Gardening tools in place of firearms?

Community gardens could be social and economic game changers

About six years ago, Carl Awsumb read a front-page article in a Memphis newspaper about the amount of violent crime in the city and how it seems that practically everybody was buying a firearm and learning how to use it.

“I was so horrified by that,” he recalls.

That article was the necessary catalyst prompting Carl to nurture the growth of new found neighborliness through work on a community garden.

He was nearing retirement and eager to use his time to support the city he loves.  The garden, which was started as a raised bed in the parking lot of The Commons in Binghampton, seemed like a logical place to combat the negative perceptions and realities people seem all too eager to highlight in the city.

“Sometimes people are worried about what they’re going to do in retirement and I realize I had the easiest transition of anybody I knew,” Carl says, and he began to recruit others like him to help.

Today, a core of about 10 people contribute to the work and Carl sees people from all backgrounds that live in the neighborhood connecting with each other over the primal experience of growing food together, and realizing some modest economic benefits.

The group soon understood that to have the greatest impact they would need to engage young people and offer modest financial incentives.  Two years ago they began paying small amounts during harvest time — a dollar a pint for Cherry tomatoes, for example, that the children would then see sold at market for $3.

“Then we could start the whole dialogue about what you do with the other $2, for next Saturday, next season, next year,” Carl says.

In months when there is no harvest, there is a heap of work to do and a flat rate of $5 per hour is paid to people helping prepare for the next season.

“It gives us a chance to talk to them about the meaning of work and what they’re going to do with that $5,” Carl says.

Everyone understands that funds are limited and the money will not last, yet if they want to reap the benefits of next harvest, they can decide to continue working after the funds dry up.

It has not been easy to bring everyone together, he admits. Mistrust still exists between different groups of people in parts of the city, yet progress is being made as the initiative continues to expand.

The more Carl learns, the more he says he believes that urban agriculture could be an answer to many of the problems facing cities today, both economically and socially.

- Kristian Partington -

If you have questions, comments or a story to share, please contact kristian@axiomnews.ca.

Connecting friends through gifts, passions and knowledge

Binghampton United Methodist Church mapping assets through Advent Study

The gifts, skills, passion and knowledge of the Binghampton United Methodist Church (BUMC) congregation and its neighbors are converging in ways that church members hope will catalyze new possibilities in the neighborhood through expanded relationships.

People working in ministry can sometimes be seen as doing “for” someone as opposed to “with” someone, says BUMC lay leader Barbara Vann, so the congregation is always on the lookout for new ways to come alongside people in their community in a shared quest to learn from each other.

An Advent Study now being shared with community members seeks to expand conversation around what the diverse people of the neighborhood have to offer, especially those who might consider themselves clients utilizing services as opposed to friends with something to contribute.

Over the four weeks of Advent, people who come to the Food Pantry that the church operates will be given the opportunity to define their passions, skills, gifts and knowledge.

Sharing bread at the 2011 Christmas Party.

This gift inventory, as well as those discovered within the congregation, are being collected and will be shared during a Christmas luncheon on Dec. 19. The hope is that a greater understanding of what each person has to offer and how they can impact the community as a whole will emerge, Barbara says.

If a person takes the time to identify their gifts and talents and put language around them, they might instinctively look to others and wonder what gifts they hold inside, she adds — at least that’s what she found after this process of discovery was introduced by John McKnight during a community conversation event hosted by the Center for Transforming Communities last month. 

In the eyes of BUMC church member, Lisa Smith, this is a means of igniting new possibilities centered on friendship.

Lisa has lived in Binghampton all her life, and since 1999, she’s been working at the Food Pantry offering support to friends and neighbors.

The word the central food bank in Memphis prefers when referring to the people in need, however, is client.

Yet, Lisa has given herself license to change this perspective.

“No, they’re our friends because they live around me and they’ve been around me for a while,” Lisa says.

Stigmas would more readily lift if that language could shift in more communities, she adds, and people might feel less ashamed to visit the Food Pantry when times are tight, especially if they have an opportunity to honor and offer their gifts. 

The “Food Lady”, as Lisa is sometimes called by people in the neighborhood, has a unique perspective on the people she meets and has always had an eye for connecting the gifts and talents of the people she meets. She’s connected caregivers to people in need of childcare, for example, and seamstresses with people who want to learn to sew.

She sees the Advent Study as a way to help map some of these gifts and looks forward to the discussion this concept might inspire at the upcoming Christmas luncheon.

This is one more step in the neighborhood’s journey to becoming more like it was when Lisa was a child, at least in terms of connectivity among neighbors.

“It’s getting back to being a friendly neighborhood like it used to be,” she says.

“When I was little, everybody knew everybody, and it seems to be coming back around to that.”

- Kristian Partington -

Click here to download the Advent Study.

Please share your comments below or at info@ctcmidsouth.org.

Competition gives way to cooperation in Hickory Hill

Diverse group comes together for community transformation  

 

Dianne Love at quarterly Shalom Gathering

If the Center for Transforming Communities (CTC) is a spark to help ignite strengths and gifts in neighborhoods of Memphis, then the collaborative spirit Dianne Love sees in Hickory Hill is a sign of that fire burning brighter every day.

Competition gives way to cooperation in this part of Memphis as people from all walks of life gather under the auspices of Communities of Shalom to envision what is possible in the neighborhood while working together to make that vision a reality.

The Making it Happen Shalom Zone and its team of dedicated volunteers offer enrichment programs for youth and opportunities for adults to map their own assets and discover new paths in life. Dianne says what encourages her most is the fact that everyone is working together to achieve a common goal.

People tend to be territorial, she says, but in her Shalom Zone they have pushed aside any thought of ownership in the transformation process to focus on the strengths and assets of all partners and community members.

“We are from all walks of life at first contact,” Dianne says of the team of volunteers, noting that when the group first got together it was associated foremost with Capleville United Methodist Church.

 

“Over time, as we have worked these programs, the thing that is encouraging to me is that we have merged across the lines of denominations,” she says, and several churches and community organizations are working together.

The work is not about what is best for the agenda of individual partner organizations, she says. The focus is entirely on what is best for the neighborhood, and that focus is attracting more interest all the time.

"We’re having more and more people and organizations who want to join and be partners," she says. A growing relationship with the Police Department adds another layer of depth to the work of transformation in the neighborhood, for example.

Dianne was recruited by the CTC to the Communities of Shalom as president of the Parent Teacher Association at her children's school, and is site director for the Making it Happen Shalom Zone.

When asked about the greatest assets she sees in the group and the work it is doing to help catalyze change, she says it can be seen in the lack of competition among many partners. 

