The Pace Center has been a training and coaching client of Embrace Communities since 2017 and is a founding member of the Empowered Communities Network. Their mission is to equip and empower students to listen deeply and respond lovingly to their community and God’s calling on their lives. They envision a Christ-shaped body where students help build community by discovering their purpose, others’ purpose, and by establishing a life rhythm that enables that purpose to thrive. To learn more, visit their website here.  

2023 Update:

Katie Gooch and her team at the Pace Center continued to deepen their ABCD efforts through their fellows program and were recognized for their efforts nationally as recipients of the Duke Divinity School Innovation Award. Every semester over 1,000 students benefit from this student-led community cultivation effort with 18 different connecting opportunities every week during the school year! 
 

Initiatives

Nurturing the Greater VCU Community, Richmond, Virginia

This development effort is the first pilot project to focus on a university campus. The Pace Center at Virginia Commonwealth University conducted their first listening project in the spring of 2019 and completed over 300 interviews.  A student-led steering then formed action teams as a part of the Pace Center's Fellowship Program. This project was initially funded in part by the Richmond District of the United Methodist Church.

Richmond District of the United Methodist Church, Covid Task Force

The Pace Centered partnered with the Richmond District of the United Methodist Church to mobilize congregations in the region to respond to the extreme needs resulting from Covid 19.  The task force is now looking to expand their efforts beyond emergency assistance with the Pace Center, serving as a model for how congregations can build a sense of community using ABCD principles and practices. 

Read More in the November 2022 edition of Faith and Leadership