Equipping

ACEs Aware Training

February 22, 2022 Gabrielle Piceno Equipping

Join a training on screening for Adverse Childhood Experiences and responding with trauma-informed care to mitigate the health impacts of toxic stress.

Maintaining Your Church’s Convictions Without Polarization or Judgementalism

February 22, 2022 Gabrielle Piceno Equipping

The FPU Center for Community Transformation and the Center for Anabaptist Studies are proud to present another workshop in its New Skills for a New Era series of convenings for Valley congregations. This one will be of interest to all members of churches that are struggling to know how to retain their firm convictions without drawing lines that promote polarization and judgmental attitudes, or the tendency to pronounce who’s “in” and who is “out”? In an era of shrinking church attendance, what biblical principles, ministry and relational skills would a church need to grow in this ability?

This FREE online workshop called Centered on Jesus will be led by FPU Biblical Seminary’s Mark Baker, Ph.D. who will be presenting the concept of the “centered-set church,” its theological and practical foundations. FPU alum Pastor Grace Spencer, MA Theo. will also present, sharing her experience from three churches she has served in a pastoral capacity. Registrants will be able to enter a raffle to receive Dr. Baker’s new book, Centered-Set Church: Discipleship and Community Without Judgementalism (IVP), and the first 50 to register and attend will receive a $10 lunch voucher.

Understanding Human Trafficking

February 7, 2022 Gabrielle Piceno Equipping

Understanding Human Trafficking is a basic introduction course (previously called Human Trafficking 101). It covers:

Realities of exploitation (myths and misconceptions)
Recognizing red flags (identifying victims of exploitation)
The role of traffickers and process of recruitment
Clinical dynamics of impact on youth
Understanding paths to freedom and community resources
Ways individuals and communities can take appropriate action

Zoom link provided upon registration. Click to register.

Interfaith Scholar Weekend

February 7, 2022 Gabrielle Piceno Equipping

The Ethics Center at Fresno State University is hosting the Interfaith Scholar weekend March 18-20, 2022. It will consist of 4 free webinars on Sabbath Economics. Each of these 90-minute presentations will be presented by Ched Myers and Dr. Elaine Enns and include elements of Lecture, PowerPoint, Art, Text, Design, Polling and Q and A to engage viewers/listeners.

Friday, March 18, 2022, 7:00-8:30PM: Revisiting Old Covenants in a Time of Plagues
Saturday, March 19, 2022, 10:30-12:00 NOON: Manna vs. Mammon: Are We Building Capital or Community?
Saturday, March 19, 2022, 1:00-2:30PM: Public Addiction, Ecological Ultimatums: A Call to Recovery
Sunday, March 20, 2022, 1:00-2:30PM: Sabbath as Reparative Justice

For more information, visit interfaithscholar.org or contact Jim Grant: jimgrantbc@gmail.com

Meet Our New Resident Engagement Specialist

January 12, 2022 Alexis Kalugin Community Outreach, ENP News, Equipping, Serving Our Neighborhoods

Christian Gonzalez at ENP as a Resident Engagement Specialist!

We are pleased to congratulate Christian on her new role as a Resident Engagement Specialist within the Neighborhood Development Team of ENP. Her passion for community engagement and building relationships that cultivate empowerment has led her to pursue continued intention and growth in neighborhood-focused development.

Within her new role, she will work in six targeted neighborhood elementary schools located in the 93702 and 93706 zip codes, to build a strong network of parent and resident leaders, build community capacity, and identify community priorities that lead to positive outcomes.

“Christian brings an amazing set of skills to the ENP team as our new Resident Engagement Specialist that we can’t wait to unleash her talent on the world”

– German Quinonez, Neighborhood Development Director

Although we may not see her within the CEDP gatherings as often, this partnership allows us the benefit of staying connected and continuing to engage through other community and city networks.

Feel free to send her well wishes at her new contact email: christian@everyneighborhood.org

Reimagine

December 16, 2021 Gabrielle Piceno Equipping

From November 10-13, several of our staff members attended the Christian Community Development Association National Conference in Kansas City, Missouri. This year’s theme was “Reimagine” and we explored with practitioners from across the country questions like, “What is God calling us to reimagine in our community for His glory?

DRIVE Hub Highlight: Generation Changers

November 29, 2021 Alexis Kalugin Equipping, HUB Highlight

Generation Changers in one of our DRIVE Hubs located in the Lincoln neighborhood. It is led none other than our very own Jason Spencer.

In light of DRIVE, what is the vision for Generation Changers in the Lincoln Neighborhood?
- “Our vision is to empower Lincoln residents by teaching sustainable holistic life change, inspiring self-confidence through social interaction and equipping and developing generational leaders. Our goal is to develop a relationship with residents through listening sessions and provide a stage/opportunity for their voice to be heard.”

