Sacred Places Fall 2010 | Page 6

UPDATE on Partners: Exemplars Project Since the publication of its pioneering Sacred Places at Risk study in 1998, Partners for Sacred Places has worked to sustain the quantity and diversity of community services and programs that congregations provide. That research, conducted in partnership with the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Work, helped to quantify the value of congregations in their communities. In recent years, recognizing the need to articulate the quality of those programs as well, Partners’ staff has looked for new ways and new research to tell the story of community-serving programs based in historic sacred places. Launched with support from the William Penn Foundation, the Exemplars Project sought to identify, spotlight, and build awareness of congregation-based programs and social services that are particularly innovative, affordable, and effective. This initiative, which was piloted in Philadelphia and presents opportunities for replication nationwide, offers new evidence — to members of both the public and private sectors — of the centrality of sacred places in community life. Based on the preliminary recommendations and criteria established by an advisory group, Partners engaged the Public Health Management Corporation (PHMC) to evaluate program quality in seven program areas: after-school programs; health promotion and nutrition education; behavioral health and addictions treatment; programs serving the homeless; older adult services; business and community development; and adult education. Characteristics of exemplary programs in an eighth Neighborhood Bike Works, hosted by St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Hamilton Village, in West Philadelphia, PA, is an innovative youth development program that introduces kids to a world of opportunities through bicycles. In after-school, weekend, and summer classes, participants ages 8-18 join in the Earn-a-Bike program where they learn about bike safety and repair. After fixing up bikes donated by the community, the kids graduate with a bike of their own, a helmet, and a lock. 5 • Sacred Places • www.sacredplaces.org • Fall 2010 program area — childcare — were drawn from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Keystone STARS program, which is an initiative of the state’s Office of Child Development and Early Learning to improve, support, and recognize the continuous quality improvement efforts of early learning programs. The learnings from PHMC’s research present tremendous opportunities for congregations looking to start or strengthen a social service program in their