Truecity - Churches working together for the good of the city

This weekend was the annual, Hamilton, Truecity conference. Liz Weaver of the Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction was asked to attend to share the story of HRPR and its work in the city - and this what she submitted to the Spectator's Poverty Reduction blog:

Last weekend over 350 citizens representing over 80 church congregations gathered together listen to stories of change in community and determine how they can personally, and as churches advance social justice issues in Hamilton. TrueCity (www.truecity.ca) is a movement of churches working together to bring good to the city of Hamilton. The movement brings local churches together to learn from each other, capitalize on each other’s strengths and make a difference in neighbourhoods and in the city as a whole.

The TrueCity collaborative has invested in the City of Hamilton over the past four years. The weekend conference combined an opportunity for participants to worship together as well as session focusing on strengthening neighbourhoods, partnering on poverty reduction, responding to mental health and addictions, welcoming refugees well and digging into environmental concerns.

Dwayne Cline, Pastor, Hughson Street Baptist Church, Marv Friesen of Welcome Inn Community Centre and I were storytellers in the session called partnering on poverty reduction. Each storyteller shared their partnership story and then the participants were invited to tell their individual stories of partnership around poverty reduction efforts. What struck me during this session was the compassion of the community to respond to the issue of poverty and their willingness to contribute to community change efforts.

I left the TrueCity conference with a stronger awareness of the vibrancy of the faith community in Hamilton. The individuals attending the conference are committed to playing a role and assisting their neighbourhoods and communities. Churches play a pivotal role and the fact that 80 churches are coming together to create change builds momentum.

Intensification

Recently, at our Crownpoint Community Planning Team meeting (CPCPT), we had a presentation done by Green Venture on liveable cities . "Development that encourages urban sprawl and its inherent inadequacies with respect to sustainable transportation, infrastructure drain, tax burden and natural spaces degradation needs to be re-thought. City planning and development that embraces infill and intensification is the smart way to grow our communities." At our meeting, we were able to take a look at the types of work being done to make liveable neighbourhoods in our city through things like alternative modes of transportation - Streets that are built or re-built with features that provide safe and equal access for all users. New Hope, CPCPT and every member of this CrownPoint Community, has a responsibility to work together to improve our city, in this case, in terms of transportation and urban sprawl.