Leighton Plaza | Donate Now

Support their legacy today. Empower our youth for tomorrow.

In 2017, an effort to bring life and purpose to a mostly unused space downtown, the City of South Bend led a campaign to activate Leighton Plaza as a gathering place for dialog and reflection and to honor the life of civil rights leaders, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and former president of the University of Notre Dame, Father Theodore Hesburgh. Today, there stands a monument depicting the famous photograph of Father Hesburgh and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holding hands while singing “We Shall Overcome” at a civil rights rally in Chicago in 1964. Now more than ever we understand our public spaces are critical community gathering spots for unity, peaceful protest and civic dialog. We’ve chosen to reopen the brick campaign at this statute in order to support two youth programming initiatives run by South Bend Venues Parks & Arts that reflect the spirit and legacy left by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Father Hesburgh.

Once you make an online contribution, a member of the South Bend Venues Parks & Arts team will reach out to collect the language you’d like engraved on your brick.

Thank you for your support. For more information, please contact the VPA’s Chief Development Officer, Emily Sims, at esims@southbendin.gov or (574) 235-5940.

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