The partners “want what’s best for the community, at any cost," she says. "What can we do to make the community whole? What kind of resources can we offer to the community?"

Though times are tough, Dianne sees enrichment programs connecting the assets of youth and adults alike, and a diverse team of people are all offering skills to back these programs up.

"We kind of have our own niches of what we do . . . and as we put together those parts, it makes a whole," Dianne says.

- Kristian Partington -

If you have questions, comments or a story to share, please contact kristian@axiomnews.ca.

Photo courtesy of www.focusforthegood.org.

Faith and the Great Transition

Interview with Jay Van Groningen, Communities First Association

We’re hearing more and more of this economic and social shift afoot, what some are calling the great transition or the great turning. A critical field of action some have identified in this shift is that of what might be called the faith community or faith system.

Axiom News, through its work with the Center for Transforming Communities (CTC), spoke with Communities First Association executive director Jay Van Groningen recently on the question of a possible new role for faith given this transition. CTC is an affiliate of Communities First, which represents about 300 neighborhoods across the U.S. where local residents are beginning to see their gifts, committing to work together and taking ownership for their communities.

  

What do you see as the possible new role of faith in broader society, especially given some of the significant economic and social shifts/upheaval happening right now?

Jay: I don’t think that’s new at all. If you look back at the reformers, John Calvin (1509-1564), for example, had as part of his imagination that the city of Geneva would be restored because the people of faith, that is, folks who were followers of a sovereign God, would become co-reigners with him, making all things new.

Calvin had a theology and a practice of trying to develop leadership and programs and activities that literally brought prosperity, and he really promoted the common good as an essential component of the work of the church. Calvin even created an office within the church, the office of deacon, which had as its primary focus mercy and justice. How do you address the systems that perpetuate poverty, and how do you respond to folks who are poor in a way that leads to them not being poor any longer?

I think back also to Martin Luther (1483-1564) and his emphasis on Christian education. It was all around the idea of needing to equip people so that as Christian thinkers/leaders they bring a transforming power to their business, to whatever endeavor they get into. It was a desire to be a contributor to the common good, the redemption of all things, to be contributing to the kind of world that God smiles on, as opposed to the kind of world that God has to come and pour relief on.

So I would say this is not new at all. I would say that in fairly recent history the church has been abdicating its role as an agent, among other agents, of change towards the common good in community

But I don’t agree with the premise that it’s new; I think we’re rediscovering what historically has been a big part of the role of church in society.

I’ve been raised in an environment that says the Earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof, so if he is the God who reigns, then let’s co-operate with him in making all things fruitful and good.

It is true that many churches have abdicated faith to kind of a private realm that doesn’t have influence outside my own private life, me-and-Jesus kind of thing.

But honestly that ignores a whole religious tradition that has historically believed you can’t isolate religion. If religion counts, it counts because it is a transforming force, that is, it is a force that has the world and its renewal as the heart of the theology.

 

So you say you see a recent reawakening and rediscovery of this original calling. Any thoughts on what’s provoking that?

Jay: There are several things that are provoking that. The younger generation for one has grown very disaffected with the religion of their parents, because it is a religion that doesn’t seem to have influence. It seems to have been so privatized that it doesn’t matter.

Younger folks today are demanding a kind of religion that has a power to transform, a power to contribute to the common good, a power to have a redemptive imprint.

So that’s one piece.

A second piece is that there is a growing awareness that in the impoverished communities there is no lack of churches.

Just as one example, my wife and I sold our house in suburbia and moved to a declining neighborhood in the city we live. In this declining neighborhood of 1,500 households, there are no fewer than 11 church buildings and 11 places where on a Sunday or Wednesday night there are active worshipping communities. And these 11 churches have so little influence on the place they occupy that the neighborhood continues to go down and down.

We’re now at a 60 to 40 ratio of owner versus rental. The middle class has virtually left.

Some of these churches have become commuter-based institutions that gather for the holy huddle on a Sunday.

What I’m getting at here is that there is a growing awareness that these 11 churches by and large in their recent history have been inoculated against owning responsibility for what happens to the neighborhood story; they’ve been so disconnected from it, and they don’t accept that as their role any longer.

They know that the kind of religion that doesn’t leave a redemptive imprint is in some respects a gutted religion.

So there is a growing awareness that you can occupy a space, but if you don’t see any influence on that space, what good is it?

There’s a growing dissatisfaction with a theology that doesn’t connect with God’s ongoing restorative presence in his world.

Maybe there is a third influence, and that is these mega-churches. Some of the leadership in these mega-churches have been brought to a place of repentance because while on the one hand they can fill many, many pews and testify to many, many personal relationships with Jesus, they are beginning to understand the isolation of their own members in the world.

In a way they’ve been feeding a privatized Christianity that doesn’t have impact. Some of those networks are now really focusing on mercy and justice in impactful ways in the world. They’re starting to address some of these questions.

 

Do you have any stories to tell of where you’ve seen this impact being made particularly powerfully?

Jay: My purview really is the 300 neighborhoods (connected to Communities First Association) where this inside out, this asset-based approach, is being worked.

Out of the 300, we have currently 60 of those neighborhoods where residents now literally respond to anything that affects them and their neighborhood; they literally have created their own citizen power and capacity to tackle anything they want together.

They’ve created a culture of “together we can.”

So that’s been remarkable.

What does that look like?

In one neighborhood, everybody is on welfare; that is, they live below the poverty line and they’re eligible for public support. And in this neighborhood there is an abnormally high incidence of residents who are receiving services from community mental-health agencies, which means there is an abnormally high presence of people with disabilities — mental, social, physical disability.

And in this neighborhood there is a higher-than-usual single parent heads of households ratio, and this neighborhood used to be one of the highest crime neighborhoods in the city.

A young Christian woman graduated from a Christian college with a strong sense of calling to go and live among the poor. Her name is Tracy, and she moved into this neighborhood and spent six months doing nothing but getting to know the first and last names of her neighbors, and asking questions such as, “If they could wave a magic wand and make one thing better, what would they like to see better?”

She was having conversations about things like, do they like this neighborhood or don’t they? What do they like about it? And if they could make it better, what would they want to work on?

And so now I’m going to advance the story six years

Today Tracy is the executive director of a small non-profit in this neighborhood and she has formed a neighborhood council made up entirely of the residents themselves.

It’s called SOAR, which is the first initials of four of the streets of that neighborhood. What that says is, to be a member of this council you have to live here.

In the springtime they do spring cleanup together in their neighborhood. Mind you, every single resident, but one, out of maybe 1,200 households, is a renter.

