On April 29 we had our first Crownpoint community meeting to address poverty. Marg from the Hamilton Roundtable helped facilitate this meeting while Hans and I got more anxious about the outcome of this meeting as each day approached - just praying that we wouldn't have felt like we wasted people's time. Well, the meeting has come and gone and what can I say, but God is good. Its not to say that there weren't still some nerves about yesterdays meeting, but God certainly answered our prayers for our community meeting.
More people showed up then we had anticipated! There was a great diveristy in representation [variety of residences, schools, community leaders and agencies - even Larry Dianni snuck in the back part way through (previous mayor of Hamilton)]. The conversation, dialogue and 'energy' in the room when talking about this community, its assets, needs and what to do about it, was full of life and interaction - many people contributed (and probably wanted to stay to continue talking)! AND...one of my worries (along with many others) was that at the end of the meeting, when talking about the 'Next Steps' and who would like to take leadership in and continue to work at addressing these 'realities' of our community, that no one would step up to take it on. Well - if my counting of this list is correct ... 24 people!!!! 24 out of about 31 people who were there want to move this forward (and many were mentioning names of others who should be at the table).
Ha!
Thank you for your prayers, God has shown that He continues to be at work in this community, and He responded to our prayers!
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Sam Merulla confusion
It wasn't what we had been looking for, not even what we were hoping for - but we're now renting a space on Main St. E., and it is even better than what we could have imagined. The store front (and adjacent apartment) is located on the corner of Main St. and Park Row with large green and white 'Sam Merulla' (a city ward councillor) signs for everyone to see. We had originally had our eyes set on Ottawa St., a revitalizing street with several real estate options. Main St. is busier - heavier traffic (both of cars and pedestrians) and many store fronts are vacant -but that only creates great potential. So, what are we doing with our new home? We're scoping out the neighbourhood, the traffic that walks by (did I mention that there is a bus stop right in front of our facility!), the use of our space and the purpose of our location. We have a list of things that we would like to do in this neighbourhood including beautification, offering games night and karaoke nights, free coffee and drop in times, and whatever else God puts on our hearts. This past week a couple of us opened the door, sat outside with a large sign that said "Free Fair Trade Coffee" and waited to see the responses. We are just 2 blocks from Delta Secondary School so there are lots of kids that stream by during the day. I think God is guiding us in many ways and teaching us many things - one of those is that although a few highschool students like coffee, more would rather have juice:) What is funny to observe are people who see activity inside this building, or the coffee sign, or the new flower planters from the city around the building and want to know what's going on - and so of course, they look up at the sign and it says 'Sam Merulla'. They look down, and look up again. I hope that while we work on changing the signs, we can give Sam Merulla a few more votes!
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Clearly the Author and Designer
Just got back from a Community Gardens information session and, though an amateur gardener, I can't wait to start a community garden here. As I sit and listen to the initiatives taking place across Hamilton, specifically in regards to community gardens, I am excited about the potential this city has for rejuvenation and health. The gardens all operate with different activities: growing food locally, creating more beautification across the city, bringing school curriculum together with gardening, intertwining gardening with public art, building relationships between markets and communities, creating opportunities for immigrants to grow their own food etc, but ultimately the outcome is the same - they build community. God is orchestrating so many neat initiatives. At the same time as this conversation about developing community gardens there are other conversations taking place. The Hamilton Roundtable for poverty reduction is looking at ways to address the issues of poverty, the city is increasingly motivated to invest in more community development, and there is a desire to see more activities that create 'community' like community gardens. I just leave these kinds of meetings smiling dumbly and shaking my head at how God is clearly the author and designer. How he is bringing certain themes, hopes, conversations, and realities together to influence and compliment each other, and lifting Hamilton out of a gloomy, hazey, fog of complacency and hopelessness, into a vital, flourishing city of beauty, peace, and restoration.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction
A couple of people from New Hope are a part of an initiative by the Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction (HRPR) to mobilize 'neighbourhood launch pads.' Neigbhourhood launch pads are community focused conversations that lead to strategic actions to address the impact of poverty on children.
We have been talking with both local residents as well as a number of city-wide persons who are open to being part of a conversation on April 29, 2008 to look at the particular strengths and needs in the Crown Point neighbourhood in the east end of Hamilton. We also met with a local teacher who hopes to encourage her class to describe their hopes and dreams for their community in a writing assignment - thereby adding the voices of children at the table!
Pray that God will help us to hear and see the strengths of this community and their concerns as described by those living here - that we may walk with them in addressing poverty.
We have been talking with both local residents as well as a number of city-wide persons who are open to being part of a conversation on April 29, 2008 to look at the particular strengths and needs in the Crown Point neighbourhood in the east end of Hamilton. We also met with a local teacher who hopes to encourage her class to describe their hopes and dreams for their community in a writing assignment - thereby adding the voices of children at the table!
