The two foci of the HERC are its small but growing museum collection -housed in two showcases in the Lounge of the Scranton Jewish Community Center- and its Resource Center educational activities. These activities fall in two realms: 1) community education and commemorations , 2) educational outreach programs to both teachers and students in area-wide public and parochial schools . An annual community-wide Kristallnacht commemoration each fall is an example of the first. It focuses on cultural and spiritual aspects of Jewish life that existed even in the worst circumstances during the Holocaust: the art, music, and literature that was produced in the ghettoes, forests, and camps while the Nazis were trying to extinguish the Jewish body and spirit. An example of educational outreach is the annual two-day Teen Symposium on the Holocaust held each spring at a local University which reaches approximately 300 students and their teachers each day.One of the most important undertakings of the HERC is the coordination and presentation of teacher-training workshops and In-Service offerings. Several excellent half-day and full day teachers' workshops have been coordinated specifically for teachers of English/Literature and Social Studies/History in middle schools and high schools. These sessions provide a multitude of hands-on ideas and materials for direct application in the classroom. This aspect of our work is expanding as we become better-known, and because interest in teaching the subject has grown in recent years.

The Teen Symposium, begun ten years ago, under the aegis of the Community Relations Committee as a one-day event, changed to a two-day event once the HERC was established. This highly successful event, which takes place at Marywood University (formerly, College), allows almost 300 students and their teachers each day to engage in conversation with survivors and liberators following introductory remarks, a film, and a discussion period led by trained facilitators. Materials kits are distributed to all participants. Over the years, keynote speakers such as Leon Bass, an African-American liberator, Sr. Carol Rittner, co-producer of the film (and co-author of the book ) "The Courage to Care", and rescuer Irene Opdyke have closed the day's program.

An annual program is also developed for and offered to areawide Jewish youth, grades 6-12. Local Jewish schools and institutions have been very supportive of this important undertaking.

Additionally,the HERC publishes articles year-round in the Federation Reporter, creates flyers and posters for events, and coordinates limited exhibits. It maintains a speakers' bureau of survivor, liberator and volunteer speakers, and houses and lends a growing collection of books, videos, and resource materials which are dedicated. The HERC also handles queries from the the general public as well as from school personnel and students, and houses examples of curricula published by several states.