But they take responsibility for the condition of the neighborhood. They do spring cleanup; they do flower planting together; they do community breakfasts. Out of their meager incomes they rent an apartment at a community center; they had to go to the city to get an ordinance variance in order to do that. So they know how to approach the city around zoning.

They had traffic problems and the city wouldn’t listen to them. So finally they organized to the point where they were able to literally change the geographic landscape and the traffic flow so it wasn’t dangerous for the kids in their neighborhood any longer.

There was a group of residents outside the neighborhood who didn’t like the high crime at one time, so they were trying to block off the street access into their adjacent neighborhood. Well, this committee said you don’t get to do that, we’re public, too. And so they were able to fight or ward off this attempt to literally fence their neighborhood in so there was only one in and one way out.

Anything that affects their neighborhood, they’re now able to take responsibility for themselves.

The most recent thing I heard out of this neighborhood was that there is more public transportation out of there than any other neighborhood, but it didn’t have its own shelter. The council was able to work with the city and the bus company, and now they’ve got their own shelter.

So they get to do life together. They name what they want to work on, and then they work on it together and they succeed at what they do.

There were residents in that neighborhood when Tracy first did her listening who said my only dream is to get out of this neighborhood.

Today some of those same residents say you couldn’t pull me out of here with anything. This has become a community of co-operation and care and mutual gift-giving for the common good. It’s so strong, residents choose to live there today.

Every neighborhood is different, of course, but what I’m telling you is we’re literally building citizen power and capacity to act on what the neighbors care about together; making life better.

 

How do you define faith when there are a number of belief systems at work, a variety of denominations and takes on faith?

Jay: So, do I dare to believe that there is a God — and I’m comfortable saying “God as you know him or her” — do I dare to believe that there is a God, and does that God continue to have a relationship with this world? And can I believe that that God is a generous God, generous enough to allow us a fruitful life, if we choose to live it together?

So, for me, faith is believing in the kind of God who says, “I’m still an active God in this world and I choose good things for you, my children, if you will also choose them.”

For me, faith is having a personal relationship with that kind of a God, and choosing to partner with God in the things that would please God.

 

What kind of premise are you working with in saying that?

Jay: For me, the premise is the Holy Bible; that’s where I’m rooted and I know that in other faith traditions they also have their equivalent standards and I think there is a great deal of commonality that can be found among them.

But I don’t know how else to answer that; again, for me, the Bible is my standard.

I accept that others have their standards and I’m not really that interested in going in too much depth or particularity in terms of working together for the common good, around what’s your standard?

What I’m really trying to find is, do you care enough to act?

And then we can have conversations around where is that care rooted, where do you draw that care from? So those kinds of questions draw us back to some of those discussions about standards and belief systems and systems of faith.

 

Right, but it begins with caring enough to act.

Jay: Exactly, and that’s the asset-based community theory — discover who cares enough to act, who cares enough about being part of a communal story and let’s do life together.

Religion doesn’t have to be the thing that tears us apart; it can actually be the motivating force that draws us together.

Please share your comments below or with michelle@axiomnews.ca.

1,000 examples of community strength in The Heights

Reflections on  what’s possible through cooperation

While 1,000 people were coming and going during a back-to-school party at Treadwell Middle School in September, Anna Terry had a chance to speak with one of the security guards who works there.

He grew up in The Heights and played basketball at Treadwell, he told her, and as he spoke to her about his younger years and his connection to the neighborhood, a look of pure nostalgia was written upon his face.

He was thankful to see the spirit of community alive and well that day, and Anna was struck then by how tightly the people of the neighborhood are woven, and how eager they are to work together to make it a better place to live.

Anna settled in the neighborhood about three years ago with a passion for community development and a sense that, of all the places she’d lived in the U.S., a home for her rested in Memphis.

“There’s a strong community spirit among the neighbors and residents and a pride in The Heights,” she says.

She recently began using her background in community development as the sole staff person running The Heights Community Development Corporation (CDC) in partnership with Binghampton CDC.

She is also working closely with the team of volunteers behind The Corners, a Communities of Shalom zone organized through the Center for Transforming Communities, which helps connect the strengths of various churches, individuals and other stakeholders.

The challenges are many — 1 in 4 houses are vacant and seen as blights on the neighborhood, and people are clamoring for a meaningful gathering space — but so are the opportunities, and in that back-to-school party, Anna saw all the necessary elements of community transformation present.

People were connecting with each other around their children and the school they attend, which is close to the hearts of so many who live in The Heights. Abundant generosity was in the air as a host of community partners drew upon their relationships to bring live music, a Model-T Ford, games, refreshments and horse rides to the party.

That spirit of collaboration sticks out in Anna’s mind as she reflects on the day.

“It was really nice to have a party that big and to not be that taxing on any one group or entity,” she says.

“At the end of the day, I was tired but I wasn’t beat down; it was a sort of sweet exhaustion.”

Looking back, the nostalgic security guard and joy on the faces of children as they rode a horse for the first time are lasting impressions of a day that proved what’s possible when people come together.

As the work of community development continues, Anna says these impressions will carry forward.

- Kristian Partington -

Please leave comments below or e-mail to kristian@axiomnews.ca.

‘It’s so important to get the questions right,’ says Carrie Brooks

Deep engagement sparked as people define their commitment to Memphis

Building community networks and connecting the passions of people working in various community development capacities is a key focus of Carrie Brooks and the organization she directs, Making a Difference in Memphis.

So, gathering with 300 community members to discuss a new Memphis narrative was familiar territory for the veteran scholar, but this truth and the fact that she was already deeply familiar with the works of the three facilitators — Peter Block, John McKnight and Walter Brueggemann — did nothing to lessen the impact of the day, however.

From the very beginning, when the first questions were posed by Peter asking people to define themselves in groups of three strangers not by their experience, but by their commitment, she was steadily intrigued.

Groups of three.
Carrie Brooks (right).

The follow-up asked people to consider what gifts they received from the other two people they met, and Carrie could see people instantly gleaning a deeper understanding of their role in the greater narrative, simply because of the nature of the questions they were answering.

“The questions (Peter) posed were so different for so many people than what they’re used to at a conference kind of setting,” Carrie explains.

“These are incredibly different questions and that’s my main takeaway. Their questions really changed the conversation, and it’s so important to get the questions right.”

The buzz and energy she felt throughout the day was a direct result of deep engagement sparked instantly through the prompting of all three facilitators, she adds.

Brooks is an expert in adult education and development who, through her work with Making a Difference in Memphis, has helped a plethora of people working in a wide variety of community development realms – from elder abuse to infant mortality to domestic violence – discover new understandings of who they are as learners, and what they can do to be more successful in their work.

