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07519 August 21, 2007
PHEWA launches initiative to revitalize dangerous New Orleans neighborhood
Grant fuels effort to develop strong leaders via faith-based community organizing
by Evan Silverstein Presbyterian News Service
LOUISVILLE - The Presbyterian Health, Education and Welfare Association (PHEWA) is partnering to establish a grassroots faith-based community organizing initiative aimed at revitalizing a notoriously dangerous New Orleans neighborhood.
The effort, being funded through a $20,000 grant from a private foundation, calls for developing strong leaders in the crime-invested Central City district of New Orleans and training them to tackle problems that residents of the neighborhood work together to identify.
"It's really in the hands of the folks at the local level to make this go and we see this as a creative, exciting way to connect the national church to the local level," said the Rev. Bob Brashear, a New York City minister and PHEWA's immediate past-president. "The real goal is to bring about transformation and to empower people to do that transformation themselves."
PHEWA is partnering in the venture, which is expected to get underway in earnest next month, with the Small Church and Community Ministry office of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A).
PHEWA is also working closely with the Presbytery of South Louisiana, and the Covenant Presbyterian Urban Ministry Institute (CPUMI), a non-profit congregation-founded group based in Central City that promotes the practice of urban ministry and developing the capacity of individuals to serve community needs.
The one-year grant awarded to PHEWA earlier this year by the Ada G. and Stanley I. Halbreich Foundation has already paid for a week of training in congregation-based community organizing for CPUMI's executive director, Aaron Steele, and two volunteer outreach organizers, including one provided through the PC(USA)'s Young Adult Intern program.
Besides the training in faith-based community organizing, the money from the private foundation in New York City will go to provide ongoing consultation with the CPUMI board of directors and the two volunteers, who begin their new jobs Sept. 4, marking the official start of the program. Funds will also cover ongoing consultation services by PHEWA members who have backgrounds in community transformation.
The Presbyterian Peacemaking Program has also pledged $2,000 for the start-up project from the annual Peacemaking Offering, which supports a variety of peacemaking efforts at local, regional and global levels. It is one of four special offerings designated by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) General Assembly.
CPUMI officials have already conducted some interviews to identify potential leaders in Central City though the entire neighborhood has not yet been canvassed.
Once this process is complete, Steele said an immediate priority of the program will be for these new leaders to undergo faith-based community organizing training, which is conducted by People Improving Communities through Organizing (PICO) of Oakland, CA, which PHEWA executive director the Rev. Nancy Troy described as one of the "most diverse, interfaith, civic engagement efforts" in the nation.
She said PICO networks are structured to engage ordinary people in solving local problems, while equipping them with the tools to influence broader public policy at the local, state and national level.
"I think it's going to be up to them, as it is designed to be," Troy said of Central City residents when asked if she believed the new program would spur positive change. "We are going to make it possible for them to get the training. We are going to stay with them and consult with them. The rest they have to do on their own."
Sandwiched between New Orleans' downtown core and the historic Garden District, Central City once played an important role in the city's brass band tradition. The old predominately African-American working-class neighborhood gave rise to early jazz pioneers such as Buddy Bolden and Larry Shieldswhich.
Now Central City is among the most dangerous parts of New Orleans for murders and other criminal activity. There's also widespread poverty, substandard housing, deep economic despair and poor educational opportunities.
But Central City has gained increased attention in post-Hurricane Katrina redevelopment plans thanks to a large swath of the neighborhood that was spared from floodwaters that devastated most of New Orleans in Katrina's aftermath two years ago.
The many vacant buildings and lots on this rare high piece of ground have made the area an attractive target in rebuilding discussions.
Meanwhile, CPUMI has been trying to work more closely with area residents as it attempts to transition from a program-oriented service agenda to a community organizing strategy.
When CPUMI was founded in 1997, the center brought seminarians from around the country to New Orleans for internships assisting the poor urban community and once hosted summer work camps for teenagers.
These programs are no longer offered but the institute still operates a prescription drug program, holds semi-annual health fairs, provides flu shots, and operates food banks. The future of these programs has not yet been determined by CPUMI's board of directors as the institute shifts its focus to community organizing, Steele said.
CPUMI, was formed 10 years ago when the members of Covenant Presbyterian Church, which had been located on St. Charles and Napoleon avenues since 1878, closed their doors, sold their building and dedicated the proceeds to be used for the formation of the institute, the result of a long-standing vision of the congregation.
CPUMI's two volunteer community outreach organizers will meet one-on-one with as many people in Central City as possible to identify leaders and people with vision who are willing to join the effort and lead the drive for change, said Steele, an elder at Berean Presbyterian Church, which is situated in Central City across the street from CPUMI's offices.
The two volunteers will help organize house meetings and church meetings for residents to share their ideas for the neighborhood. They will work with Steele, CPUMI's board of directors, and community residents to identify specific, concrete actions and programs that speak to the vision of the Central City community.
The two volunteer outreach organizers are Caitlin Schneider, a 22-year-old recent college graduate from Baltimore, MD, and Alan Kevin King, a 42-year-old seminary graduate who's been working at a community outreach program in San Francisco and has spent time in such troubled spots as Sudan's Darfur region.
The Rev. Jean Marie Peacock, associate presbyter for congregational development and disaster recovery for South Louisiana Presbytery, has provided some CPUMI board members with training in community organizing and conducting one-on-one interviews with residents of the neighborhood.
Peacock, who was vice moderator of the PC(USA)'s 216th General Assembly in 2004, said she believes the effort will help in a variety of ways with the redevelopment of Central City and Berean church, which has close working ties to CPUMI.
"That particular area of town has a vast amount of needs and for us to be present as Presbyterians working with that community is critical," Peacock said.
PHEWA became interested in Central City when the group held its 2007 Social Biennial Conference in the Crescent City in January.
Conference speaker Robert Linthicum, a renowned educator and president of Partners in Urban Transformation, a Christian ministry working to equip churches for engagement in public life, challenged those attending to transform their communities and congregations through a strategy of faith-based community organizing.
PHEWA recruited Linthicum to talk with the CPUMI board following the conference about building their capacity to transform Central City through the organizing methodology.
"We didn't want a hit-and-run adventure," Troy said. "We wanted to somehow have an ongoing relationship there and be part of bringing back that community."
PHEWA is a ministry which includes 10 networks of Presbyterians that seek to implement social welfare policies of the PC(USA)'s General Assembly in such areas as community and neighborhood ministry, urban ministry, specialized pastoral ministries, AIDS ministries, mental illness, substance abuse, domestic violence, child advocacy, reproductive health, and congregational health ministries.
The networks provide expertise in these areas and donate thousands of hours of volunteer service to the PC(USA).
Troy said the Central City project will fit into the purview of PHEWA's Presbyterian Association for Community Transformation (PACT), which provides spiritual and practical resources for congregations engaged in the ministry of transforming their communities.
Brashear, who is pastor of West Park Presbyterian Church in Manhattan with a background in community organizing, was the one who suggested PHEWA seek funding from the Halbreich Foundation.
He said that community-organizing programs such as PHEWA's, which seek to connect networks with local ministries, would prove to be among the most efficient and financially feasible ways for the denomination to be involved with local communities.
"That sort of peer-to-peer relationship and helping folks discover their own skills, I really see this as something that will be happening a lot in the future," said Brashear, adding that he hopes the Halbreich Foundation or other groups would provide additional funds for the program after its first year.
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