where do we go from here?

By Tiffany Brooks

​We just got back from London and I gained some insight into what direction I could go in with my idea. The “we” is Focused Vision, which is an organization that is ran by my business/research partner where we use Curriculum Development and GIS Data Analytics to help businesses and organizations in low income communities find ways to be more efficient. The challenge now is discerning which direction would be the best to go in.

When I applied to the Change Makers Project, my overall goal was to determine how the church community could become more involved in public education. While in London, I was inspired by the various organizations created that focused on serving communities with a faith-based foundation. I was mostly impacted by the Home Community Cafe at St. Andrews Earlsfield Church. This church has a cafe and sources their foods and drinks through local business owners and serves as a community that opens its space to any and all. What was most notable was how they use their church space throughout the week because worship services are not taking place more than at most three times a week. Prior to the trip to London, I went to the Samuel Dewitt Proctor Conference where I met with the founder of the Black Action Food Network and one of the topics that we touched on was how to utilize church space which helped me frame even more of my idea. My research partner and I just returned from Brazil as well to present our research on solving the Food Apartheid Crisis in the United States through curriculum development and GIS Data Analytics, at first, I didn’t understand how my research and my idea for Change Makers went hand in hand, however it’s beginning to take shape. The answer to determining how churches can become more involved in public education is directly linked to how the church serves its communities on a daily and consistent basis. I’ll be looking forward to these next few months to truly dive into a more concrete plan.
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