The IU South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center and other local social justice-oriented organizations are here to support our local educators and students. Our culturally responsive curricular support project seeks to connect local teachers, support staff, and administrators with crucial resources that address the cultural, racial, social, and other specific needs of our South Bend students. We envision a culturally sustaining educational future for every student, teacher, and school.
Culturally Responsive Curricular Support
Our community is here to support local educators to create inclusive and culturally responsive learning environments.
Local Organizations
Many local organizations provide workshops, field trips, lesson plans, and other resources that promote social justice, diverse representation, and culturally responsive learning in the classroom. Consult our directory to discover how our community can support you in the classroom and school.
Community Action for Education, known simply as CAFE, creates a public space for the community to discuss issues and solve problems to ensure that all children have access to a high quality education. Our mission is to protect the public in public education––students, teachers, schools, and communities.
Programs/Services: Monthly community meetings to discuss educational issues; advocacy support.
Website: https://www.facebook.com/CommunityActionforEd
Contact: communityactionfored@gmail.com
Born from the efforts of Indiana University South Bend students and professors, the Civil Rights Heritage Center transformed a once-segregated city swimming pool into an active learning center. It explores the civil rights struggles of the past so people can take action in the present and build a better future.
Programs/Services: Guided tours for groups of roughly 10–30; regular community programming;
African American Landmark Tour; digital access to local historical primary sources; oral history podcast series.
Website: crhc.iusb.edu
Contact: George Garner, Asst. Director and Curator: gwgarner@iusb.edu
The Jewish Federation of St. Joseph Valley is proud to serve as a central resource for our diverse Jewish community. Our service area includes St. Joseph, Elkhart, and surrounding counties in Indiana as well as southwest Michigan’s Berrien and Cass counties. We are composed of volunteers, contributors, and partners, seeking to meet the various human needs of the Jewish people and ensure an inclusive Jewish community for future generations. We do outreach to the non-Jewish community to build interfaith relations, and we provide Holocaust education for local schools.
Programs/Services: Holocaust education and educational programs about Israel at no cost.
Website: www.thejewishfed.org
Contact: Bob Feferman, Community Relations Director: rfeferman@thejewishfed.org
La Casa de Amistad’s mission is to empower the Latino/Hispanic community within Michiana by providing educational, cultural and advocacy services in a welcoming, bilingual environment. We strive to find ways to help youth succeed, families develop, and communities strengthen through educational activities and advocacy programs that empower everyone we interact with through our programs.
Programs/Services: Youth programs (preschool, K-12 tutoring, summer camps), adult educational programming (English classes, citizenship classes, digital literacy, Strengthening Families program), and social services (food pantry, translations, notary services, Team HEAT, Christ Child agency referrals, legal immigration clinic).
Website: www.lacasadeamistad.org
Contact: Juan Constantino: juan2@lacasadeamistad.org
The LGBTQ Center promotes equality, builds community, and increases understanding of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) experiences. We meet these crucial needs through educational resources, support groups, social events, and enriching programming.
Programs/Services: Social groups; support groups; diversity training; legal assistance; LGBTQ+ lending library; for parents, seniors, and youth.
Professional Development: The LGBTQ Center's Diversity Training helps to build an understanding of sexuality, gender, identity, and expression. We offer an introductory training that covers the fundamentals of understanding LGBTQ+ experiences and practicing affirmative allyship. We are also available to provide training that is more specific to your needs (i.e. gender identity, gender expression). Available by appointment; $20 per participant.
Website: www.thelgbtqcenter.org
Contact: info@thelgbtqcenter.org
We are a local organization that provides LGBTQ+ cultural competency training and have spoken to teachers in the past about making LGBTQ+ inclusive classrooms. We are also happy to be a contact for anyone in the community who is working with an LGBTQ+ person and wants to talk through creating welcome or the best way to navigate a particular situation in the most competent way possible.
Professional Development: Our LGBTQ+ Cultural Awareness Training gives participants the tools to create welcome and support LGBTQ+ people with kindness and competent interaction. Training is individualized to the organization’s needs and uses the power of story and personal experience to highlight the needs of our rural LGBTQ+ community.
Website: mosaichha.org
Contact: Ben Thomas, Director of Development: bthomas@mosaichha.org
PPINK provides comprehensive reproductive healthcare to all genders. PPAIK is the advocacy arm of PPINK. PPAIK stands firm for reproductive freedom in Indiana and Kentucky. We do this work by advocating for public policies that guarantee the right, as well as full and non-discriminatory access, to sexual and reproductive health care, comprehensive sexuality education in our schools, and a social and political climate favorable to the exercise of these rights free from judgment.
Websites: ppink.org and ppaik.org
Programs/Services: For a list of services available in our region, please visit:
https://www.plannedparenthood.org/health-center/indiana/mishawaka/46545/mishawaka-health-center-2758-90500
The permanent collection features over 28,000 artworks from ancient to contemporary periods. The museum features artworks by African, African American, European, Latinx, Native American, and ancient Mesoamerican cultures, and presents 6–8 temporary exhibitions each year. The Museum works with over 10,000 K-12 students each year through its education programming and brings several thousand visitors to the Museum through its public and family programming.
Programs/Services: Guided tours for K-12 students, professional development for educators, family programs, programming for adults (individual and small group).
Professional Development: Periodic professional development workshops are available for educators of all levels (scheduled and upon request); always free of charge.
Website: sniteartmuseum.nd.edu
Contact: Sarah Martin: sarah.martin@nd.edu
The CIVIC's mission is to enrich and create community through live theatre. This is accomplished through our three pillars: excellence, education, and equity. We pledge to be a light to illuminate the darkness, a flame to ignite curiosity and imagination, and a beacon to guide all toward hope, unity, and understanding.
