Making Community Happen Here

What makes community happen?

Sociologist Robert Bellah of the University of California at Berkeley, and author of The Good Society, Habits of the Heart, and other books, teaches that four types of institutions must DAVID T.
ANDERSON
be interrelated in a healthy society: the economic sector; educational institutions; government; and the not-for-profit sector, including faith-based institutions, the arts, and cultural centers. Each is expected to play its role with clarity of purpose, yet each must also be involved with the others.

Community is not about everyone thinking the same things, agreeing on every issue, or achieving overwhelming consensus about public policies; there is much that divides people from one another. Those divisions, however, are due not simply to what we think about this issue or that policy. What keeps us apart is simply the lack of attention we pay to "the other," while we are busy getting our own house in order.

What if we set aside our own agendas long enough to be with one another, to recognize that our health as a community requires the best for even the most vulnerable -- not just ourselves? What if we brought together a disparate group of people who serve wide-ranging needs through a variety of institutions, each focused on the well-being of families who live in some of the most distressed neighborhoods of the city? What if these organizations, and the families they serve, worked together to build community?

An expanding group of local people is doing just that, and last Sunday many of them gathered at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church on Grove Avenue to celebrate the work they are doing in partnership with one another. Hands Across Richmond, hosted by St. Stephen's and St. Peter's Episcopal Church on Church Hill, lasted just a few hours, but the efforts lifted up at this event continue among those who believe in God's dreams for our city.

They include ChildSavers, which goes into some of the most traumatic situations in which children are involved to offer psychological support. Peter Paul Development Center provides after-school and summer programs for academic and cultural enrichment as well as nutrition and physical well-being. Richmond's Fairfield Court Elementary School serves more than 400 youngsters in that neighborhood; they, their teachers, administrators, and families are achieving unprecedented success.

Richmond Public Schools Superintendent Yvonne Brandon, Dr. Irene Williams, who oversees elementary education, and school board Vice Chair Kimberly Gray are among the partners who attended Hands Across Richmond. Communities in Schools, whose staff establish and shepherd liaisons between individual schools and caring volunteers, is at this table. So are the people who helped establish a tuition-free middle school in the East End, the Anna Julia Cooper Episcopal School.

One of their models for this endeavor is another tuition-free school gifting the city for a century, St. Andrew's School in Oregon Hill, and its head of school, Mary Wickham, was at Hands Across Richmond. The medical community joined in, too, through CrossOver Ministry, where medical professionals serve the working poor.

The Micah Initiative was represented by its program director, Mieko Timmons. The Micah Initiative, begun at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, sets up partnerships between faith communities and public elementary schools throughout Richmond, partnerships that are making a tremendous impact.

In their midst were parishioners from St. Peter's and St. Stephen's -- and while the two parishes are located in very different parts of town, their partnership is strong. St. Peter's is located across the street from Peter Paul Development Center; the priest who serves that church, the Rev. Lynne Washington, is also the executive director of the center. St. Stephen's sends scores of volunteers to work hand-in-hand with these institutions and schools, investing time and treasure and staff resources in the person of a volunteer coordinator.

With a congregation that held numerous business and civic leaders, including lawyers, bankers, and Fortune 500 executives (some of whom volunteer in the above-mentioned programs), all of the sectors in Robert Bellah's formula were brought together.

Is it any wonder that on this particular Sunday morning, the possibilities seemed endless? Is it a surprise that people were inspired and energized for the work at hand? And while one enthusiastic attendee said he didn't want to leave church that morning, Monday morning comes and it is time to share the gifts we received from Hands Across Richmond, where the renewal of our relationships and the opportunity to see one another with truthfulness and clarity makes even the more difficult conversations a bit easier.

The first order of business is to acknowledge one another's humanity, and that each is beloved of God. If we set aside concerns about who gets credit for something, if we meet with confidence the seemingly insurmountable challenges that discourage and distract, we can allow a fresh wind to sweep through.

We felt it at Hands Across Richmond. It touched the souls of each person there. Relaxing our grip allowed us to open our hands to appreciate and receive the astonishing gifts that were -- and continue to be -- present among us. We can do so much when we recognize that abundance.

And community happens in Richmond.

David T. Anderson is vicar of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Richmond. He also serves on the board of the Peter Paul Development Center and is its former chairman. Contact him at .