Convening, Recruiting, and Connecting People Who Repair Local Economies
CategoriesFaith on Main StreetMost participants in Neighborhood Economics events know we are organized as a faith-friendly convener on the topic of local economic investment for resilience in left-behind neighborhoods. We recognize faith-based institutions as important stakeholders in those neighborhoods. Churches own assets, administer services, and shape local identity. However, at our Galveston event, a new theme emerged as […]
We’ve got several exciting and intriguing sessions teed-up for our fall conference in Asheville. Rev. Luke Lingle, who worked with three Methodist churches in Asheville as they became vital community centers while maintaining worship spaces, has joined our team. He is going to lead our faith-based sessions looking at how churches create shared and mixed-use […]
There has been little change in the wealth gap between white families and black and brown families over the past 40 years. The stories of successful projects and great conversations are plentiful, but they have not significantly changed the overall lack of wealth for black and brown people. There seems to be something missing–a variable […]
Every week, our planning for the San Antonio event gets more and more rich. And the connections we are making are incredible. Last week, Paula and I were in Texas on a scouting trip mostly focused on speaking with colleagues in theological education about how the conversations we have at Neighborhood Economics connect with the […]
There are many things that need to connect over time for a neighborhood economy to emerge, and it takes a connected community committed over time to see it come into view. This week, I want to emphasize a different factor in the work. We were a part of a committed community of faith that wasn’t […]
This past week, my wife Donna and I were able to go back to Atlanta where we spent seventeen years of our lives. Our grandchild lives there, it’s where our oldest children were raised, and where our two oldest sons and daughter-in-law still live and work. Did I mention our grandchild lives there? Tuesday morning, I […]
It seems that sometimes the history of what the Church has done in times of struggle gets overlooked. We seem to get lost in personalities and political agendas that move us away from who we, the Church, are in society. The Church has a long history of stepping into spaces and representing well. I think […]
By Shonda Allen Economic, educational, and social institutions are not thought to be the traditional primary drivers of moral civility in the south. The wheelhouse that, arguably, should be driving moral/human civility is religious institutions – The CHURCH. But it is not. In fact, it has been the opposite. Ingrained in the DNA of the […]
By Paula Garrett “It’s Been A Long Time Coming. But I Know A Change Is Gonna Come” — Mississippian Sam Cooke Sam Cooke, the “King of Soul,” is known for his Chicago-style music, but he is actually from Clarksdale in the Mississippi Delta. He left Mississippi with his family as a child. He and hundreds […]
If you want to make a difference in the world, it just got easier and simpler to do. With the launch of the Economic Justice marketplace in North Carolina, people can give to bridge the racial wealth gap. Everybody can do this; white people can begin to repair economic injustices. For a donation of as […]