Programs/Services: Live theatre productions, readings, youth programming, classes and camps, symposiums, public discussions, educational and community engagement events.
Professional Development: The CIVIC is committed to developing curriculum and lesson plans for topical and/or restorative justice programming such as our 10-year August Wilson Project. Our IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access) Task Force is always looking for new members to help us better reflect and amplify the underrepresented voices of our community.
Contact idea@sbct.org to learn more.
Website: sbct.org
Contact: Aaron Nichols, Executive Director: aaron@sbct.org and Josh Napierkowski, Education Director: josh@sbct.org.
TREES, Inc. is a mobile education and resource building nonprofit established to support community development in an effort to create transgender inclusive communities.
Programs/Services: Staff training, community education programs, community resource building projects. Accredited by the Indiana State Libraries for LEUs; can tailor training and programs to specific organizational needs/clientele.
Professional Development: Our trainings are built around the premise that education is a powerful tool to promote inclusion. We offer trainings that focus on building effective and respectful communications as well as connecting participants to quality resources. We feel that these tools give attendees a solid foundation from which to proactively build a transgender inclusive culture in their space, whether that be work, community, or home. The Founder of TREES, Inc. opens up on their own experiences as an out and proud transgender person and engages participants with real-life experiences with which to relate. Training sessions are usually between 45 min and 2 hours. Longer sessions can be arranged. Costs vary depending on length and number of attendees but usually fall within the $300–$500 range for average size organizations. Training is on demand and is simply titled Trans Inclusion for Communities.
Website: www.webetrees.org
Contact: Meghan Buell: info@webetrees.org
Educational Resources
The following resources provide specific information and support to strengthen your social justice, antiracist, inclusive, and culturally responsive pedagogy.
- Civil Rights Heritage Center Education Reading List
- South Bend African American Landmark Tour
- Civil Rights Heritage Center Educator Newsletter
- Supporting a Restorative Opening of U.S. Schools (Learning Policy Institute)
- COVID-19 Racial Equity & Social Justice Resources (Racial Equity Tools)
- Racial Equity Glossary (Racial Equity Tools)
- The Decolonial Atlas
- Social Justice Standards: Anti-Bias Framework (Learning for Justice)
- Let’s Talk: Facilitating Critical Conversations with Students (Learning for Justice)
- Guide for Racial Justice & Abolitionist Social and Emotional Learning (Abolitionist Teaching Network)
- Black Lives Matter at School (National Education Association)
- 8 Ways Teachers Can Address White Supremacy in the Classroom (Common Sense Education)
- 10 Things Every White Teacher Should Know When Talking About Race (Truth for Teacher Podcast)
- Twelve Books to Help Children Understand Race, Anti-Racism and Protest (Smithsonian Magazine)
- Supporting Students from Immigrant Families (Learning for Justice)
- Welcoming Immigrant Students into the Classroom (Edutopia)
- Developing LGBTQ-Inclusive Classroom Resources (GLSEN)
- Toward a Restorative English Education (Maisha T. Winn)
- Decolonizing the Classroom (National Council of Teachers of English)
- A Guide to Equity and Antiracism for Educators
- How to Be an Antiracist Educator
- Anti-Racist Work in Schools: Are You in it for the Long Haul?
Professional Development Opportunities
Coming Soon! When we are able to gather safely in person, we look forward to inviting local educators to participate in our immersive community experience. Stay tuned for more details.
Additional Support
Interested in learning more? These national organizations provide additional resources and professional development in teaching social justice and creating a culturally sustaining learning environment.
Learning for Justice
Facing History and Ourselves
Teaching for Change
Zinn Education Project
Rethinking Schools
NEA Social Justice Lesson Plans
Do Something
Art and Social Justice Course for Educators
Abolitionist Teaching Network
Education for Liberation Network
Institute for Teachers of Color Committed to Racial Justice
The Center for Racial Justice in Education
Black Lives Matter at School
Teaching for Black Lives
EduColor
Anti-Racist Art Teachers
Building Anti-Racist White Educators
1619 Project
1619 Curriculum
Veterans of the Civil Rights movement
Equal Justice Institute
National Civil Rights Museum
Talking About Race (National Museum of African American History & Culture)
GLSEN
GLAAD
GSA Network
Trans Student Educational Resources
The Trevor Project
Gender Spectrum
Athlete Ally
Campus Pride
Echoes and Reflections
Facing History and Ourselves
Anti-Defamation League
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Challenge Islamophobia
Anti-Bias Education (Teaching for Change)
The National Association for Multicultural Education
Representation Matters (Anti-Racist Art Resources)
The Danger of a Single Story (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie)
Pokagon Band of Potawatomi History and Culture Teaching Native American Histories
Native Knowledge 360º (National Museum of the American Indian)
Indigenizing the News
Native America (PBS)
African American Landmarks of South Bend (IU South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center)
The August Wilson Project (South Bend Civic Theatre)
Music by Black Composers
Roots of African American Music
Smithsonian Latino Center
Arab American National Museum
Asian American and Pacific Islander Reading List
Teaching Central America
Smithsonian National Museum of African Art
Africa’s Great Civilizations
World Cultures at the Field Museum
Japanese American National Museum
National Museum of Mexican Art
United We Dream
Define American
NEA Ed Justice: Immigration
Teaching Immigration with the Immigrant Stories Project
Tenement Museum
Are you a local organization that provides educational resources? Do you have additional suggestions to add? Email your contributions to crhc@iusb.edu.
The CRHC Culturally Responsive Curricular Support Project is funded by a generous grant from the Women of IU South Bend.