This summer, nearly 300 Notre Dame undergraduates are engaging with marginalized communities across the United States and around the globe, continuing the Institute for Social Concerns’ longstanding commitment to offer students opportunities to explore questions of justice and the common good. Students are working with partner organizations and faculty mentors to conduct original research on questions related to labor, migration, poverty, the environment, and more.
Read on to meet some of the students.
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Supporting young mothers and women entrepreneurs
Incoming chemical engineering major Cecilia Marmori Soliz is serving her home community of Hernandarias, Paraguay, through the institute’s RISE program.
RISE offers incoming students the chance to get proximate to issues of justice in South Bend or their hometowns and to consider possible responses on an individual and societal level. Participants are part of a cohort of pre-matriculating students who are guided by Notre Dame faculty and institute staff to better understand the demands of justice rooted in a sense of place. This summer, 25 students are participating in RISE South Bend, and 39 students are participating in RISE Hometown, including nine international students like Cecilia.
Working with the local organization Mujeres Empoderadas, Cecilia is supporting young mothers through workshops focused on mental health, emotional well being, and personal growth. She is also co-leading a special series for women entrepreneurs, offering practical tools in branding, social media, and digital catalogs. Beyond facilitation, she is managing event logistics, helping collect personal stories from participants, reactivating the organization’s Instagram, launching its first website, and collaborating on fundraising and local partnerships.
“RISE Hometown gave me the chance to see my community in a whole new way,” Cecilia says. “Every person I meet is unique and unrepeatable, and this experience is teaching me to truly see people with just and loving attention, recognizing them as made in the image of God, through the eyes of Jesus. I’m honored to have the chance to learn, grow, and connect more deeply with my community through this program.”
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Identifying discrepancies in NYC’s healthcare system
Rising sophomore Joshua Jones, a native of Chatham, New Jersey, crossed the Hudson River to New York City to learn about the discrepancies in the healthcare system and how it impacts individuals with HIV/AIDS.
Joshua is one of 121 rising sophomores participating in NDBridge, a program that enables students to think hard about injustice, work with communities around the world that face it, and consider their responsibility to the common good while at Notre Dame and beyond. This summer, NDBridge students are placed at 32 sites, including 64 placements abroad.
A neuroscience and behavior major, Joshua hopes to deeply and meaningfully connect with the community through his engagement with the Alliance for Positive Change. He spent time at the Luis and Lillian Outreach Center, staffing an information table, distributing supplies and program materials, and guiding people inside for free HIV testing.
“I have been brainstorming ways that I can help people,” Joshua shares, “regardless of where I am or what I have to do. Through my experience in NDBridge, I have recognized my shortcomings and I am critiquing my perspective and moral code in order to help everyone that I can.”
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Standing with survivors
“Solidarity to me,” says rising junior Ashly Turcios-Sierra, “was being present to the community of survivors.”
A business analytics and global affairs double-major from Gatlinburg, Tennessee, Ashly is working with children survivors of sexual violence in Huánuco, Peru, through a Social Concerns Summer Fellowship. The fellowship provides opportunities for students to explore their vocational aspirations, consider the dynamics and drivers of injustice, and conduct original research in collaboration with their community partners. This summer, 67 rising juniors and rising seniors were placed at 44 sites, including 34 international placements.
Through Paz y Esperanza, Ashly is seeking to identify patterns of vulnerability and systemic gaps in protection for young people in Huánuco, which the organization has identified as having especially high rates of sexualized violence against children and youth. Her goal is to help Paz y Esperanza refine their intervention strategies, advocate for stronger policies, and allocate resources more effectively to protect at-risk children in the region.
“The girls are determined to be defined by who they are, not what happened to them,” Ashly reflects. “It’s truly an inspiration to witness but hard to navigate when you consider their ages.”
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Exploring the intersections of dental health and dignity
This summer rising junior Makeda Grimaud is exploring issues of justice in a slightly unexpected place: the dentist’s chair.
Makeda is one of 25 McNeill Common Good Fellows at 25 sites this summer, including 14 international placements. McNeill Common Good Fellows are a community of students from across all Notre Dame colleges committed to exploring life’s biggest questions through a three-year fellowship that includes shared coursework, community engagement, faculty-mentored research, and adventure.
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With funding support from the fellowship, Makeda is bridging continents and care, researching at Howard University College of Dentistry and in clinics in Dakar, Senegal, to explore how dental health intersects with access, equity, and dignity. Her research looks at the efficacy of various models of affordable and accessible dental care.
“I was truly able to immerse myself in the D.C. community and understand how American history has played a role in who can access dental services,” Makeda says. At the College of Dentistry, she “had the pleasure of talking to faculty and students about giving back and making dentistry more accessible to those in poverty.”
