FirstWorks at The Corners Thrives by Building on Community Assets

The Corners of Highland Heights Community of Shalom faced a difficult decision last summer when it looked like FirstWorks, a long running after-school program, would not re-open with the new school year.

Recognizing what an important asset that the program was for the neighborhood, The Corners was determined to save FirstWorks.  According to Fred Morton, The Corner’s Shalom Zone coordinator, “The Corners’ purpose included strengthening the education of the children in our neighborhood, and we were committed to keeping the program running.”  

As one of the Communities of Shalom trained and supported by the Center for Transforming Communities (CTC), The Corners had already created and implemented a day camp for FirstWorks, and was now ready to take on a more ambitious project.  Following some modifications to the program, “FirstWorks at the Corners” was able to continue as a once a week enrichment program for 25 children from first through eighth grades in the Highland Heights neighborhood.

In addition to the capacity that The Corners built in two years of operation they were also able to leverage tremendous support from St. Luke’s UMC, Highland Heights UMC, Germantown UMC, the Junior League of Memphis, Valero, and many others.

One major change that The Corners worried might harm the program was to discontinue the transportation of the children to and from the church.   Fortunately , the children’s parents were committed to the program and found ways to make sure their children attended weekly.   This partnership with both FirstWorks and parents is essential to the success of the ministry. 

In addition, FirstWorks recently initiated an exciting new way to work with families as they set future goals.  Parents can use an online screening process to review their eligibility for government benefits to help stabilize their financial situation.  Along the way, the process sparked dialog and education about other resources within the community, as well as uncovered resources right at FirstWorks that have proved extremely helpful to the parents. 

For example, one job-seeking mother learned about dressing appropriately for an interview, and she was able to create a resume using the computers at FirstWorks. 

“We will host the online screening again later in the semester for other parents, and look forward to the great possibilities that will emerge.” said Amy Pearson, Director of FirstWorks.  

Parental involvement in their children’s success truly embodies the shalom values of inclusive, collaborative, and systemic change that will transform their neighborhood.   The Center for Transforming Communities is quite proud that The Corners was prepared to take on this ambitious project to build shalom in their neighborhood; and looks forward to sharing more stories of success through FirstWorks at The Corners.

Do you have an interesting story about partnerships and collaborations that are enhancing your neighborhood?  You can join the discussion NOW by sharing your story in several ways:

• ·         below in the comments section, or

• ·         contacting us at info@ctcmidsouth.org or

• ·         linking your story to CTC's Facebook page and/or CTC's Twitter feed (@ctcmidsouth)

Living an Attitude of Abundance is Indeed a Paradigm Shift

Exploring a different vision for creating community

“Whatever the problem, community is the answer.”

This quote from Margaret Wheatley could have been the mantra for “Engaging Community.  Narrating Change.” last fall with John McKnight, Peter Block and Walter Brueggemann and continues to be the mantra for the people who seek to create community everywhere in their daily lives.

Building upon what 350+ Memphians learned about creating community last November, Center for Transforming Communities (CTC) invited participants to continue the conversation and explore a different vision for creating community - one that changes perspective and emphasis from problems to possibilities.  The vision supports an abundant, satisfying, and strong community that emerges from naming and building upon the existing gifts and assets of individuals living in a neighborhood. 

Drawing upon the methodologies of discussion and community building (i.e. knee-to-knee three person groups of “strangers”) introduced by Block, McKnight and Brueggemann, CTC continued to introduce participants to various conversation methods to engage in a lively dialogue about community at a recent gathering at The Commons.  Participants shared moving and interesting stories about how an assets/gifts approach has been applied to build and strengthen community in their neighborhoods along with concrete ideas for learning and sharing “practices of community.”

Here are a few insights from the evening.  (To read the full notes from the meeting, click here.)

• Our culture often mistakes the event (the gala, the luncheon with a keynote speaker, the conference, etc.) as community.  In our modern era, the event has taken the place of community.  We need a re-imagining of events as an experience of and catalyst for ‘true’ community.
• Storytelling moves individuals from being reduced to sound bites (or a recital of a resume) to seeing other, deeper dimensions of our humanity.  Crafting agendas and space for small group conversations and for people to share their story at a more personal level brings healing and connection – necessities of life.  In sharing and hearing our individual stories, we begin to get a glimpse of the universal story in which we are all interrelated.
• Living an attitude of abundance is indeed a paradigm shift.  And, it is living out of this paradigm shift that deep community is experienced.  It requires a shift of values and language from doing for or giving to another person to values and language that recognizes everybody as having gifts to contribute.

There is more to come!  We are just at the beginning of what is possible when we support each other in being intentional about community.  There will be more invitations and opportunities to explore a different vision for creating community.  Visit the CTC website for more information or to sign up for our enewsletter at www.ctcmidsouth.org.

Until the next gathering, you can join the discussion by sharing your story in several ways:

• Below in the comments section, or
• Contacting us at info@ctcmidsouth.org or
• Linking your story to our Facebook page and/or Twitter feed.

Does rugged individualism limit our ability to build community?

