Considering Faith
Airs Every Sunday at 2:00 PM on AM 950 and streaming on the web at Air America Minnesota
MONTHLY ARCHIVES
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
November 2005
October 2005
SEARCH
SPONSORED BY
HOSTED BY
MEMBERS
MAILING LIST
|
||
September 28 - Microgrants - Joe Selvaggio
To make a donation to Considering Faith, please click here
Joe Selvaggio is a true local hero. After years of service from corporate boardrooms to homeless shelters, Selvaggio is now leading a non-profit group dedicated to offering micro grants to the public. The inspiration for MicroGrants came from the microgrant lending programs of 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus. But Selvaggio changed the investments in two ways: (1) the recipients are local to the area where donors live (the Twin Cities), and (2) the investments are grants, not loans. Selvaggio made these two changes because the untapped resource of donors who prefer to give locally was vast, and because the American lower-income population should be taught to accumulate wealth, not acquire debt.
Selvaggio has recruited 100 "investors" (donors) committed to give the MicroGrant Non-Profit Program a total of $400,000 per year. The funds enable Joe to write an average of seven grants of $1,000 per week, or $388,000 per year. He can do this because neither he nor his nonprofit volunteers take any salary. That means that the overhead is only 3 percent.
MicroGrant Non-Profit Program
September 21 - Open Doors / Open Hearts - Vern Bloom and Rich Deming
To make a donation to Considering Faith, please click here
Next month the Twin Cities will see the launching of a new conference series on true hospitality. The inaugural conference is called "Open Doors - Open Hearts: Welcoming Spiritual Communities After Prison or Recovery" - and will take place at the historic Wesley United Methodist Church in downtown Minneapolis. Wesley is also known as the West Campus of the Twin Cities Recovery Church, another partner sponsoring this event. Other sponsoring partners include the Minnesota Council of Churches, the MN Department of Corrections, and Friends for a Non-Violent World. These are just a few names from a long list of venerable groups coming together to create welcoming networks.
This week host Reverend Chris Morton will welcome two of the conference organizers, Vern Bloom and Rich Deming. The conference (scheduled for Saturday, October 11th) is the beginning of a movement to explore how welcoming and inclusive spiritual communities can serve the common good by supporting sisters and brothers returning from prison or in-patient recovery centers.
Alternatives to Violence Project
The Recovery Church
Trust for the Meditation Process
Beverly White Community Outreach Project
image courtesy of McKay Savage
September 14 - ISAIAH - Reverend Grant Stevensen and Phyllis Hill
To make a donation to Considering Faith, please click here
ISAIAH is an organization with a vision of community, hope and faith - deeply rooted in belief in God’s abundance for all people. ISAIAH is a collective of people of faith, working together. This collection of congregations who have committed themselves to each other in order to build power for a world-view that prioritizes racial and economic justice.
On October 12th, ISAIAH will host a revival at the St. Paul River Centre. "Time to Believe: Faith in Democracy" is a free event, open to the public. Organizers expect thousands of Minnesotans to participate. This week we'll be joined by the Reverend Grant Stevensen, President of the Twin Cities ISAIAH, along with ISAIAH organizer Phyllis Hill.
ISAIAH
Time to Believe: Faith in Democracy
image courtesy of ISAIAH
September 7 - Southwest Minnesota Housing Partnership - Jennifer Schuller
To make a donation to Considering Faith, please click here
This week we conclude our series on ways that faith communities are responding to the current housing crisis. After many conversations with leaders here in the Twin Cities, we thought we should hear from our friends living in rural Minnesota. So this Sunday we'll be joined by Jennifer Schuller from the Southwest Minnesota Housing Partnership - a non-profit community development corporation serving thirty counties in rural Minnesota. The Housing Partnership aims to build strong and healthy places to live to create thriving communities.
The mission of the Partnership is to provide a sufficient supply of adequate, safe, sanitary, and affordable dwellings to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of the citizens of southwestern Minnesota. The Partnership assists cities, counties, and townships to evaluate their local needs, create a realistic plan, and access funding sources to get started. The Partnership strives to make homeownership possible for more people by designing and building quality homes at affordable prices.
Southwest Minnesota Housing Partnership
images courtesy of Southwest Minnesota Housing Partnership