Abundant Life was formed as an alliance of local church members and neighborhood residents. The organization has raised $100,000 on its own, and hopes to gain access to $67,000 in federal funds through the City of Charlottesville. The organization also is partnering with Habitat For Humanity to build some of the houses, and the ambitious Payne has held discussions with the Virginia Employment Commission about opening a satellite office there and hopes Piedmont Virginia Community College can offer workforce development and job training courses as well.
Churches appear to be the main institution in inner city neighborhoods that African-Americans rally around. Not-for-profits such as Abundant Life Ministries are the leading agents of enterpreneurial action. The poor and working class people who participate in this project will gain far more than places to live — they’ll gain skills it takes to succeed in the world… Not just the formal skills that can be taught in a classroom, as important as they are, but the organizational skills to set goals, raise money and execute projects.
Building communities from the bottom up through projects like this will accomplish far more to lift inner-city African Americans out of poverty than well-meaning but bureaucratic anti-poverty programs out of the Great Society mold that breed passivity and dependency. Let us wish Mr. Payne the best of fortune in his endeavors.
(Read Seth Rosen’s story in the Charlottesville Daily Progress. Photo Credit: Charlottesville Daily Progress.)
