RESTORING THE COMMUNITY THROUGH COLLABORATION:AN AGENCY ON A MISSION!
When I accepted the position of executive director at Greater Cleveland Habitat for Humanity (GCHFH) this past spring, I understood that we are an agency dedicated to the mission of eliminating substandard housing, and improving lives. I knew we accomplish this lofty goal by challenging individuals, congregations, corporations, foundations, and other organizations to change the conditions in which people live. As an affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International, we are part of a worldwide, ecumenical, grass roots, housing ministry with over 1,500 affiliates in the US and representation in over 65 other countries. In Cleveland, we have worked side by side with our partner families and thousands of volunteers to build over 100 homes in the Central, Clark-Metro, Fairfax, Glenville, Hough, Slavic Village, Tremont, and Union-Miles areas.
What I did not understand, and have truly come to appreciate these past months, is the single-minded clarity that our founders, the national organization, and the cadre of affiliates bring to what might be seen as an impossible mission. One readily begs the question, "How do you propose to eliminate poverty housing? Isn't that just a bit unrealistic?" The resounding answer is "One house at a time", followed by, "Would you like to help?" As a graduate of the Mandel Center, I know the value of sticking to the mission, planning for the future, and asking for help. As a long time fund-raiser, I understand the importance that the foundation and corporate funding community places on collaboration between agencies. What amazes me about Habitat is that an incredible focus on our mission readily allows us to support so many other missions!
We are part of the Women's Movement. Simple math told us that engaging and encouraging women and girls to do nontraditional work and collaborating with the growing number of women in the trades would double the number of people at our job sites.
We are part of the Prison Reform Movement. We know that using prisoners as volunteers makes incredible use of people with time on their hands. Teaching them a skill they can use is putting more carpenters, handymen and committed volunteers into the community.
We are part of the Court Community Service system. There are hundreds of individuals each year who can put their landscaping, painting, cement finishing, and plumbing skills to work for us in lieu of sitting at home without a driver's license, or serving time in county jail.
We are part of the Green Movement. Placing millions of tons of perfectly good construction material into landfills the world over is absolutely ridiculous. We can use the new material in our house builds and recycle the old through our ReStore. This simple mission-based concept is an ever-growing tool. It is a fixture and material recycling project that not only helps to fund our operations, it also "restores the community" by making high quality materials available at incredibly low prices!
On a typical summer day, men and women, church and temple members, business professionals, unskilled laborers, union trades people, Inward Bound summer camp attendees, local high school and college students, Americorps volunteers from across the country, local VISTA placements, Habitat partner family members, AARP volunteers, parolees, Court Community Service assignees, and the Habitat staff, work together to complete specific tasks. Learning and teaching skills, sharing tools, food and stories as a community makes us better people in the process. It creates and restores community, and moves us ever closer to our mission - one house, one day, one volunteer at a time!
Jeffrey Bowen MNO '98 is the Executive Director of Greater Cleveland Habitat for Humanity and a member of the Mandel Center's Alumni Association Board. The mission of Greater Cleveland Habitat for Humanity, "Developing opportunities for all of God's people to act out their faith. By working in partnerships to eliminate substandard housing, we enable families and volunteers to improve lives. We create hope by building homes, strengthening neighborhoods and reweaving communities".