[Dialogue] invitation to share poverty projects

[Karen Sims]

Harry:

Attached is the note and form.  I have also included it in this email. Wasn't sure what was the best way to send a longer document.

Thank you.

Be well,
Karen

February 10, 2009

Dear Colleagues,

ICA-USA is undertaking a series of Critical Inquiry Forums on the Persistence of Poverty.  The Forums are a "brown bag" lecture series hosted at our headquarters in Chicago with noted prominent experts in the field of poverty issues - authors and
leaders of poverty-focused organizations. The first will be March 19.  The speaker is Amy Rynell, Director of the Heartland Alliance Mid-American Institute on Poverty.  MAIP was established in 1989 to provide dynamic research and analysis on today's most pressing social issues.

As you know, ICA-USA is committed to effective social change, long recognizing that identifying root causes is essential to designing effective solutions. To this end we are looking for information about your current and past community development projects related to poverty issues that have successfully identified root causes and addressed them effectively. We are asking for your help.

In addition to the Forums in Chicago we are hoping to broaden and deepen the input based on the examples submitted by colleagues in the ICA- USA network. The refreshed and updated ICA-USA website is an ideal and appropriate place to share, recognize, and celebrate our ICA colleagues' work on community development projects that involve the poor or poverty issues around the country.

We would also like to share these examples, in booklet form, with the attendees of the Forums. Our hope is that this will highlight the great work being done by ICA-USA colleagues and inspire others to contribute their efforts and abilities to local nonprofit organizations.

By sharing your projects on the website and with Forum attendees, you would be able to help build on the work of the ICAI Global Conference in Japan last November that included input from pre-conference sessions hosted by ICA colleagues in Troy, NY; Washington, DC; and San Francisco, CA.  It will also connect us with our Uptown neighbors, the local churches, political leaders, and merchants.

ICA colleagues have always been able to be inspired by and learn from others' work. Moreover, as we find more  non-ICA colleagues viewing our website, we can highlight poverty as an issue that individuals and communities face in their human and community development - and an issue that ICA colleagues can be called on to facilitate possible solutions.

Please email Karen Sims (ksims at ica-usa.org<mailto:ksims at ica-usa.org>) a three - four paragraph synopsis of your poverty related project.  Add a picture if you have one. There are  plans to start posting these to the website in mid-March to coincide with the first Critical Inquiry Forum on March 19, 2009.

Sincerely,

Karen Sims
ICA-USA Director of Resource Development and External Affairs
(with consultation from Judy Lindblad and Janice Ulangca)


Here is template you might use to briefly describe your
poverty-related community development projects.


Name______________________________ Project date/dates____________________

Describe the nature of your work.

Who are you working with?

Who are your partners?

What poverty challenges are being addressed?

What accomplishments have you seen?

What is the key learning form your work?



Karen A. Sims
Director of Resource Development and External Affairs
Institute of Cultural Affairs-USA
Phone: 773-769-6363
Fax: 773-769-1144

We recently updated our website.  See our new look at www.ica-usa.org<http://www.ica-usa.org>

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