Blog for Every Neighborhood Partnership (ENP)

Celebrating Our Literacy Mentors: Jan 6th, 2018

February 1, 2018 Carol Young Literacy

We gathered on Saturday, January 6th to celebrate our Literacy Mentors and kick off the new semester.

The morning had several goals:

To celebrate and thank the wonderful people who are serving on our school campuses! They give of their heart and time to make an impact in literacy and in the lives of children who are the future of our city!
We also wanted to give these volunteers an opportunity to meet each other and spend some time together. It was great to see them share stories, network, laugh and get to know some of the people on their much bigger team.

Less is More: Simplify Things!

January 26, 2018 Brooklynn Edwards ENP News

Almost a year ago today, I made a decision that completely shifted my “norm” when it comes to managing my money. I decided to simplify my life and rely on the bare minimum. I would not venture out to say that I am a minimalist yet, but I’m on my way. Before I made this decision, I spent a lot of time making myself think I could afford everything I had. The decision to press pause, reevaluate and take the necessary steps to live with less was influenced by the Word. 1 Corinthians 14:33 clearly states, “For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.” One year later, I’m happy to have made progress in two areas: 1. My money and 2. My mind.

Neighboring Like Jesus with Shalom

January 19, 2018 Germán Quiñonez Neighborhood Presence

With the busyness of the holiday season behind us, I want to encourage us to stop and reflect. Many of us move at light speed with our New Year’s resolutions. So, do this reflection in order to not lose sight of the implications of the Christmas story. In particular, let’s reflect on the advent of Jesus, as recorded in John’s gospel 1:14 where it says “he came to dwell among us”. Jesus intentionally enters human history and re-introduces the concept of shalom. Shalom can best be described as the idea of justice and peace. It is justice and peace which encompasses the reality of restoration and reconciliation of humanity. Underpinning this radical theory of shalom is love, which binds all these together for true transformation.

2017 Annual Report

January 17, 2018 Artie Padilla ENP News

What A Year! 2017 Reflection. 2018 Vision.

On behalf of our ENP board and staff, we’re proud to present our 2017 Annual Report.

As we approach our 10th year, we find ourselves reflecting back to our humble beginnings. We are encouraged by the growth of ENP, but even more encouraged by all we have learned since ENP began in 2008.

Bless The Staff!

December 6, 2017 Carol Young Campus Presence

It’s a season of thankfulness and giving – a great time to bless the staff at your partnership school!

Several of our partnership churches find ways to regularly bless the teachers and staff. This blessing can be as simple as coffee, tea, donuts and fruit. Gestures like this can brighten a teacher’s busy morning in amazing ways.

Play: What Is It?

November 22, 2017 Brian Semsem Saturday Sports, Serving Our Schools

I have been working on a blog about Play for some time now. However, I hadn’t been able to narrow my focus well enough to share some of the things I have come to know about play in a concise and effective way. That being said, my intent is to simply share bits and pieces of the things that I have come to know about play. I’ll begin with an attempt to answer this question: “What is play exactly, anyway?”.

I Love My City – Peoples Church

November 8, 2017 Becca Gottselig Community Outreach

Two of our core values at Peoples Church are to love others and love sacrifice. These two values are at the heart of what we were able to do as a faith family with ENP at I Love My City!

Sometimes though, I find that it’s easy to get distracted by the day to day and forget the heart behind what each of us as Christ followers are called to do.

Healthy Neighborhoods are a Community

November 6, 2017 andrewfeil Serving Our Neighborhoods

Healthy neighborhoods foster and create a sense of community. These neighborhoods utilize the skills and assets of those that are a part of them. Our goal at ENP is to be a part of creating and supporting healthier neighborhoods.

Unfortunately, many neighborhoods in our city are not healthy. People and institutions are disconnected and distrustful of each other. Relationships become transactional instead of transformational.

As we seek to serve others in the city and be a part of neighborhood transformation, we realize that we need to build a new form of community. Communities that can combat the complex problems that affect our neighborhoods.

This idea is most easily understood through an example:

Say your church begins serving in a neighborhood and you realize that access to food there is an issue. So you start a food pantry. The church is very excited about this, and many members drop off food to pass out. Several members even volunteer to lead the pantry. But, since you are holistically minded, as you begin the project you open your eyes, start asking questions, and thru listening to others, you realize that…

Community Supporting School

November 1, 2017 Artie Padilla Serving Our Schools

Every Neighborhood Partnership constantly works to build support for our local elementary schools. When launched in 2008, our primary goal was to partner a church with every elementary school in Fresno and Clovis. We knew that churches had the capacity to truly make a difference with our kids, school staffs and families. This has proven true.

Yet, we soon realized that there were other stakeholders in our community that could add even more support to both our schools and neighborhoods.

Loving Your Neighbor – 2 Free Resources!

October 20, 2017 andrewfeil Neighborhood Presence

There is a growing movement across our nation to something that is both incredibly simple yet extremely difficult. Loving Your Neighbor.

It is one of the two key commands Jesus gave, but in our mobile 21st-century context we have lost the art of loving (or even knowing) our literal next door neighbors. God has uniquely created you and placed you to be His connection to a disconnected world. You are sent by God to be a light to your neighbors.

Several local churches have created resources that they want to make available to you to help make this happen!

ENP Blog