wfn.org | New Organization Helps Churches Tackle Poverty in Their Neighborhoods

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

> IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Jay Van Groningen, director Communities First Association, cell 616-403-9309

Beth DeGraff, media contact, cell 616-648-7821 or 1-800-55-CRWRC

New Organization Helps Churches Tackle Poverty in Their Neighborhoods

July 1, 2009 ? The Communities First Association (CFA) is a
fast-growing ecumenical movement based in the U.S. that formally
launches today, July 1, 2009, from its new offices on Ottawa Beach
Road in Holland, Mich.

CFA is an exciting new way for Christian congregations and
organizations of all denominations to address poverty in their own
neighborhoods?and work toward community life that is better for
everyone for the long-term.

CFA director Jay Van Groningen, who is based in Holland, Mich.,
describes the new organization as ?an association of independent
professionals who help faith communities meet neighborhood needs
across America. CFA?s mission is to equip and resource association
members to be great coaches and trainers in asset-based community
development. CFA is growing into a movement of transformed communities
across the U.S.?

By using ?asset-based community development,? CFA helps churches,
organizations, and individuals recognize the resources they already
have, and then use those resources to make positive improvements in
their own neighborhoods. Asset-based community development (or ABCD)
was originally adapted for use by the Christian Reformed World Relief
Committee (CRWRC), which is now providing a generous start-up grant to CFA.

CFA is already making a difference in the City of Holland.

Four years ago, residents in one Holland Heights community realized
that none of them wanted to live there: the crime rate was high and
police were called-in regularly to address violence. People were
afraid and living in isolation from eachother.

But, through a small, local organization named ?Heights of Hope,? CFA
and its regional partners began placing AmeriCorps volunteers in the
community. Using CFA?s ABCD strategy, the volunteers uncovered the
residents? hopes, dreams, and concerns as well as their gifts and
interests. Soon, people began to cooperate with eachother and enjoy
life together. They also exchange their time and resources, helping
eachother succeed in life.

?People are working together to benefit the whole community with
programs like after-school tutoring instead of being afraid of
eachother,? Van Groningen says. ?The residents rented a nearby
apartment to use as a community center, and when the Holland City
Council notified them that they were out of compliance with local
zoning laws, they banded together to present their case to the Council
and received a zoning variance for the Center.?

Van Groningen says that the Holland Heights neighborhood center has
become ?a continuing hub of local gatherings, programs, and support
activities for community members?There is more interaction, less
crime, less residential turnover, and more neighbor-to-neighbor
sharing and cooperation in this community.

The change in Holland Heights is the result of training in ABCD
through CFA, and mutual learning among the people and organizations
involved. ?Learning from eachother is what CFA is about,? Van
Groningen says. CFA will continue to walk alongside Heights of Hope
and other non-profits like them, helping them build capacity to work
together towards a better future in tough communities.

?When neighbors work together, using what they have, a neighborhood
becomes a great place to live,? Van Groningen says. ?That?s true in
Bellflower, Calif., Miami, the Bronx, and here in Holland,
Michigan?wherever faith-based non-profits work with the Communities
First Association.?

Members of the press wishing to interview with Communities First
Association director, Jay Van Groningen, call 616-403-9309, or call
Beth DeGraff, media contact for CRWRC in the U.S. at 616-648-7821.
Audience members and interested partners are invited to access
Communities First resources and membership information at
www.communitiesfirstassociation.org.

The highly successful book, Communities First, which includes a series
of workbooks that constitute an empowering guide for churches and
organizations, challenges faith communities to engage in and influence
the neighborhood around them. For more information or to order, go to
www.communitiesfirstassociation.org. Materials are available in Spanish.

> -- Beth DeGraff
> CRWRC Media and Justice Contact
> 2850 Kalamazoo Avenue SE
> Grand Rapids, MI 49560-0600
> 1-800-55-CRWRC
> www.crwrc.org

Note that my email address has changed to bdegraff@crwrc.org.

CRWRC is a registered non-profit agency of the CRC-NA in both the U.S.
and Canada.