People come to her program thinking, “ ‘I’m going to meet some people who are different from me, people I don’t know, and maybe I’ll have something in common with them,’ ” Carrie says, “but at the end it seems that they feel that they’re part of a learning community and they don’t feel that they’re working in isolation anymore.”

The people who attended the CTC event came bearing the gifts and commitment to transformation in ways large and small, yet many may have felt they, too, work in isolation at times. The new connections made there hold much promise.

The follow-up to the mid-November event as these various levels of commitment translate into on-the-ground action is something Carrie looks forward to, beginning with a meeting of some of the key organizers on Dec. 3.

“It’s definitely an exciting time,” Carrie says. “It’s a great time to be here.”

- Kristian Partington -

If you have a story to share, please contact kristian@axiomnews.ca.

Powerful conversations for Memphis’ Carl Awsumb

"I’m excited by what’s going on in this city"

One of the first questions posed to the gathering of 300 community members in Memphis on Nov. 14 urged attendees to consider the gifts they have to offer of themselves, and that introspective concept sits in Carl Awsumb’s mind as he looks back at what inspired him most during the event.

“I thought that was a very, very powerful way to bring you to the present moment,” Carl says.

“I’m as guilty as a lot of people are of thinking in terms of what I’ve done to help me define myself, and I think this conference helped me realize that there were lots of strings attached to that.”

A week later, he attended a meeting hosted by Latino Memphis, and though he knew nobody in the room he found he was able to instantly connect with people by using the same question of gifts to begin conversations.

Carl, a retired architect, spearheaded the creation of a community garden network in Binghampton, and through this work he has become entwined with community development and the Center for Transforming Communities (CTC).

Carl Awsumb (left) at Farmers Market

The CTC organized the Nov. 14 event and invited guests from across the Memphis area to hear from three community development thought leaders, and learn from each other.

People “maybe overlook the main gifts that they’ve got,” Carl says, but those gifts took center stage and the energy he felt, especially from within the young people in the room, was exciting.

“The thing that really knocked me off my comfort seat was the number of teenagers who were able to stand up and articulate so clearly,” he says.

“It was amazing to listen to these young people.”

It can be easy for people to become isolated, Carl adds, and the meeting was “the best forum that I can think of to allow people to really interact across age and ethnicity and income.”

It was a pleasant new conversation, far outside the traditional views of conventional Memphis media and the many citizens there who are all too eager to highlight the city’s shortcomings.

The crossroads the city is at today, and has been at for some time, is the choice of a new dialogue of possibility.

I left that conference thinking, ‘You know, I don’t have the financial support, but I’ve got the emotional support of all these people,” he says. “We came together and there was a collective force there that gave me the strength to carry on.

“I’m excited by what’s going on in this city.”

- Kristian Partington -

If you have questions, comments or a story to share, please contact kristian@axiomnews.ca.
Photo courtesy of www.focuseforthegood.org

Memphis Faith Community Inspires

At a crossroads between deep commitment and finding their voice, Peter Block observes

“I was inspired by a faith community, by mostly Christian churches, who’ve decided to extend their property line to include the neighborhood and their local community.”

That is how thought leader Peter Block says he left a gathering of about 300 Memphis residents who had come together to discover the resources and wisdom already existing in their neighborhoods and how those can be connected for greater productivity.

The gathering was facilitated by the Center for Transforming Communities (CTC), which has been working primarily with faith congregations to have similar conversations on a smaller scale across the city.

Peter Block

“The idea that the churches are forgetting about their certainties and instead asking the question, ‘How can we engage everyone in a neighborhood, regardless of their religion, regardless of their beliefs or their economic situation; how can we create a social fabric in this place?’ I think brings a Christian message into the world as strongly as all the preaching and broadcasting and missionary work in the world,” says Peter.

“Instead of saying we’re going to send missionaries out to expose people and bring them into the fold they’re saying, ‘We, as a church, are going to live out our beliefs or Christ’s message, since they’re mostly Christian, by embracing and just being connected and getting to know the people in our neighborhood’ — and that’s very inspiring.

“That creates space for every belief system and it creates space for the work of the faith community, I think, at its best.”

Peter was invited by the CTC to join the event, along with John McKnight and Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann. Each brought a unique gift to the conversation: John’s lifetime of experience making sense of how community can care for itself, Walter’s years of work reinterpreting the Bible and Peter’s commitment to the idea that if there is a gathering then it is possible to create the future in that room.

In addition to being inspired, Peter says he learned a few things, including the power of connectors, such as Amy Moritz, executive director of CTC, who has now been part of eight neighborhoods across the city that have begun actively creating a new future for themselves together.

He also observed a phenomenon he has seen in second-tier cities across the U.S., which is a desire to “win the race for what’s wrong with us,” an observation he says he is still uncertain of what to do with, but it dawns on him that it reconfirms that a city is its narrative.

“It’s not so much its geography or its built environment or its historical development.

“Basically what’s decisive is the story a city tells itself, and every second-tier city in this country is competing to have the most problems, which tells me it’s not accurate. It’s just story.”

The CTC and its extended community are looking to help change that story, with these conversations being a key part in that.

Amongst the work — inviting people to identify four capacities they have, including their gifts, their skills, their passions and what they can teach.

The premise in this — never take labels seriously for people; discover what they have to contribute to their community, and people who seem useless or problematic will step up to make a difference.

“Our research indicates that what makes strong neighborhoods is when what people have to contribute is made visible — which is what we were doing that day — and then connected to become productive,” says John.

“It’s the identification of gifts and their connection for a better life.”

While connections were certainly sparked on that day and gifts made visible, and the commitment of the people shone through very clearly — nobody, for instance, was paid to be there — Peter says he sensed the crossroads the community now faces is finding its voice.

“What got me is that they had some very strong leadership from the community there and I just felt that their commitment to that place and caring for that place was bedrock.

“I just don’t know if they’ve found their voices or their energy yet to know that they can create an alternative future.”

- Michelle Strutzenberger -

Feel free to comment below or e-mail michelle@axiomnews.ca.

‘Deep satisfaction’ in planting the seeds of change, says Amy Moritz

CTC director soaks in possibility, reflects on memorable conversations

Amy Moritz describes the past six months as a period of deep preparation as she and a core of volunteers connected to the Center for Transforming Communities in Memphis prepared to plant seeds of change.

Through their many connections to people in the city working to strengthen local vitality, one neighborhood at a time, they have been cultivating the soil, so to speak. When 300 people gathered for a conversation about the possibilities last week, she could see these efforts paying off. 

Thought leaders Peter Block, John McKnight and Walter Brueggemann helped guide guests through a conversation about the creation of a new Memphis narrative that looks beyond problem-solving to one that honors the gifts and possibilities.

