless,” said she tried to portray that in her voice.

“I tried to be strong and ready to go and loud,” she said. “You could hear me all through your ears.”

And the winner is…

In the end, the three minutes of audio capturing the voices of students at the Robinson Center titled “Harriet Tubman Leads Her People To Freedom,” with a fourth-grader as Tubman and a fifth-grader as the voice of God, was one of five entries chosen as a 2026 contest winner.

“People choose where to put their time,” Gillaspy said. “It’s exciting that they chose us, and they did such a good job. I have shared the entry with several people, and they have all been so inspired by it. In the past, we have only had faculty, staff, and students enter; the kids had a certain way of viewing the world that is different from the others, and their entry was fantastic and lovely.”

To learn more and listen to all of this year’s contest winners, visit the 2026 contest page.

A collaborative project between the University of Notre Dame and the City of South Bend was recently awarded $1 million to support improvements to the city’s 311 Call Center through the Bloomberg Philanthropies Mayors Challenge.

Partnering with the University’s Lucy Family Institute for Data & Society, the City of South Bend will use the award to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to identify emerging service needs and develop innovative human‑centered technologies to proactively deliver essential services.

By developing and testing a predictive model — a tool that uses past data to identify patterns and forecast future needs — the city hopes to be able to reach out to residents with targeted support, transforming the 311 service center from a reactive system into a data-driven proactive service that anticipates and addresses community needs before a request is made.

“The University of Notre Dame is committed to advancing data and AI for the social good,” said Nitesh Chawla, the Frank M. Freimann Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at Notre Dame and Lucy Family Director for Data & AI Academic Strategy, who leads the University’s Data, AI and Computing Initiative. “Through Notre Dame’s Lucy Family Institute, and in partnership with the City of South Bend, we are developing responsible, human-centered technologies that help anticipate community needs, strengthen how essential services are delivered, and empower communities, organizations and individuals.”

South Bend was among 24 city halls from 20 countries to receive the award. More than 600 ideas were submitted to the Mayor’s Challenge to address public service challenges, including housing, waste management, clean water, infrastructure and social inclusion.

In the city’s press release to announce the award, Mayor James Mueller emphasized how partnerships are transforming the local community. “In partnership with Bloomberg Philanthropies and community partners, we are changing the way we deliver city services in South Bend,” he said. “By integrating new technologies with our frontline teams, we can spot problems earlier, act sooner and achieve better outcomes that will build greater trust with our residents.”

In 2018, South Bend received its first Bloomberg Philanthropies Mayors Challenge award to support the creation of Commuters Trust, a transportation-as-a-benefit program designed to expand access to reliable commuting options.

To learn more about the Bloomberg Philanthropies Mayors Challenge, visit mayorschallenge.bloomberg.org.

Contact: Brandi Wampler, associate director of media relations, 574-631-2632, brandiwampler@nd.edu

Originally published by Grashorn, Christine at news.nd.edu on February 25, 2026.