Possibilities through the lens of a Kenyan ministry

This week I had the pleasure of a visit from Stanley Gitari Imunya and Mary Karimi Gitari of Kenya.  Our mutual acquaintance, Susan Hillebert, organized our meeting believing that our respective work, though 8,000 miles apart, had much in common and that there are things we can learn from each other.

Indeed, I was very intrigued about the work of Zoe Ministries which uses community as the basic building block that nurtures the ability of aids orphans to become self-sufficient.   When orphans are accepted into the three-year program, they are formed into supportive communities of about 80 children that work the tenants of the program as they also show care, support and compassion for each other.  The stories of the children’s generosity and the way they make decisions that care for the whole of the community and the least among them impressed me.  Click here to read an example story. 

Center for Transforming Communities (CTC) also uses the basic building block of community in our mission to strengthen and renew neighborhoods across the Midsouth.   As we finished our conversation, I shared with Stanley that I was eager to learn more.  What are the tools, the processes, the methods that Zoe Ministries uses to bring the children together in community and foster such deep generosity and selflessness? 

 

My question seemed to puzzle Stanley and I realized that I was not going to get his handbook on building community.  I realized, upon reflection, that what I wanted to know did not need special methods and processes in Stanley’s culture.  What I wanted Stanley to share with me were tools for countering the North American culture of individualism, competition and scarcity.  I was hoping for tools that would move a group of people from seeing themselves as individuals with self-interests to protect to seeing themselves as a community, a collective, interdependent, where the well-being of the whole is represented by the well-being of the least among them.

As Peter Block, author of Abundant Community, writes, “Caring for our community and convening citizens to care for their community is difficult work. We are working against the whole tide of the dominant culture which worships individualism, self-interest, and competition.”  

Although Stanley cannot teach CTC and the Shalom Zones how to build community in a society rooted in rugged individualism,  there is still much we can learn from the way he, Mary and the Zoe Ministries ‘seek shalom’ for the orphans in their country.  And, Stanley and Mary were interested to know more about how community and cooperation is fostered through CTC in the Shalom Zones and at The Commons.

Peter Block goes on to write that even though you will not see it much in the news, initiatives like Communities of Shalom and other citizen-based initiatives are creating a surging “movement toward interdependence, generosity, and cooperation that is changing the world.”

I hope you will join us in this movement!  Read the stories of community posted throughout this blog.  Learn more by visiting our website at www.ctcmidsouth.org.  Sign up for our enewsletter where you can find out about more ways to be involved.

- Amy Moritz -

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

Developing eyes to see what God sees

Prayer Walking: a practice for shalom-seekers in the neighborhood

This is the third Lenten season that The Corners of HighlandHeights Community of Shalom has coordinated a weekly prayer walk in their community.  Each Tuesday they meet at a different church in Highland Heights and the surrounding area.  From their starting point, they walk in small teams to the school, along the commercial corridor, and in residential pockets where gangs and violence are threatening the neighborhood.

I joined them this past Tuesday as they walked, met shopkeepers along Summer, and prayed for the welfare of the community. 

I was first introduced to prayer walking through a seminary class called ‘engaged spirituality’ where I learned about Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist monk.  Click here to learn more.  Some of my riches moments of being in God’s presence are the times that I walk with prayerful intent, slowing down, and becoming mindful to both my surroundings and to God.   

During these times I become so present to the world around me that I see things that I would not normally see.  One of the things that happens quite often and gives me great joy is seeing a four leaf clover, among a patch of clover, along the path as I walk.   This clover sighting means for me that I have slowed down enough, and become present enough to God’s creation, to know and experience that God is with me. 

As I walked along the south side of Summer Avenue (west of Highland) this week, there was no clover.  There were no people on the street and most of the old store fronts had padlocked doors and windows that had been covered over so that one could not see in.  On first look, this was a place devoid of life, empty and vacant. 

Someone suggested that we walk along the backside of the row of stores.  Here we found shopkeepers, open doors, and lots of beautiful and colorful displays!  I was particularly struck by the diversity and nationalities represented by the shopkeepers, each proprietor originating from a different continent.  Some were new to the country and new to business ownership eagerly hopeful that their business would support their family.  Some stores were decades old and determined to hold on, even among the age of big box retail and chains.  

The four leaf clovers for me this day were the uniquely beautiful shopkeepers, their hopes and aspirations, and the ways in which they sought to serve the community through their stores (thrift store, pharmacy, low cost goods, etc.). 

The purpose of prayer-walking in a shalom zone is to seek God's guidance, mercy, and transforming power—both for the community, and for ourselves as God's servants in the community. 

Seeking to experience God’s eyes, ears and heart for the neighborhood, The Corners Shalom Team will be reflecting together in the coming weeks about what has been seen and experienced through the weekly prayer walks.    

The key question will be “how are we being shaped as God’s agents for shalom in this community?”

- Amy Moritz -

You can find many resources on the internet for organizing a prayer walk in your community.  This guide provides instructions and questions for reflecting upon the experience.

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

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.