“On Nov. 14, perhaps some new seeds were planted in some very rich soil that will take root,” Moritz said the morning after the event.

“Today, I’m still wondering what that will look like. I know it will be something amazing but that’s kind of where I am — just knowing that the soil has been properly cultivated; there’s a deep satisfaction that that occurred and some great seeds were planted.”

She talks of energy in abundance and a deep sense of commitment in the room as people from all walks of life shared the hope that comes by relating to one another in new ways and cooperating to make a difference in their neighborhoods.

She recalls Peter Block at the end of the day offering his reflections and speaking of the same level of commitment. As an influential voice in community building, he is invited to speak at many events, he told the group, and he chooses which ones to attend carefully based on the level of commitment and energy he can feel in the community inviting him.

As he shared those words, Amy realized just how deep the dedication to the city is among so many community builders, and in the quiet morning after the event, she was still soaking in these reflections.

She is careful to not rush the next steps, she says, though she is eager to see what will sprout in the next few weeks from the seeds that were planted.

“I really want to just marinate in what this is and trust that it is going to be very apparent where this takes us,” Amy says.

It’s about being present in the moment and open to what will naturally emerge, and considering the feeling in the room during the event and the depth of conversation, Amy says exciting times are afoot in Memphis. 

- Kristian Partington -

If you have questions comments or a story to share about your experience with community transformation in Memphis, please contact kristian@axiomnews.ca.

An abundance of possibility as new Memphis narrative unfolds

300 people gather to shape vision for community transformation

There was a young man who joined around 300 community members and leaders from in and around Memphis on Nov. 14 for conversations about the creation of a new narrative — one of hope, possibility, connectivity and the aesthetics of interdependency. 

 



His mother had died of cancer the day before, yet there he was, with gifts of self to offer in a room filled with an abundance of generosity.

At the end of the day, one of the event organizers, Mary Jo Greil, carried a microphone to him, not knowing of the loss he had just experienced. She was eager to hear his description of what the day meant to him; what he might have gained.

“He said that he came in at a certain level and the day moved him up to a new level,” Mary Jo recalls.

This young man’s story took the collective breath out of the room, and speaks to the depth of commitment the walls of Rhodes College absorbed that day.

People from all walks of life gathered to be part of the conversation, facilitated by thought leaders Peter Block, John McKnight and Walter Brueggemann.

Walter Brueggemann, John McKnight and Peter Block

Rabbis and pastors shared insights while young people and elders alike gained new appreciation for each others’ commitment to their city.

The lines of racial difference were blurred in the collective purpose of the day.

Mary Jo sits on the board of directors with the Center for Transforming Communities, the connecting organization that invited guests to be part of the conversation.


She had the pleasure of keeping a broad perspective over the day’s events, and was struck by the cross-section of people so eager to tackle the deep questions posed by Peter, John and Walter.

“It was very heartwarming to see so many people . . . focusing on how to strengthen the narrative within Memphis, and to understand that more and to witness the energy that was being produced by people coming together to expand their thinking,” Mary Jo says.

But what made this different from other community building conferences? What gives Mary Jo hope that this expanded thinking will morph into collective action on the ground in neighborhoods across the city?

Her answer: the depth of purpose in the room.

“People had much deeper conversations than they’re used to having with people they don’t even know and were discovering new resources, new people that they can jointly do things with,” Mary Jo says, before listing friends — brand new and old — who all committed to taking these conversations to a new level.

The greatest hopes she had for the day were realized in the depth within the room, and the gifts of a young man who lost his mother will stay close to Mary Jo as she honors her commitments to the city she cares so much for.

By Kristian Partington
Photos courtesy of www.focusforthegood

Click here for more photos of the day.

If you have questions, comments or a story to share, please contact kristian@axiomnews.ca.

Timely conversations for a church at a crossroads

Jacob’s Well founder looks forward to new connections

at Nov. 14 event

Jacob’s Well is a church that today finds itself at a crossroads in its mission to serve the people of Memphis, and as its founder, Rev. Jamey Lee looks forward, he finds hope in the connections he might make during a gathering of community leaders hosted by the Center for Transforming Communities.

Jamey founded the church in Memphis back in 2010, and its heart is given to the service of God by offering reconciliation, rehabilitation and reciprocation — bridging the racial divides of the city, and offering hope for people struggling through the pangs of addiction and poverty.

“The city of Memphis is a city divided,” Jamey says, but Jacob’s Well is discovering people of all backgrounds coming together across racial and economic lines to worship and pour their faith into the betterment of their community.

“Every person has a gift to bring and every neighbor has value,” he says.

Since its founding, the Jacob’s Well congregation worshipped and met regularly at Highland Heights United Methodist Church at Summer and Highland, but this fall, they answered a calling and moved to work more closely with citizens in downtown Memphis.

The home of Jacob’s Well is now the Holy Community United Methodist Church and the streets around it; an area that is new to Jamey and to many of the core volunteers who work through the church in the service of God and their neighbors.

His hope is that in attending a gathering of 300 or so community members Nov. 14 he will discover new alliances and relationships that will carry his church through this transition.

“With us moving it really opens this new chapter of the Jacob’s Well story and as the leader, I’m at a crossroads,” Jamey says.

“I hope that this event will provide something — a spark, and new relationship, a new idea — that can help us in our journey forward.”

The day-long event is spearheaded by the Center for Transforming Communities and will focus specifically on asset-based community development under the guidance of author and community advocate Peter Block, thought leader John McKnight, and Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann.

A conversation about what is possible in neighborhoods across Memphis is exciting, and considering the sheer number of nonprofits and ministries working towards change in Memphis, Jamey has great hope for the day.

- Kristian Partington -

To learn more about the Nov. 14 event, click here.

Feel free to comment on this story below, or e-mail kristian@axiomnews.ca.

Why could Nov. 14 be a good day for Memphis?

Pastor Marlon Foster shares his excitement

The countdown is on to what could be a turning-point for Memphis, Nov. 14, when more than 300 people will gather to think and talk and make plans around pulling their city to a new greatness.

If that sounds highly aspirational, that is just what it is, although there are “feet on the ground” behind this dreaming.

The people and ideas out of which this dream arises include the Center for Transforming Communities, which has been working in Memphis for more than 20 years, and is spearheading the Nov. 14 event.

The asset-based community development (ABCD) which will be integral to the gathering has been at the center of CTC’s work and is yielding the results it’s intended to. That is, people in neighborhoods are realizing their gifts, seeing new possibilities and taking ownership for the changes they want to see happen. These results have been documented in Memphis, as well as in many other places that have introduced ABCD.

