Robinson Center to celebrate 8th anniversary,10th year of Take Ten program

Author: Shannon Roddel

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The Robinson Community Learning Center (RCLC) will celebrate its eighth anniversary and the 10th anniversary of its Take Ten violence prevention program Friday (Feb. 20) from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.Sponsored by the University of Notre Dame, the center is located at 921 N. Eddy St., South Bend.

The celebration will feature guest speakers Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., Notre Dame’s president, South Bend Mayor Steve Luecke and U.S. Rep. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind.Entertainment will be provided by the blues band Oblates of Blues, featuring Notre Dame’s First Year of Studies dean Hugh Page on harmonica along with colleagues from the Department of Theology.

The festivities will include recognition of community volunteers and Notre Dame faculty, staff and students whose efforts support the center’s programs.In addition, the inaugural Take Ten Award will be presented to a local school leader, and awards will be given to Take Ten bookmark design winners from 12 schools.

Take Ten, which was started in Notre Dame’s Center for Social Concerns and relocated to the Robinson Center, 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 16 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.

Contact: Jay Caponigro, director of the Robinson Community Learning Center, 574-631-9423, caponigro.2@nd.edu

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