Sacred Places Fall 2010 | Page 3

TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 Update on Partners: New Staff; Exemplars Project; News from Texas and Chicago 13 Professional Alliance Spotlight: Clayton Acoustics Group 24 e are not a think tank. Partners is a pragmatic, service-oriented organization. And yet our programs are solidly based on groundbreaking, academically sound research findings. We often say, for example, that our New Dollars/New Partners for Your Sacred Place training program flows from, and is founded on, our findings on the public value of sacred places published as Sacred Places at Risk. (This is a point that our Associate Director, Tuomi Forrest, made extremely well in the Spring 2010 issue of this magazine.) Contributors List 22 W FEATURE STORY: Richard Driehaus Interview 17 21 FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Professional Alliance Directory Green Building Feature: Advice from the Interfaith Coaltion on Energy 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. 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 web-based 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: Richard Driehaus at his Georgian Revival-style estate in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Photo courtesy of Driehaus Management. CORRECTION: In the Spring 2010 issue we incorrectly reported that Kathy Jordan of the Art of Glass replicated portions of the oculus window at St. Bernard’s Episcopal Church. In fact, she replicated 100% of the window, using salvaged shards as reference only. We may not be the Brookings Institution, but our partnership with the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy and Practice has influenced a new school of study on the public good generated by community-serving congregations. However, we are like a think tank in one respect: we look for opportunities where research and analysis can lead to new approaches to some of the challenges that our society is facing. And today, we are undertaking two important research projects with strong, immediate implications for the power and impact of our services to sacred places. In one project, we are measuring the larger “Community Halo Effect of Sacred Places.” We are looking at the ways in which sacred places strengthen the economy and health of their neighborhoods, and build social capital among those who worship and serve there, or are served. We are completing a pilot of this project in Philadelphia, and the results promise to be nothing less than astounding. These findings, in turn, will be translated into practical tools to help congregations measure and communicate their own community halo effect. Our second project is documenting opportunities to encourage the “Arts in Sacred Places.” We are studying over 40 congregations with older properties in downtown Philadelphia, plus over a dozen dance, theater, music, and visual arts groups that are looking for sustainable, affordable homes. We are finding that there is great need and opportunity to encourage more partnerships between the arts and congregations, and fully expect to launch a program with this purpose next year. So no, we are not a think tank, in part because research and policy analysis is not our primary purpose. However, we believe that Partners is perfectly positioned to undertake important new research when the time and issues are right. And certainly we are the right organization to translate findings into practical services that help congregations make the most of their buildings as assets for outreach. BOB JAEGER Sacred Places • Fall 2010 • 2