In addition to bringing together people from across greater Memphis, the Nov. 14 event will see author and community advocate Peter Block, ABCD thought leader John McKnight, and Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann join the conversation.

Marlon Foster is pastor of Christ Quest Community Church in Memphis, one of the many faith-based organizations participating in the event.

He says he is seeing great possibilities in the day for a number of reasons, amongst those the fact that there will be such a broad cross-section of the Memphis community participating.

He has also been privy to some of the specific plans for the day, and says those are getting him excited, too, knowing how carefully every part of it is being considered, even down to moments for reflection.

“I think the intentionality of the day is going to offer so many possibilities, it’s going to offer newness, it’s going to make room for creativity,” Marlon says.

Having Peter, John and Walter guiding the conversation will also be powerful, he foresees. He shares his vision of them essentially offering what he calls a “tap on the shoulder,” an invitation to consider this or that insight or piece of wisdom, and “then backing away to allow us to engage one another as a Memphis community.”

Marlon says the best that could happen through the event next week is that people make new commitments and see specific ways they can join in or start new efforts that shine a light on their own neighborhood’s gifts and help people in them see new possibilities. The ultimate result would be those same people then together taking ownership for whatever happens in their neighborhoods going forward.

- Michelle Strutzenberger -

To learn more about the Nov. 14 event, click here.

Feel free to comment on this story below, or e-mail michelle@axiomnews.ca.

Drawing spirits of change together in Memphis

CTC chair looks to transformative conversations on Nov. 14

That perspectives change and people will consider the meaning of community in a different light using the language of asset-based engagement rather than deficit: this is but a sampling of Wayne Puckett’s hope as the Engaging Community Narrating Change event draws near.

With little more than a week to go before the long-planned conversation gets underway at Memphis’ Rhodes College with thought-leaders Walter Brueggemann, John McKnight and Peter Block, Wayne is feeling excitement, expectation, and a little pressure as the final logistical details are worked out.

As chair of the Center for Transforming Communities (CTC) board of directors, and member of the planning committee organizing the Nov. 14 event, Wayne has been involved since Day 1.

Her hope is that participants will act on a clearer understanding of the parts they can play in creating their ideal community, knowing that those parts need not be overwhelming or insurmountable.
“It’s like the individual thousands of drops that go into a bucket to fill it up,” Wayne says.

“I would like for people to walk away feeling inspired and connected through the conversations, through the possibilities.”

They might also find inspiration in knowing they are not alone in working to catalyze change in the neighborhoods where they live and the city they love.

Between full-time work, evening teaching commitments, volunteering, and raising two grandchildren, Wayne understands the propensity among busy people to zero in on their work and life, possibly missing what others are doing as a complement.

Holding a space for people of all walks of life to come together might offer new insights into just how expansive the dedication to this shift in community understanding really is.

“I think people might find it surprising that there is so much of an entrepreneurial spirit when it comes to people trying to be in-service and to do something that makes a difference,” Wayne says.

Drawing these sprits together in the service of each other is what the Nov. 14 event is all about, and making sure the momentum sparked there carries forward will be the ongoing mission of the CTC.

- Kristian Partington - 

To learn more about the Nov. 14 event, click here.

Feel free to comment on this story below, or e-mail kristian@axiomnews.ca.

The antidote to isolation in Memphis

‘There’s much more of a feeling of knowing your neighbors,’
says musician

There is something to be said for a community where neighbors know each other and wave from their front porches to passersby as twilight invites post-supper strolls.

It makes for a comfortable place to call home, and it is part of the reason why Anthony Gilbert was drawn to the Memphis neighborhood of Binghampton, where he’s lived for about a year now.



“In Binghampton, as opposed to other parts of the city, there’s much more of a feeling of knowing your neighbors,” Anthony says, pointing to the diversity of the neighborhood as part of its charm.

In the neighborhood where he grew up, “people have forgotten that cultural knowledge of what it means to be part of a community,” he adds. “It has disappeared over the last generation or two.”

Anthony is a classically-trained musician specializing in violin and viola who finds in Memphis the freedom to pursue his art within a well-established underground music scene where people aren’t looking for or expecting fame, just a place to explore their passion.

After moving to Binghampton, he entered The Commons on Merton with no knowledge of The Center for Transforming Communities (CTC) and its quest to foster connections among partners and their work building a stronger community.

He needed a space to work other than his house, which holds far too many distractions to tempt him away from focusing entirely on his music, and The Commons had space. He also supplements his income teaching eager music students, so it helps to be connected to the network The Commons offers.

Today, almost a year after joining The Commons, the sound of Anthony’s viola or violin is often heard echoing off the walls of the old church building — a sound he hopes is welcomed by his neighbors.

He teaches a steady stream of students, which pay on a sliding scale depending on what they can afford, and he’s part of the larger Commons, if only as one person amidst many adding to the mosaic of change in the neighborhood.

There’s a lot of work to do in a city where more than a quarter of the population live at the poverty line, but at The Commons and through the work of its partners, change is happening one step at a time.

“I’m not saying that Binghampton is a paradise,” Anthony says. “People are still suspicious of each other on some level, and I think that’s just an ingrained habit, but I think certainly what’s happening in Binghampton is the antidote; it’s the start of something.”

Anthony’s hope is that his contribution and the gift of his music is a welcomed part of the transformation taking place in Memphis.

By Kristian Partington, Axiom News

Memphis ‘sets the table’ for its gifts

John McKnight, Peter Block, Walter Brueggemann

to join community conversation

Typically, institutions committed to a community’s well-being begin by asking what’s wrong with a place.

But the three thought leaders to join an upcoming Memphis conversation — John McKnight, Peter Block and Walter Brueggemann — choose not to take the route of problem-solving.

Instead they ask questions such as: What have we got to work with? In what way is God already present in a community? What do people care enough about to act on?

Jay Van Groningen is executive director of Communities First Association, a national body co-sponsoring the Nov. 14 event hosted by the Memphis-based Center for Transforming Communities (CTC).

The institution as savior paradigm no longer works and most likely never did. It is clear Jay, John, Peter and Walter agree on this belief.

When institutions become so busy making participants through their programs the very people they are looking to help seem to lose their ability to consider themselves co-creators in their own places.

“They don’t do life together. They wait for an agency or an institution to solve a problem for them, as opposed to coming together and discovering what can we do together,” says Jay.

But the approach John, Peter and Walter speak for is one that gives people a chance to step up, to be engaged in their own community’s story, “to be actors in this stage that they live on as opposed to being observers and recipients,” says Jay.

This is possible first and foremost because the people acting as catalysts for this approach believe that residents in every community, have gifts and interests and are willing to give their time and energy and skills to make life better in their own neighborhood. Often all that is needed is for somebody to “set the table” where their gifts can be shared.

