St Anns engagement proposal
November 22 2024 We are proposing that we would work with your St. Ann’s team over the better part of a year to imagine and explore what your role might be in your neighborhood, helping to ensure that what comes next in East Nashville serves ALL of God’s children who live there, not just the people with means.
Our way of doing that would be using the tools we have developed over the last decade that we call the Field Guide to Transformation (FG2T): Taking Seriously Your Congregation’s Role in Local Economic Justice.
Ideally we would start this work in January of 2025 in person with the team you convened, and then to set additional sessions over the year - some with us in person, some online - and conclude our time together in the fall. This would entail approximately 12 meetings and we would hope to be in person for no fewer than three of them, perhaps more. The ‘consulting fee’ for doing this work with you would be $5000.
This curriculum (FG2T) was not originally written with a theological lens or for people of faith but was used by a wide variety of groups that were trying to build ecosystems to move projects forward that worked for people who were normally left out of decision-making and ultimately left out of the rich benefits that successful projects received.
As people of faith we started seeing the theological aspects of this work and in 2020 - when we had nothing better to do because of Covid! - and thanks to a grant from Trinity Church Wall Street, we were able to take that earlier work and produce this revised FG2T that is specifically aimed at congregations doing this work.
This tool asks theological questions such as:
How does our common table propel us to work for the common good? How do we care for the least of these? How is the “why” for our congregation connected to the local “what?” If economic justice is at the heart of the gospel, then how does that show up in our congregation? Are we prepared to be good Samaritans in a world where most people just walk on by?
In addition to these theological conversations, your cohort will hopefully gain:
An understanding of how traditional entrepreneurial programs that benefit communities of need work; Access to a deeper knowledge of funding models for non-profits and the application of those ideas in your setting; Connections to entrepreneurs and funders (through Neighborhood Economics and other connections we hope to make in Nashville); Introductions to potential mentors as they also begin to emerge.
So What IS The Field Guide to Transformation
FG2T is simply a curriculum - housed online - that will guide you through the process of deciding what difference you want to make in your community. Participants also begin to understand the ecosystem around the issues you might choose to focus on and discover where changes for the better in the system are possible.
Some scenarios we’ve seen emerge have included a decision process to determine if affordable housing is a fit for a congregation’s community, or how to turn a lightly-used commercial kitchen into a network of kitchens creating food security and incubating businesses. FG2T has helped churches already engaged in their community’s economic well-being better focus on the leverage points that can create bigger change. A church with enthusiasm for racial and economic justice - but no clear path to engage that work - could use FG2T to discover what their community needs so that they could catalyze a new initiative OR learn how to best join and be part of what’s already happening in their community.
Other groups we have worked with took on projects such as getting local businesses to move to a living wage, addressing the racial wealth gap, working on housing or transportation inequality or immigrant integration issues or something else that creates an interdependent economy of neighborliness.
How We Will Use The Field Guide
As St. Ann’s begins to use the Field Guide we will essentially start as a research process. One major outcome will be creating an asset map of the community, coming to understand the problems and potential in your neighborhood and discovering where you feel called to focus.
Whatever the problem you settle on, The Field Guide to Transformation will help you find where your local systems are broken, and help you decide on your goal to become a part of the solution.
We don’t know where it will lead St. Ann’s, but it will be exciting to find out!