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Insights from An Other Kingdom
I am so thankful that John McKnight and Peter Block teamed up with Walter Brueggemann to write An Other Kingdom: Departing the Consumer Culture. If you appreciated Block and McKnight’s book The Abundant Community, with its thorough assessment of what makes communities…
Introducing the First Recipient of the Embrace Communities’ Great Neighbor Award* (2020) – Xiomara Vidal
Congratulations to Xiomara Vidal!Xiomara (pronounced Zee-mare-a) Vidal is the community connector at the Southwood Community Resource Center. She is the face of the clinic for the residents of Southwood Apartments. Most of them are Hispanic, coming to the States from a myriad of other countries.…
1st $5,000 Great Neighbor Grant Awarded for 2020
Over three years ago, after a training with Belmont United Methodist Church, the church made a commitment to strengthen the community of Southwood. Over the past two years, several small listening projects were conducted, but the low level of trust among the residents made the process slow…
It’s Our 15th Birthday - So, we are Giving Away $15,000!
On March 30th, Embrace will officially turn 15 years old! You gave us 15 Years, so to celebrate we are "Paying It Forward" with $15,000 in Great Neighbor grants.In the very early days of Embrace, all we had was a dream. We were so poor as an organization, we literally rationed toilet…
20 by 2020: Our Big Hairy Audacious Goal
In 2013, as Embrace was turning 7 years old, our board of directors participated in a strategic visioning process. During that season of discernment, we made the decision to shift from being a practitioner of Asset Based Community Development (doing the work) to being an intermediary (…
Embrace EDU: A Chesterfield Approach Update #1
In the fall of 2018, with the support provided by The Bob and Anna Lou Schaberg Fund, Embrace launched the Empowered Communities Institute. From September 2018 to May 2019, over 300 individuals from 47 organizations participated in training sessions offered through the Empowered Communities…
It's a New Year & We Have A New Name!
In 2005, when our founding board was established, we chose to incorporate simply as "Embrace" because our dream was that one day we might expand beyond Richmond. For the past 15 years, we have been doing business as "Embrace Richmond" and our impact was largely limited local communities.Over…
Ladies Take the Lead in Hillside Court
If you think your holidays were busy, wait until you hear about the actions of several young women in Hillside Court on the Southside of RVA. Meet Taliayah and Alonshay, youth apprentice-extraordinaires who always find time – between high school, sports, family, and being teenagers – to serve their…
Student-Led Listening: Strengthening our Schools in Partnership with CIS Chesterfield
In December, just before the holidays, I had the pleasure of participating in a “Bus Tour” hosted by (CIS) Communities in Schools Chesterfield. Even with the chilly weather and lingering snow, Chesterfield County and Richmond City nonprofits, parents and government officials were well represented.…