The approach is highly relational. It is literally embedded in neighbor-to-neighbor conversations. And it is deeply rooted in geography. It is a story about place, a neighborhood or a community.

Community development efforts that begin with this focus on assets, commitment and place are already at work in Memphis, through the catalytic support of the CTC.

As CTC has acted as a “spark” for change, there are now eight neighborhoods in Memphis where people are voluntarily coming together, deciding what they want to make happen in their area and taking action.

Jay, who has visited many of these neighborhoods and had conversations with the residents, says he has seen first-hand the hope, ownership and sense of community coming to life as a result.

These results, he suggests, stem directly, from the fact Amy Moritz, director of CTC, and those who work with her, are in the business of setting that table to which people can bring their gifts.

The Nov. 14 conversation with John, Peter and Walter could be considered another “table” to come to, where there will be ample opportunity for conversations between Memphis residents and also between the residents and the three men.

Jay says he is very excited about the synergizing of the Memphis community with the three thought leaders.

As someone who could be considered an outsider looking in, Jay notes one of the most profound outcomes he would be excited to see happen is that more people from Memphis neighborhoods come forward and say, “This is what we want to do together. Can you coach us?”

The Center for Transforming Communities is a member of CFA, an alliance of about 300 individuals or organizations across the U.S. also committed to asset-based community development.

To learn more about the Nov. 14 event, click here.

Feel free to comment on this story below, or e-mail michelle@axiomnews.ca.

Building hope for new Americans

Welcoming a stranger is a calling of faith in Binghampton

When Cam Echols thinks of her work as the executive director of the Refugee Empowerment Program (REP), she speaks of a calling that motivates her to open arms to strangers planting new roots in her Memphis neighborhood.

Welcoming a stranger is a calling of faith, she says.

“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares,” reads Hebrews 13:2. The people Cam serves may have entertained the angels, but a great many have also seen the darkness of this world.

Most are from war-torn regions of Africa — places like Burundi and Rwanda where some of the worst ethnic conflicts of the modern era have shattered countless lives.

When she meets them, they are starting from scratch in the United States, filled with a mix of hope and uncertainty.

“To come to a new country not knowing the language, the culture, the transportation or educations systems; it’s just frustrating, and to have some friends — some people that are passionate and want to help you — is so important,” Cam says.

REP was one of the first partners to become part of the network of nonprofit organizations and ministries working out of The Commons on Merton, the old United Methodist Church building that has been transformed into a hub of community transformation in the Binghampton neighborhood.

When refugees settle into the neighborhood, they struggle with the basics of life in a new land, but Cam points out their internal struggle to deal with the traumatic experiences of life in the face of brutality has traditionally been left untouched by service organizations.

“What we’ve not been good about doing in this city is (addressing) the post-traumatic stress syndrome, and how we deal with that is being neighborly and friendly,” Cam says.

“I think of the language of love — you don’t have to speak the same language but people understand when you care about them.”

The Commons brings people of all backgrounds together in the spirit of community, Cam says, and she finds great inspiration in this connectivity and the shared sense of purpose pulsing within the old building.

“It goes back to being what America was originally founded on: a melting pot; a true melting pot where all people of different ethnicities, colors and genders all have one community within the building,” Cam says.

By Kristian Partington, Axiom News

The truths of poverty framed through art

Focus for the Good capturing community transformation

through a lens

Courtesy of Focus for the Good

Their faces are honest and raw, at times looking withered and worn beneath the many lines of worry and sadness, but glints of hope sparkle in the corners of eyes that have witnessed the hardships of life on the streets.

They are the Forgotten Faces of Memphis, captured through the lenses of Bill Piacesi’s cameras, and in their stark realism the truths of poverty are captured with an authenticity that calls to memory photos of the 1930s American heartland.

Bill operates Focus for the Good out of a studio in The Commons on Merton, putting his one-man nonprofit organization in the heart of the quest to make the community better for a host of marginalized segments of the Memphis population.

He trades his services in exchange for the space and in doing so captures the work of his neighbors in ways only a professional photographer could. In his photos, we see the Refugee Empowerment Program at work alongside the Door of Hope, which offers paths for homeless people to discover the potential of a better future.

Through art, the missions of all partners within The Commons overlap, and the possibilities of a regenerative community shine.

“A lot of us kind of draw from the advantages of knowing each other within the building and it’s a unique experience,” Bill says, as he considers how the Center for Transforming Communities, which operates The Commons, has brought so many people together under one roof.

“It’s a unique experience as opposed to your typical business office where you can have five or six businesses in the same area that are totally disconnected and have nothing to do with each other.”


As the sole-proprietor of his operation, the benefits of being part of The Commons and intimately knowing the partner organizations are many, Bill says, because the struggles of marketing his work and ideas are lessened through the network he’s built there.

His ultimate goal is to catalyze social change through his art by telling the untold stories from the streets of Memphis. Like the photos from the time of the Great Depression or the height of the civil rights movement that first drew him to photography when he was a teenager, Bill’s pictures are a powerful means of bringing truth to light.

“Not only were those images incredibly artistic but they were also powerful social messages that took what was going on in one part of the country and helped spread that notion to a wider community, and ended up leading to social change,” he says.

His hope for similar change is what he pours into the Forgotten Faces of Memphis and the work of Focus for the Good.

By Kristian Partington, Axiom News

‘Our diversity is a gift,’ says Rev. Billy Vaughan

Collaborative spirit spills into streets of Binghampton

The collaborative spirit among partners at The Commons on Merton is a wonderful thing to be a part of, says Rev. Billy Vaughan, but what really excites him is when he sees that spirit spill out onto the streets connecting all sorts of people and families in the diverse neighborhood.

“There’s a spiritual thing that takes place in the neighborhood because of what’s going on in the building,” Billy says. “You’d be amazed if you’re in the neighborhood for a few days, some of the ripple effects you see.

“The ‘us and them’ stuff begins breaking down, not only within The Commons, but within the larger neighborhood. You see so many different types of people in and out of there, out in the parking lot, interacting in the streets; it just has really a spiritual effect on the neighbourhood.

“It says our diversity is a gift. It’s not something where we need to be suspicious of each other; it’s a real gift of grace.”

A fall Saturday in McMerton Gardens

This is how a true community is built, he says, pointing to the first of a series of community gardens that have sprung up in the neighborhood as an example of what this new collaborative spirit looks like in tangible terms.

The garden was originally in the parking lot of The Commons overlooking a duplex building across the street and a vacant lot that was never very well-kept.

The people organizing that modest little garden called the duplex’s owner and offered to care for his property in exchange for use of the space to plant a garden for all to use.