How is being a DRIVE HUB in the Lincoln neighborhood providing an opportunity to engage in your community in a deeper way?
- “Being a hub in the neighborhood gives us a great opportunity to engage with community assets that serve in the Lincoln neighborhood. These community assets consist of individuals, associations, and institutions. Our goal is to create healthy and sustainable partnerships that can be a resource to our residents.”

How has ENP been of support to you and Generation Changers?
- “ENP is a great support to our organization. ENP has given us a framework to work with through the ABCD approach. This approach is vital to our community engagement strategies. Also, ENP supports us in fulfilling our drive objectives and provides helpful and important resources.”

Up to this point, what is a victory that you would like to share with others?
- “One victory report is our organization has the opportunity to hire 4 part-time employees from the Lincoln neighborhood. Not only is this a first in our organization but now we are providing an economic resource to our neighborhood.”

DRIVE Hub Highlight: Jackson CDC

November 25, 2021 Alexis Kalugin ENP News, Equipping, HUB Highlight

Jackson CDC is one of our DRIVE Hub organizations led by Heidi White. Learn about what they do and how being a part of DRIVE has impacted their work.

In light of DRIVE, what is the vision for Jackson CDC in the Jackson Neighborhood?
- Alongside our residents, we seek the cohesive well-being of the Jackson Neighborhood and it’s residents through community engagement, advocacy, and asset-based community development. In this season of work we are intently focused on 4 initiatives. First, we continue to build our resident-led neighborhood association as a way to capacitate neighbors in asset based community development best practices. Second, we assist Jackson Elementary in educational attainment initiatives. Third, we collectively implement resident imagined solutions that impact our neighborhood’s greatest needs. Fourth, we engage in resident-led strategic revitalization that partners with the City of Fresno for systemic change.

How is being a DRIVE HUB in the Jackson neighborhood providing an opportunity to engage in your community in a deeper way?
- Being a DRIVE HUB has enabled us to hire additional staff who are also Jackson resident leaders to support the community development work we are doing in Jackson. This is allowing us to reach wider and deeper in our community through already established networks and relationships. DRIVE is also providing us with the encouragement, tools and support we need as we equip and empower residents to engage in being part of the solutions to the challenges facing the Jackson Neighborhood.

How has ENP been of support to you and Jackson CDC?
- ENP has been helpful to provide training opportunities for our staff and residents, personalized coaching to help us achieve our goals, and they have created regular opportunities for us to connect with and learn from other DRIVE HUBS.

Up to this point, what is 1 thing that you would like to highlight & share with others?
- In the last few months, Jackson residents have been putting forth their best ideas for how to make the Jackson neighborhood a safer, better, and flourishing community. From a list of the top 16 resident-submitted ideas ranging from starting a community garden, to hosting block parties, to doing alley clean-ups, over 150 neighbors voted to focus their attention on making our neighborhood safer through a Safe Streets Initiative. We are in the preliminary stages of gathering resident concerns and their best solutions to tackle the challenges of cars making donuts in our intersections, speeding, and running stop signs. We are currently hosting community meetings and putting out a resident survey to activate all the gifts, skills, and best ideas of our residents to work towards a safer neighborhood. We are partnering with the Fresno Police Department and City Hall to address not just the safety issues facing our current residents, but to consider systemic changes that could be made to ensure future residents are equally safe. Seeing residents use their voices, passions, and skills to enact change in our neighborhood gives us fuel to continue in the work we are doing in the Jackson Neighborhood.

DRIVE Hub Highlight: Fresno Street Saints

November 25, 2021 Alexis Kalugin ENP News, Equipping

This week’s HUB Highlight is Fresno Street Saints located in the King neighborhood and led by Joby Jones.

In light of DRIVE, what is the vision for Fresno Street Saints in the King Neighborhood? When it comes to the DRIVE initiative, our vision for the King neighborhood is to reestablish that sense of being connected but ownership of their communities. Being the catalyst and spark that an individual needs empowering them to take up the responsibility to see change.
How is being a DRIVE HUB in the King neighborhood providing an opportunity to engage your community in a deeper way? Being a DRIVE HUB enables us to engage in the community from a personal standpoint. it’s not about coming to our meetings or events. It is asking them to participate, be involved and speak up for your community.
How has ENP been of support to you and Fresno Street Saints? ENP has been great, the 1-1 meetings, instructions and suggestions have all been valuable to keeping us on point when it comes to understanding what Drive is and what our role is.
Up to this point, what is a victory that you would like to share with others? A victory that we have had is being able to bring on 3 people who are real community people willing to go out and embrace, engage and empower the community.
Why should a church/organization apply to become a HUB within the DRIVE initiative? A church or organization should apply because of the interaction that it brings with the community.

LivingUNDIVIDED

November 11, 2021 Alexis Kalugin Equipping

The last 5 years have been a wake-up call for many in the Church to issues of race and justice.

Join Larry Hodges (Northpointe Community Church), Jessica Criner (St Rest Church), and Andrew Feil (ENP+Midtown Vineyard Church) in a six-week in-person LivingUNDIVIDED class.