TABLE OF CONTENTS
3 Update on Partners: What Do We Know?;
Asset Mapping in North Carolina
FROM THE
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
You’ll soon hear more about Partners’ fiveyear goals, since we are near the end of
an energizing and enormously productive
strategic planning process. But one thing
is clear even now – Partners’ Board and
staff are strongly committed to providing
intensive help in regions where there is
need, leadership, and energy, including
Pennsylvania, Texas, and Chicago where we
have offices now. And we want to do more to
help congregations use their sacred places to
strengthen and serve their communities.
15 FEATURE STORY:
The Commercial Corridors Project
19 Clearinghouse Feature:
“Green” Resources
21 Professional Alliance Spotlight:
The Art of Glass, Inc.
22 Professional Alliance Directory
ABOUT PARTNERS
Partners for Sacred Places is the only national,
nonsectarian, nonprofit organization dedicated to
the sound stewardship and active community use
of America’s older religious properties.
Partners’ Programs and
Services Include:
•
Training. New Dollars/New Partners for Your
Sacred Place is an intensive program that gives
congregations with older buildings the skills and
resources to broaden their base of support.
•
Regional Offices. Partners offers training,
technical assistance and capital improvement
grants through its Pennsylvania, Texas, and
Chicago Offices.
•
Workshops and Conferences. Partners’ staff
speaks on a variety of topics at national and
regional conferences.
•
Publications. Some of Partners’ books include:
- Your Sacred Place Is a Community
Asset: A Tool Kit to Attract New Resources
and Partners
- The Complete Guide to Capital
Campaigns for Historic Churches
and Synagogues
•
Information Clearinghouse. This webbased resource provides information related
to the care and use of older sacred places.
(www. sacredplaces.org/information_center.htm)
•
Advocacy Initiatives. Partners works with civic
leaders, funders and policymakers, urging them
to adopt policies and practices that provide new
resources to older religious properties.
COVER PHOTO: Participants at a Germantown
Speaks event, with a historic photo of
the former Market Square Church in the
background. Photo credit for Market Square
Church: PhillyHistory.org
CORRECTION: In the Fall 2009 issue we
incorrectly identified the Church of Holy CrossImmaculata as being in Mt. Airy. It is in the
Mt. Adams neighborhood of Cincinnati, OH.
If you’ve read about the development and
growth of our New Dollars/New Partners training program in previous
issues, you’ll know that we help congregations identify the gifts and
strengths they have in their buildings, as well as the assets they can
engage with in their towns or neighborhoods. Those assets – such as
community development corporations, schools, neighborhood groups
and social service agencies – can bring new funding, programs, and
volunteers to sacred places, helping to sustain them for years to come.
In that spirit, we are starting to convene and support clusters of
congregations as they work together to identify assets and opportunities
that can advance the development of their community. The results of
this work, already, are remarkable. A group of churches along Baltimore
Avenue in West Philadelphia (see page 18) have developed a Venue
Menu that promotes the community use of the building spaces they have
available. Our main article (starting on page 15) tells a powerful story
involving several churches, a high school, seminary and historic house
museum in Northwest Philadelphia. Our thanks go to Molly Lester, who
manages our Pennsylvania office, for shepherding both projects.
And our story from Greensboro, NC, (see page 6) tells a parallel story
of churches and a neighborhood coming together to think about how
they can use their collective assets to solve problems and pursue
opportunities they have in common. Benjamin Briggs, Executive
Director of Preservation Greensboro, has worked closely with Sarah
Peveler, our Senior Trainer, to make this project possible, and we are
delighted that he agreed to write this article.
I believe that these projects are just a hint of what is to come. Stay tuned
for a fuller report on Partners’ five-year goals, and how we plan to
dramatically build our outreach to congregations and the communities
they serve.
BOB JAEGER
Sacred Places • Spring 2010 • 2