Pray that God will help us to hear and see the strengths of this community and their concerns as described by those living here - that we may walk with them in addressing poverty.
We have a 3rd Space in the community!
"Third spaces" are informal gathering places where people in a particular community or neighbourhood meet to develop friendships, discuss issues, and interact/network with others. They have always been an important way in which the community has developed and retained cohesion and a sense of identity."Third places" are crucial to a community for a number of reasons:
- They are distinctive informal gathering places.
- They make people feel at home.
- They foster relationships and a diversity of human contact.
- They help create a sense of place and community.
- They invoke a sense of civic pride.
- They provide numerous opportunities for serendipity.
- They promote friendship.
- They allow people to relax and unwind after a long day at work.
- They are socially binding.
- They encourage sociability instead of isolation.
- They make life more colourful.
There are essential ingredients to a well-functioning "third place". They must be free or inexpensive to enter and purchase food and drink within. They should be a place where a number of people regularly go on a daily basis. It should be a place where the person feels welcome and comfortable, and where it is easy to enter into conversation. And a person who goes there should be able to expect to find both old and new friends each time she or he goes.....and that's where New Hope enters the scene. We have the opportunity to be and provide that 3rd space in this community. God is calling us to be a community (an incarnational presence) filled with grace, love and forgiveness, accesible and safe for the people of east Hamilton that He so desparately loves. With a physical place to call home, we know God is calling us to be that presence, that open, useable, welcoming presence each and every day of the week.
(the beginning description of 3rd spaces is found on the Freeway Cafe's website - check it out for further description)
Monday, March 3, 2008
Being a presence in the Community
Why community involvment? New Hope Church is excited by God's call to continue the mission of Jesus Christ in East Hamilton.
And, just as Jesus was affirmed by the Spirit to be the liberator of the captives, the healer of the blind, and the bearer of good news to the poor (Luke 4:18), New Hope also longs to be an agent of transformation, immersed in the neighbourhoods in the east end of Hamilton.
How about you? Are you interested in participating in this risky new venture? We invite you to get involved!
And, just as Jesus was affirmed by the Spirit to be the liberator of the captives, the healer of the blind, and the bearer of good news to the poor (Luke 4:18), New Hope also longs to be an agent of transformation, immersed in the neighbourhoods in the east end of Hamilton.
How about you? Are you interested in participating in this risky new venture? We invite you to get involved!
Friday, February 29, 2008
Community Involvement
Join a program at the YWCA
Kiwanis Boys and Girls Club: Kiwanis provides many programs from athletics to theatre to after school -home work assistance and is open to volunteers for their various programs. See http://www.kboysandgirlsclub.com/
Wraparound Facilitator: In collaboration with the Kiwanis Boys and Girls club there is the opportunity to walk alongside a particular family in the east end who is striving to overcome some hurdles and achieve some identified goals and are looking to have the encouragement and assistance of a facilitator. Training happens a couple of times a year through Wraparound and the commitment of involvement varies from family to family, but the aim is to assist them to reach a point where they feel capable enough to move forward with their goals on their own (anywhere from 6 months to year, about 1-2 hours a week). Contact the Kiwanis B and G club.
Schools: Classroom aids, breakfast programs, after school programs…
A.M. Cunningham:
Queen Mary: Anger Management and Rights of Passage program. Breakfast program.
King George: Breakfast program
Memorial:
Holy Name of Jesus:
Secondary: Delta
Neighbourhood Associations: A good way to get the pulse of and have an impact on concerns, events and activities within the community, is to join a Neighbourhood Association. (There are currently none functioning in the Delta and CrownPoint area – but that leaves room for the opportunity to start one!!J)
City Kidz: They are expanding their program to Ottawa St and looking to move even further to Kenilworth. One of our greatest needs for Saturdays are to have adult volunteers, as a lot their volunteers are teens who use to be City Kidz kids and are learning what it means to 'give back'. I would recommend coming out to one of their Saturday Tours of City Kidz that happen every Saturday from 10:15-11:15am. Just book ahead to confirm a spot for Saturday! See http://citykidz.ca/home/
Good Shepherd Centre: An inner city ministry has various elements for community involvment including working in their warehouse or taking a day at the hot food program. See http://www.goodshepherdcentres.ca/
Welcome Inn: An inner city ministry has a long standing presence in the north end of Hamilton, addressing the concerns of marginalized peoples. They offer various avenues for volunteer involvment. Recently they have started a new thrift storem that needs both items and volunteers. They have a 'Learning and Fun' after school program, emergency food pantry, and a program to help establish or expand a small business. See http://www.welcomeinn.ca/
Dream Centre: The Dream Centre offers many programs to the community including a clothing and food bank as well as some life skills resource. See http://www.thehamiltondreamcenter.org/
STAR program…
Café Adonai:
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