4th Annual National Conference on Interfaith Youth Work
"Partnering to Build a Better World"

Dear Friends,

The Interfaith Youth Core (www.ifyc.org) is pleased to invite you to our 4th Annual National Conference on Interfaith Youth Work, May 14 -16, 2006 at Northwestern University's Evanston Campus.
Register now at: http://www.ifyc.org/nciyw.php.

This year, we are inviting leaders from religious communities, service organizations, and colleges and universities across the country to Chicago for a weekend of "Partnering to Build a Better World".

The conference will focus on building partnerships between different communities involved in interfaith youth work and training individuals from those communities in the hands-on skills necessary for success. Through keynote addresses, practical workshops, and a "mock" interfaith youth service experience, participants of all levels of expertise can expect to gain new awareness, insight, and skills in the breadth and depth of the Interfaith Youth Movement. Additionally, all of the workshop sessions will be broken into five content categories, with workshops in each category geared toward the "how-to" of that specific area of interfaith youth work and presented by its leading experts.

Workshops content categories include:

- Core Methodology: Basic training on interfaith youth service work from an IFYC perspective.

- "Speed Faithing": Gain insight into the most effective ways to engage specific religious communities and build relationships with their youth focused leadership. In this workshop, you will meet faith groups who will present overviews of their community and the most effective ways to engage them in interfaith youth work. Presenting communities include:

Amate House
Hillel
Muslims Public Affairs Council
World Sikh Council – America Region
Young Jains of America

- Opportunities for Service: Learn about service organizations that would like to partner with your interfaith efforts, including:

- America's Second Harvest

Earth Day
Habitat for Humanity
Katrina Relief

- Project Sustainability: Receive training on how to deepen and sustain existing interfaith youth service work.

- Exemplary Sustainable Projects: These workshops will showcase interfaith youth programs that are highly effective, well developed and year-round. For organizers who want to move from sporadic programming to more sustainable models, these workshops will give you excellent examples to get you started. Showcased programs include:

- Suburban Education Project
Interfaith Center of Greater Philadelphia

Additional conference highlights include:

- Lynne Steuerle Schofield, who lost her mother on September 11, 2001, is Founder of Our Voices Together and will be present as a Guest Speaker. The mission of Our Voices Together is to use our collective voices and resources to support and encourage worthwhile international projects, foster goodwill, and promote understanding. In so doing, they honor those who lost their lives to terrorist acts.

- "Mock" interfaith youth service experience: Join us in making blankets for Chicago's homeless women in partnership with Sarah's Circle, a Chicago-based agency that offers daytime supportive services in a welcoming, safe refuge for women who are homeless, or at risk of becoming homeless.

- Special dinner celebrating this year's National Days of Interfaith Youth Service (NDIYS), through which more than 4,000 worldwide youth collaborated on interfaith service projects.

- Molly Hoisington, a member of Interfaith Youth Core's Chicago Youth Council, will be present as a Guest Speaker. A student at Lincoln Park High School in Chicago, Molly will speak about the positive effect of interfaith work on her academic experience as a high school student.

- Kalyani Menon, Professor of Peace Studies in the Religion Department at DePaul University in Chicago, will be present as a Guest Speaker. She will speak about the positive effect of interfaith work on the academic experience of college students.

Please review the attached registration package for more information, or visit us on the web at http://www.ifyc.org/nciyw.php.

We look forward to seeing you there!

In peace and partnership,

Dr. Eboo Patel, Executive Director, Interfaith Youth Core
April Kunze, Assistant Executive Director, Interfaith Youth Core
Terrance Wallace, Program Assistant, Interfaith Youth Core

Interfaith Youth Core http://www.ifyc.org