“The owner shrugged and said, ‘Oh, what the hell, go ahead and do it,’ ” Billy recalls.

“Now there is this wonderful community garden there and it draws some of the kids from the refugee program, some of the African-American kids from the neighborhood and volunteers from Rhodes College and the University of Memphis’ graduate program in nutrition.”

The interaction among this group is a beautiful thing to witness, he says. 

They’re sharing chores and vegetables, stories and experience, and whether or not they know it they’re sharing space in the transition to a new economy of hope, built upon the gifts of all community members.

By Kristian Partington, Axiom News
Photos courtesy of Focus for The Good

Youth find common ground in The Commons

Program overlaps benefit organizations serving families

In Tennessee, more than 150,000 children are indirect victims of crimes committed by close family members. When a loved one goes to prison, they are virtually lost to their family, and the impact of that trauma is a very real burden upon communities.

For more than 20 years, Families of Incarcerated Individuals (FII) has been helping families come to terms with the challenges they face when a loved one is sent to prison, either through direct support with health care or food access or through mentoring programs.

The group works out of The Commons on Merton, a shared space that brings together a range of community-building nonprofit organizations under one roof, led by the Center for Transforming Communities.

The close relationships among the groups working out of The Commons have a number of positive impacts on the work they do, says FII executive director Marquetta Moore-Nebo.

“The whole concept of The Commons is to bring in other nonprofits and . . . we all can mesh in some areas and benefit from one another,” Marquetta says. “It’s great because it’s almost like having everything in-house.

“It’s almost like the whole feeling of program sharing, where you can’t do everything so we all work together to make sure all the pieces of the puzzle are put together.”

She sees the benefits of this collaboration on a regular basis, especially in terms of the young people served by the different organizations within The Commons.

She recalls youth events hosted by FII involving young people connected to the Refugee Empowerment Program, and she says such events are a great example of how the various groups interact.

“We invite some of those youth to help them get acclimated, not only to America, but to our neighborhood as well,” Marquetta says, noting it provides all children an opportunity to mingle outside of classrooms and learn from each other. 

All of these young people are dealing with some form of trauma in their lives and within The Commons, a common ground is found and the young people strive to overcome hardships to grow and succeed in designing a better future.

By Kristian Partington, Axiom News
Photos courtesy of Focus for the Good

Sowing the Seeds of Community

Bonds are formed in a community garden

Part way through an interview discussing his experience with urban renewal and community building, Christian Man, puts the journalist on hold.

During a learning unit on Fall production.

“I’ve just got to deliver these groceries,” he says, and in the muffled distance he can be heard discussing the upcoming harvest feast with a fellow named Walter, who must be part of the Green Leaf Learning Farm’s community garden project.
 
Walter is on the hook for some sweet-potato pie, it seems, and in both of their voices rings the sound of enthusiasm.

The harvest feast is shaping up to be a pretty good time where the community can come together and honor each other’s hard work and the relationships that have been sown in the neighborhood’s garden.
 
Christian is very much looking forward to it.
 
As an eager student, Christian has been working with Rev. Marlon Foster and Knowledge Quest, which has operated the learning farm project since 2010. Through this work, he is connected to Communities of Shalom and the Center for Transforming Communities.
 
His undergraduate studies focused on community economic development, but his real learning has come through the friendships he’s forged through his work in south Memphis.

Times are tough for people in the neighborhood where Christian walks, but in them he sees resilience and a capacity through togetherness that speaks loudly of possibilities and community transformation.
 
He’s come alongside these new friends as he tills earth, breaks bread, and learns what it means to come together for a common purpose.
 
The co-operative spirit grows in the garden alongside fresh vegetables, and though purse strings are tight for many people, among their neighbors they find an abundance of generosity and connectivity.
 
“There’s a history of this; I’m involved in the most recent chapter but in no way is this my thing,” Christian says.
 
“It’s our thing.”
 
The garden has become a gathering point for people to share their stories, he says.
 
“It's a physical space that helps generate reflection about what’s actually going on and then what that activity reminds us of, historically, and that bonds us in some way.”

On Oct. 20 about 75 people will come together to share a meal and the bounty of the relationships they’ve built, and Christian is thankful to be a part of it.

Visit Facebook for more information about the party.

By Kristian Partington, Axiom News
Photo courtesy of Focusforthegood.org

Linking the hopes of communities, cities and society

Revitalizing a cross section of the United States through co-operation

It’s completely reasonable to step back and view the Memphis neighborhood of Binghampton as a microcosm of the United States as a whole.

It’s as diverse a community as you can find anywhere; a place where refugees from war-torn nations in Africa try to find footing in a new land of opportunity; a place where affluence and poverty cross paths on the street; a place where faith fuels hope, even in the midst of struggle.

Barbara Vann's Interview

 

At the center of this cross-section of American society is The Commons on Merton, where the ministries and non-profit organizations working to enhance the community converge in a shared space — an old United Methodist Church building once reserved for one congregation and one linear vision.

The Center for Transforming Communities has brought together a range of partners within the building to sustain its operations and combine efforts to build a new future for the neighborhood, the city and society itself.

Barbara Vann sees great possibility in The Commons, and she’s watched it evolve through the transformation of the building itself from that single-congregation church to a building that glows with a sense of co-operative community that shines into the neighborhood.

“What I’ve noticed is the way the ethos of the co-operation of the building use moves out into the community,” says Barbara, a lay leader with the Binghampton United Methodist church.

When she thinks about the co-operation among the partner organizations, she talks of the gears of change turning through their overlapping purposes and how everyone connected to these groups begins to move past thinking individually to thinking collectively.

“Maybe it will move us past thinking about our homes as our home,” Barbara says.

Home is the community.

When asked for a practical example of this in action, she recalls an inspirational chain of prayers and hopes linking together the diverse populations of the neighborhood — that microcosm of the United States.

Some time ago a group from The Commons visited Caritas Village a few blocks away, another place where community members gather and share common vision for community enhancement.

“We asked the community people to write their prayer requests on a slip of paper, and we made these paper slips into a big chain,” Barbara recalls.

“As a parade they brought that chain from Caritas Village up the street . . . and into the building where it was placed on a tree — it still sits there today.”

People saw this chain travel the streets, many knowing it contained the prayers of so many individuals, now combined as one single collection of hopes and dreams.

“I saw the tide shift,” Barbara says, allowing herself to imagine a similar chain linking the hopes of society itself.

This is representative of the The Commons in her mind and an example of the many possibilities that emerge when people work together towards community transformation.

By Kristian Partington, Axiom News
Photo Courtesey of Focusforthegood.org