IEI’s Faith & Community team was humbled to be in the audience at the third annual ImagineHub Summit at First United Methodist Church in Waynesville, NC, on October 5.
Housed at Boundless Impact, over 25 faith sites in North Carolina and Florida have been part of the ImagineHub model to “reimagine and deploy their space and resources as a means for improving economic empowerment in their communities.”
ImagineHub, led by Boundless Impact’s beloved Executive Director Cindy Thompson, gathered initial inspiration partly from Thompson’s participation in IEI’s past InnovateNC cohort. Learning with and from rural faith communities is integral to shaping IEI’s annual Emerging Issues topics, and we’re grateful for ImagineHub’s leadership in making North Carolina more economically vibrant and prosperous by harnessing faith communities’ strengths.
Conference speakers highlighted on-the-ground collaborations, challenges and celebrations with practical takeaways for other faith communities to learn from, shared here to spark further connection opportunities:
- Rev. Dr. Alexia Salvatierra of Fuller Seminary was part of a project with churches addressing homelessness: moving from a rotating shelter to following the guidance of unhoused leaders to build affordable housing for forty people.
- Check out: Clergy Community Coalition
- Read: Making Housing Happen: Faith-Based Affordable Housing Models edited by Jill Suzanne Shook
- NC State’s Tom White (also this year’s winner of ImagineHub’s Ray of Light award) shared about the innovative partnership between A&T and Wolfspeed’s new billions-dollar tech facility in Chatham County.
- The People’s Market’s Shante Woody shared about their grassroots Greensboro market which centers neighborhood economies and relationships over traditional and exclusionary entrepreneurial models, including Side Hustle University.
- Mountain BizWorks’ Jeremiah Robinson shared from a funder’s perspective how vital faith communities are to local and equitable business and economic development and opportunities.
- Check out: Upcoming events faith leaders can sign up for or pass on to entrepreneurs in their community
- Explore: Success stories from Western North Carolina
- OneWake’s Rev. Javier Almendarez-Bautista and Rev. Kevin Johnson got started by centering community questions instead of church growth ones. Soon, a multi-faith and multi-cultural coalition started organizing to advocate for affordable housing funding in Cary and Wake County.
- Check out: The results from a listening tour gathering input from over 1,000 Wake County residents about affordable housing
- Explore: The map of all the faith communities involved in OneWake
Have questions about contacting these speakers? Email Faith & Community’s Kylie at kdfoley@ncsu.edu for more information.
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