Perspectives: Blending Communities to Strengthen Opportunities

Sometimes, at community-building conferences, there is a workshop on the power of inclusive faith communities. Sometimes, at inclusive faith community conferences, there is a workshop on creative community building. When I came to Columbus, GA for the Georgia Winter Institute (GWI), the conference had four major strands of workshops: community building, inclusive faith communities, employment and person-centered planning.

I learned how each strand was woven through the creative work that people of faith in Georgia are doing and want to do in the future. It included people with disabilities, family members, citizen advocates, professionals, clergy and laity. It was evident that everyone’s voice and four overlapping skill sets is the way to weave community.

But, most faith communities don’t know about person-centered planning strategies. They often do it, instinctively, as caregivers surround an individual or family and support them in a variety of ways. The same goes with community building. Congregations are built around the giving and receiving of personal gifts, but most don’t know about how Asset Based Community Development and strategies like Community Cafés could empower their service.

At GWI, we overlapped strands to strengthen opportunities for people with disabilities. Employment is a huge issue in community inclusion, and so are supports within faith communities. We blended one of the inclusive ministry sessions with the employment track, and it was the largest workshop I led.

The Putting Faith to Work (PFW) pilot project, started by the Collaborative on Faith and Disability, became the key focus of the workshop. The pilot is underway in four states where the University Centers of Excellence in Developmental Disabilities are working with congregations to help people with disabilities find employment.

The project is based on the capacity of faith communities to develop circles and care initiatives. Faith communities have the opportunity and capacity to transform the lives of many people with disabilities, their families and the community as a whole by helping people find meaningful jobs, assume valued roles, and share their gifts and vocation with others.

Using person-centered planning strategies the vision of PFW focuses on social capital in every congregation, (i.e., the networking power of all of its members) to find jobs that would meet the interests and skills of the people with whom they are working. Congregations are full of employers and employees who know others in their communities. People get opportunities because of connections, and they often need emotional and spiritual support as they search.

Thus the project is about helping a person with a disability, known to a congregation, get opportunities for jobs and/or other chances to make a contribution to their community.

A manual of strategies and lessons learned will be available in 2016, but we encourage people to develop their own initiatives. It is important to keep weaving the seamless garment made of a community that includes mind, body and soul, creating opportunities for people with and without disabilities.

REVEREND BILL GAVENTA is the director of the Summer Institute on Theology and Disability. He was a speaker and presenter at the 2015 Georgia Winter Institute.

To learn more about Putting Faith to Work, visit faithanddisability.org/ projects/pftw/

Tags: Making a Difference