“At Cabinet Dentaire Kerjea,” she says of her time in Senegal, “I shadowed Dr. Khady Seck Diakhoumoa, who was not only welcoming and kind, but also extremely passionate about social justice in dentistry.”
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Connecting labor rights to environmental justice
Rising senior Annie Chen, a political science and economics double major, is interning at Unite Here Local 1 in Chicago, where she has been meeting hospitality workers and participating in negotiations and delegations.
The institute’s Higgins Labor Program offers Summer Labor Fellowships that enable students to develop skills in organizing, research, advocacy, and communications. Annie is one of six fellows working at Unite Here Local 1 or the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C.
“These first few weeks have been such an eye-opening experience,” Annie says. “Through this internship, I’ve met workers who have been overlooked, underpaid, and mistreated for far too long.”
As a climate justice organizer for the past six years, Annie reports that her internship has shown her how deeply connected labor rights are to environmental justice. “Workers’ resilience motivates my advocacy, not just for the planet, but for the people who sustain our communities.”
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The June 2025 issue of Poverty & Public Policy, edited by the institute's Connie Snyder Mick, presents original research articles from scholars in Australia, Germany, Vietnam, Iran, Egypt, and Ghana. Spanning analysis in five continents, the authors explore topics ranging from food security to energy and inequality.
Articles address poverty through lenses ranging from the macro level, examining public policies, legal institutions, and businesses, to the micro level, reflecting on household behavior and family relationships.
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Join us for food, games, and lots of giveaways as we kick off the new academic year! Learn more about all of the courses, programs, minors, research, and community engagement opportunities offered by the institute.
Friday, Aug 29, 2025
5:00 pm to 7:00 pm
Geddes Hall, Library Lawn
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Join us Friday afternoons on select home football weekends for lectures by national leaders, journalists, and writers, including Timothy Egan and Elizabeth Oldfield, on questions of meaning, values, and purpose.
Select Fridays
4:00 pm to 5:00 pm
Geddes Hall, Andrews Auditorium
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As an interdisciplinary academic institute, the Institute for Social Concerns leverages research to respond to the complex demands of justice and to serve the common good. This series, ReSearching for the Common Good, highlights some of the scholars in our community.
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Kylan Hinegardner is a neuroscience and behavior major with a minor in philosophy, science, and mathematics. She is from Greenwood, Indiana, and lives in Ryan Hall. She is a member of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians.
Kylan is a 2023–24 McNeill Common Good Fellow of the Institute for Social Concerns.
What are you researching right now?
Native American and Alaska Native populations have disproportionately high rates of substance use and abuse as compared to other ethnic groups in the United States. I have always been interested in why this is—particularly what social, economic, and political factors are at play in causing it. At Notre Dame, I have narrowed my research question to Native tribes in Washington State and the Midwest. On the suggestion of my advisor, Katherine Comeau, I am also looking at the Māori people of New Zealand. This summer, I am spending eight weeks travelling to these three locations to conduct interviews with medical providers at clinics that specialize in Indigenous health care about what they’ve seen in their patient population regarding substance use and abuse.
How did you become interested in this research?
I am Native American myself, a tribal member of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi located here in the Michiana area. Throughout my life, I have seen both alcohol and substance abuse affect many Native people, from family members, to family-friends, to people I never met but whose stories managed to reach me. When I first became aware that Native Americans suffer from addiction at an extraordinarily high rate, I was confused as to why no one seemed to be addressing this problem. Once I arrived at Notre Dame, I got a postcard advertising the McNeill Common Good Fellowship in my residence hall mailbox, and I realized that, through the opportunities this fellowship offers, I could begin to help find a solution to this problem myself through focused research on the root causes and strategies to address them.
What has it meant to be a McNeill Common Good Fellow?
It has meant the world to me to be a part of this fellowship. From our two justice courses and interactions with mentors, I have learned so much not only about identifying justice issues but also how to go out and do something about it. Over the past two years, my faculty members, along with the 14 other members of my cohort, have helped build my confidence and show me that I am capable of creating real, lasting change in the world. Without this program and the assistance it has provided, I would not have been able to do this research that is so important to me personally and academically. I will be forever grateful for the opportunity to have been a part of it.
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![The Current: Institute for Social Concerns Newsletter | July 2025 [students with hard hats stand in field]](https://d31hzlhk6di2h5.cloudfront.net/20250708/73/fd/14/12/7c4a72467a50a81cdde0acb8.jpg "The Current: Institute for Social Concerns Newsletter | July 2025 [students with hard hats stand in field]")
