We will help congregations throughout NYC understand their properties’ potential, and work with partners committed to mission-driven development.
which utilize their resources in ways that are financially sustainable and consistent with their historical mission and lead to the development of deeply affordable housing.
with the entire process of directing their resources towards the development of affordable, supportive or transitional housing for New York’s most vulnerable populations and to provide a “safe haven” where these issues and processes can be explored while ensuring that the needs and objectives of the faith partner is preserved and respected.
We help congregations to understand their properties’ potential, and work with partners committed to mission-driven development.
Our objective is to help New York’s faith leaders become more conversant and knowledgeable with the entire process of directing their resources towards the development of affordable, supportive or transitional housing.
We help them identify attorneys, architects, private and government financing entities, planners, and others to help them navigate "church" cultures, and use the considerable available financial, technical, and legal tools and gifts to help congregations fulfill their mission ethically.
We also work with denomination leaders to support congregational development and assist in identifying strategies and resources to enable their mission and community to survive and thrive while not succumbing to the pressures to use their properties in mission inconsistent ways that lead to gentrification and displacement.
Our target populations are community-based housing providers, professionals, and clergy and lay leaders from a cross section of faith communities in NYC seeking to help congregations grow in their mission, serve their communities, and better use faith property for mission-driven development - as well as to help promote related policy solutions.
As we navigate a time of significant national and global change, faith communities and advocacy groups are stepping up to address pressing challenges and foster unity. This week’s newsletter covers the renewed and continued efforts by religious leaders to support immigrants in light of potential policy shifts, including sanctuary work and resource distribution for asylum seekers in New York City.
This week we share news about the different trends with religious space use, environmental activism, and holiday celebrations. Read about the transformation of religious spaces, faith-led environmental activism, and the completion of a major affordable housing project in the Bronx.
This week we are highlighting affordable housing initiatives, the resilience of faith communities, and new grants for faith communities. Read about how faith-based organizations are at the forefront of addressing social challenges.
I don't think that architecture is only about shelter, is only about a very simple enclosure.
I don't think that architecture is only about shelter, is only about a very simple enclosure.
I don't think that architecture is only about shelter, is only about a very simple enclosure.
I don't think that architecture is only about shelter, is only about a very simple enclosure.
How well we communicate is determined not by how well we say things, but how well we are understood.
“To design is much more than simply to assemble, to order, or even to edit: it is to add value and meaning, to illuminate, to simplify, to clarify, to modify, to dignify, to dramatize, to persuade, and perhaps even to amuse. To design is to transform prose into poetry.”
“Doesn’t God Dwell Here Anymore? Decommissioning places of worship and integrated management of ecclesiastical cultural heritage”
Reusing Landholding of the Archdiocese of New York for Low-Income Housing.PDF“New York’s Trinity Church has a diverse investment portfolio worth $6 billion”
read the Original Article“For Churches, a Temptation to Sell: Religious leaders ponder whether selling their buildings to developers is really the best way to protect their congregations”
Read the Original Article“The Church With the $6 Billion Portfolio”
read the Original Article“Alec Baldwin to moderate Judson event on gentrification”
read the Original Article“America’s Epidemic of Empty Churches: Religious communities often face a choice: Sell off the buildings they can no longer afford, or find a way to fill them with new uses”