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History of interfaith service for youth PDF Print E-mail
The experience of the Unity Walk is unique in that it provides a space for people to come together to begin to understand their neighbor.  It fosters relationships between people that might not otherwise have had the chance to come together.  After four years, the 9/11 Unity Walk organized in 2008 to launch the Youth Service Initiative (YSI), offering community service projects for volunteers of all faiths to come together throughout the year, and learn about their neighbors through serving others.

Over the next two years, the YSI has made incredible progress.  Since our first gathering in the fall of 2008 at the Cathedral with Eboo Patel, IFYC, we have...
•    gathered 300 youth on the banks of the Anacostia River and surrounding neighborhood for a trash pick-up in recognition of MLK Day
•    planted gardens at a transitional housing facility for an interfaith social service agency and conducted a CFL light-bulb exchange at a Jewish retirement home for low-income seniors as two of many environmental projects in honor of the Global Youth Service Days / Days of Interfaith Youth Service
•    collected canned goods for an Interfaith Iftar dinner at the Historic Synagogue as part of the President’s United We Serve Campaign.
•    and been named as one of the Honorees of the Interfaith Youth Core’s 2009 Bridge-Builders Community Award!  The Bridge Builder Community Award goes to organizations who build interfaith cooperation at the community level with an emphasis on youth leadership and common action.

From the beginning, YSI was meant to empower youth as leaders. Going forward, the Unity Walk is partnering with ML Resources Social Vision to launch a pilot initiative – the Interfaith Action Youth Group (IYAG).  Built on curricula designed by the Faiths Act Fellows, a joint project of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation and the Interfaith Youth Core – a leadership core of 10-12 high school-aged students will work together to design local service projects that teach lessons about global issues – namely the UN’s Millennium Development Goals.  Monthly opportunities for interfaith dialogue, training, and service will encourage youth to gather and discover ways to fight global poverty.  

For more information on Social Vision click here .

For more details on how to get involved, please email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
 
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