Parish becomes community activist in working for the common good
| AROUND THE ARCHDIOCESE | THE CATHOLIC NORTHWEST PROGRESS |
| MARCH 18, 2010 |
Parish becomes community activist in working for the common good
Project that creates green jobs is among those receiving grants from Catholic campaign funds
FEDERAL WAY
BY TERRY MCGUIRE
St. Vincent de Paul Parish was more than just a spectator March 9 when SustainableWorks kicked off the public portion of its campaign to provide energy-saving retrofits to some 300 homes in the area.
The parish has been a lead institution in bringing the energy-saving, job-creating project to Federal Way as an active partner in SustainableWorks, an independent nonprofit that plans to retrofit approximately 2,000 homes around the state while creating some 120 full-time jobs.
“St. Vincent’s has been kind of our anchor institution on the project in Federal Way,” said SustainableWorks Executive Director Steve Gelb. He noted that the parish has been involved in every aspect of the effort — working directly with city officials, recruiting neighborhood organizers and running the kickoff events. St. Vincent parishioners also serve on the nonprofit’s leadership team in Federal Way, he said.
Such involvement in the wider community represents a milestone for a parish that has traditionally looked inward, said Deacon Del Hoover, the parish’s institutional representative with the effort.
“Typically, in the past … we had our parish and everything was focused there,” he said. “I think this is the first time we’ve really engaged with other communities — the city or unions or whomever — in terms of doing a big project.”
SustainableWorks operates under the umbrella of the Industrial Areas Foundation Northwest and is an offshoot of Sound Alliance, a collection of religious institutions, community organizations, education groups and unions working for the common good. The parish became an active member of Sound Alliance when the organizations gathered about three years ago for listening sessions to identify community needs.
“Out of that came concerns for the environment, jobs, health care, immigration, housing and education,” said parishioner Greg Vicars, one of the co-chairs of the parish’s large Core Team for Sound Alliance. “From that was formed the agenda for the common good … we saw an opportunity to create jobs — green jobs.”
article from: http://www.seattlearch.org/FormationAndEducation/Progress/GreenProject03-18-10.htm
