Sacred Places Spring 2010 | Page 3

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