Join us as Community Ministries launches a three-part series on "Poverty and Barriers to Prosperity" on Sunday, August 27, at 10 am for the Combined Adult Sunday School in the Great Hall. We welcome Avery Rhodes, Executive Director of Community on the Rise, as she and her WHOLE team share their focus on breaking barriers to housing, employment, healing, and education.
Community on the Rise is also the only non-profit in Alabama recycling #5PP plastics, and the women innovators who turn these into beautiful household objects, jewelry, Christmas ornaments, and more are survivors of homelessness. IPC supports their efforts by recycling #5 plastics, and then our Earth Care Team takes our super sack full to them every six weeks. IPC Foundation has also awarded them grants, and recently IPC members began volunteering with their RISE ID Project. Avery and her team will also sell their items and have a presence in the parlor following 11 am worship.
The series continues on Wednesday, September 27, from 5:30-7:15 pm in Great Hall 1 with Alabama Possible. We welcome Manisha Mishra and members of Alabama Possible, who will lead us in a discussion of their recent Barriers to Prosperity: Data Sheet 2023. Alabama Possible is a statewide nonprofit organization that breaks down barriers to prosperity through advocacy, education, and collaboration. For nearly 30 years, they have transformed how people think and talk about economic opportunity and educational attainment in Alabama and beyond. Their annual Data Sheet highlights rates of poverty, food security, educational attainment, employment, and health insurance coverage for all 67 Alabama counties. We will explore more deeply how these statistics impact the people we serve and all of us, collectively.
Michelle Farley, Executive Director of One Roof will round out our Series on Wednesday, October 25, from 5:30-7:15 pm in Great Hall 1. One Roof is the coordinating agency for the homeless Continuum of Care of Central Alabama. As a continuum organization, One Roof is responsible for submitting central Alabama’s collaborative application through HUD’s Continuum of Care program, providing nearly $10 million in supportive housing programming for individuals and families experiencing homelessness. Michelle will conclude the series by leading a more focused discussion on efforts to equip and empower our community to prevent and end homelessness through advocacy, education, and coordination of services. Minister Debra Blaylock of Faith Chapel Care Center will join Ms. Farley. She will share about this downtown Birmingham ministry of Faith Chapel Church, born of a mandate from God for community collaboration with One Roof, Inc. and others to care and advocate for people experiencing homelessness.
The Sept. 27 and Oct. 25 programs have the IPC Wednesday Night Dinner option.
