New facility, same mission for Robinson Community Learning Center

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Robinson Community Learning Center has been a staple in South Bend for 20 years. On Tuesday, the center held a blessing and dedication at the new facility on North Eddy Street.

For some organizations in the community, the programs at the Robinson Community Learning Center have been helping the youth of Michiana.

“The Robinson Center is changing lives one relationship at a time, and we believe in that, and we want to form positive relationships with all the people we serve in this community,” said Jennifer Knapp Beudert, the Manager at Robinson Community Learning Center.

Created in 2001, the learning center started as an off-campus educational initiative for the University of Notre Dame. 20 years later, the program continues to serve kids to seniors in the community. With nearly 500 college student volunteers, Robinson Community Serves around 2,000 kids in the area.

“It’s one of the really, truly, diverse communities that I belong to, but yet, we all unite around this common goal of serving out youths, serving our community,” Knapp Beudert said.

The learning center offers pre-school, parenting classes, tutoring, educational programs, and more. They also partner with area community schools, and the Boys and Girls Club with outreach programs directly impacting Michiana kids.

“The Robinson Community Learning Center provides an enhancement to the work that we do,” Duane Wilson, the Boys, and Girls Club chief operating officer and a board member of the Robinson Community Learning Center. “For example, the social-emotional learning is very important to us. So we incorporate the Take Ten curriculum and we introduce it to our students to help them deal with conflict resolution, help them navigate challenging situations at home or at school.”

The partnership between both organizations dates back 10 years. Wilson said the partnership was a result of the Robinson Community Learning Center wanting to expand its program.

“It happened because the entrepreneurship program director, the Shakespeare program director, and the literacy program director wanted to reach additional kids outside of their borders, outside of their doors,” Wilson said. “Having the programs readily available to the students is really about accessing opportunity. The Shakespeare program is a phenomenal program that our students would normally not have access to.”

For more information on how to get involved with the Robinson Community Learning Center go here.

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