Hope Spotlight: Heather Jones

Name: Heather Jones

Time with Hope: first board meeting was today

Bio: Heather recently joined the Hope for Northwest Georgia advisory board. Heather is a Social Worker with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Chattanooga and brings a great deal of professional experience in case management, volunteer
development/management and youth development to Hope for NWGA. She also brings with her experience in educating individuals about factors that influence impoverished communities, specifically in regard to the concept of the Culture of Poverty.

Currently Reading: Adam Bryant's Corner Office column in the NY Times and National Geographic

Interesting Fact: she learned to read/write in Japanese when she was in elementary school


Find out more by stopping by our Hope office! We'll be more than happy to give you a tour and a cup of coffee.

Hope Spotlight: Heather Prettyman, Director

Over the next few months, we will be introducing our Hope staff and volunteers. If you don't already know us, here is your chance!



Name: Heather Prettyman

Time with Hope: three and a half years

Bio: Heather has been Director at Hope since its beginning. She joined Hope while finishing a degree in Community Development at Covenant College in 2008. Heather lives in Northwest Georgia with her husband Thomas and attends East Ridge Presbyterian Church.

Currently Reading: Beyond Charity, by John M. Perkins, and The Lord of the Rings



Find out more by stopping by our Hope office! We'll be more than happy to give you a tour and a cup of coffee.

Good Time for All

If you joined us at the CCDA regional conference in Chattanooga last weekend, then I am sure you will agree- what a great time!

Hope for NWGA joined lots of folks from our region to listen to top Development speakers and professionals, network, fellowship, and eat! The weekend was packed with information and encouragement.

Check out some photos from the event:

Hope to see you this weekend!

Join Hope at the Christian Community Development Association Regional Conference this Friday and Saturday in Chattanooga Tennessee.

Come find our booth, eat a meal or two with our director, Heather Prettyman, or run into us in one of many of the workshops and plenary sessions. This promises to be a time of encouragement, fellowship, and blessing. Will we see you there?

Register at the door for $50. This includes meals for each day. To find out more, click here.

Aftermath

Many of you have asked how we are doing after the storms that passed through our area. I have posted a few pictures above of storm damage. I am excited, however, to report that this difficult time has brought us together as a community in a way that never could have occurred otherwise.
Immediately following the storm, neighbors were checking on neighbors. People opened their homes, pantries, and families to those in the community who had once been strangers. We watched with joy as several churches in the Flintstone community teamed up to provide hot meals and a safe place to those without power. Day after day, we watched as teams of individuals poured into the neighborhoods, cutting down trees, removing debris, and providing much needed support.
One family from one of our Hope partnership churches lost everything. Their home was completely crushed, their possessions scattered. But in a joint service the following Sunday, they gave testimony to God for his protection, wisdom, and power.
As we clean up and set things right, pray with us that God would continue to minister through his people in our community. Pray too for those suffering from loss. Pray that God would not only provide for physical needs, but that He would surround the hurting with those who love Him.
If you are interested in helping in the Northwest Georgia area, please contact the Hope offices. We would be happy to connect you with one of our Hope Partner churches that is already working in their community.

One City

Please go to chattarati.com to read Dr. Brian Fikkert's Editorial, Form One City Out of Two, on poverty in our community.

Dr. Fikkert will also be speaking at the CCDA Regional conference in Chattanooga this May 20-21. For more information on this event, go to CCDA.org.

In the News

Check out the article in Chattanooga's new online new source, Nooga.com.

Church-based project seeks to alleviate poverty
By Mary Barnett
Published Thursday, March 17, 2011 12:47 pm EST ( Updated 1 week ago )

The Chalmers Center for Economic Development at Covenant College will soon launch Asset-Driven Development of Chattanooga (ADDC), a pilot project developed to train and support church-based individual development accounts (IDA's) in the greater Chattanooga area.

IDA's are matched saving accounts for the working poor, similar to an employer-matched 401K account. Asset-driven development means the people who sign up for an IDA will be saving for a specific need or asset, such as a home, car, or home-based business equipment.

"Some people who are in poverty could get out of poverty with the right help. But they don't know that they can," Jerilyn Sanders, director of the program, said. "They don't know that they might be able to create their own wealth, and incrementally things could at least get better. If I am a person who is going to a title pawn when I have an emergency, will I ever consider investments or savings?"
Heather Harris, right, a volunteer with the ADDC, helps director Jerilyn Sanders ,left, plan out their new offices at the St. Andrews Center.

This summer the ADDC program, one of the first launched by the Chalmers Center in the U.S., will train church leaders interested in a longer lasting impact to start an IDA program in their congregation or community.

Participants in the training program will be tasked to do extensive homework within their congregations to find their target audience, set the budget, determine the match rate, and adapt the program to the needs of people in their organization.

Heather Prettyman, with Hope for Northwest Georgia, is looking forward to the group training approach and learning with others. She will be part of the first 5 groups already enrolled in this summer's pilot program.

"It is going to be a big deal to partner with someone and help them look to the future beyond next week or next month. We will learn how to help them budget and manage their own money as they save," said Prettyman. "This program will allow us to do a match savings programs - so people who couldn't buy a car, or a house, or go for higher education, will now have that possibility by working with a church. I think people have been looking for this kind of answer for awhile."

The Chalmers Center, whose work has been primarily focused overseas in developing nations, is piloting the program in Chattanooga to learn from the model over the next three years before they introduce it to other communities around the United States.

"Ultimately, we'd like to see communities around the country working together to address poverty in this way," Sanders said.