Students from local schools, Boys and Girls Clubs and community centers will visit the University of Notre Dame Thursday (April 29) from 3 to 5 p.m. in the Stepan Center for a celebration of the Robinson Community Learning Center (RCLC) Take Ten violence prevention initiative.
Hundreds of area school children will attend the Take Ten Festival, which will include visits by Chief Darryl Boykins of the South Bend Police Department, Superintendent James Kapsa of the South Bend Community School Corporation, and Lynn Coleman from the mayor’s office. The event will include games and activities, refreshments, distribution of T-shirts and performances by Notre Dame’s First Class Steppers and Project Fresh.
Take Ten encourages young people to “Talk it out, walk it out, and wait it out” as a means to resolve conflicts peacefully. The program reaches some 8,000 children at 12 schools, the Center for the Homeless in South Bend, all Boys & Girls Club sites, and community centers through the assistance of more than 130 volunteers from Notre Dame and four other local colleges.
The RCLC is a community-driven education center sponsored by Notre Dame. In addition to the violence prevention initiative, the center offers a number of programs and activities sponsored by local agencies and organizations, including health education and screenings, GED and English-as-a-second-language classes, children’s programming, youth tutoring and after-school programs. It also features a Computer Teaching and Learning Center, which is equipped with 20 computers and provides instruction and Internet and e-mail access.