More than 160 people tuning into Monday’s third online installment studying Matthew Desmond’s best-selling book, “Poverty, by America,” discussed together the heart of Desmond’s argument for doing away with poverty: how we rely on welfare, how we buy opportunity and a chapter on how to invest in ending poverty.
The Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People has released its annual SDOP Sunday Resource & Yearbook and it’s available for free online, with a list of 13 ways to engage in poverty eradication.
In November, seven Guatemalan young adults embarked on a four-day adventure that will have a lasting impact on their lives. I had the privilege of accompanying the group, alongside Pastors Emerson Morales and Mardoqueo Perez of Jesus es El Camino church in Guatemala City. The Guatemala Partnership of New Castle Presbytery funded this trip.
When the Rev. Dr. Alonzo Johnson isn’t busy directing the Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People, he’s convening the Education Roundtable, part of an initiative of the 221st General Assembly (2014) to Educate a Child, Transform the World.
Measuring congregational and mid council work to end systemic poverty was the topic of Thursday’s second in a series of Matthew 25 online workshops being offered to help local communities create empowerment, health and wholeness. About 70 people attended.
A woman with lived experience as a homeless veteran brought home the importance of ongoing support for veterans during a recent webinar that explored issues related to poverty among veterans and how churches can help.
The Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People (SDOP) approved grants earlier this year totaling $105,000 to several self-help projects. The money comes from generous gifts to One Great Hour of Sharing.
Everywhere he looked, the Rev. Allen Shelton saw tremendous gaps — gaps that were keeping high school-aged young people of color like Tariq Mayo from succeeding in life.
Shelton, a veteran educator, community advocate and pastor, was determined not to watch Tariq — and so many other promising youth — fall through the cracks of an increasingly broken educational system.
Lupe Gonzalo understands all too well the hardscrabble life of a farmworker. Having worked for 12 years in Florida’s tomato industry — in addition to traveling to other states to pick sweet potatoes, apples and blueberries — Gonzalo often had to wake up at 4 or 5 o’clock in the morning to travel to a local farm, where she was handed a bucket and told to fill that bucket as many times as humanly possible during the day.
