Faith Time: Communities of Transformation

conversation on Matters of
Faith. Joining me this
morning is
Katy Wrona with Communities of
Transformation
thanks for joining us this
morning.
Guest: Good morning
Chad: you work with a program
called communities of
transformation--what is
that?
Guest: Communities of
Transformation is an initiative
that seeks to serve those in our
community who
are most vulnerable and who live
in poverty.
Communities of Transformation is
sponsored by the Alabama-West
Florida
Conference of the United
Methodist Church. This
community initiative partners
families in
transition with volunteers from
within the community's
churches. The primary goal of
COT is to stabilize the
participants and their families
through the
development of financial
strength and to assist
adults who are unemployed or
underemployed find
meaningful long-term employment.
The COT initiative is built upon
the formation of a community. We
gather together for a weekly
meeting on which includes a
meal, childcare, training or
program, and community-building
community-building activities.
In Mobile, we gather every
Thursday night at 5:45 at the
Vision Center.
Participants and volunteers are
matched in small
groups for encouragement,
friendship building,
guidance, and for building the
capacity for the families in
transition to have access to
partnership with a United
Methodist Children's Home in the
community where we are walking
with their teen mothers as the
learn how to become adults. We
Our new class of
participants have all been
invited personally by
someone already a part of COT
Chad: How does this program
move families
towards stability?
Guest: Our families all start a
leadership class at the
beginning of their
participation. This holistic
training, called Awaken, focuses
on developing an
individuals strengths and
assets. The class focuses
on the five dimensions of
personal development -
Physical, Intellectual,
Financial, Spiritual, and
Relational. As individuals we
should be growing in all
areas of life no matter our age
or where our journey
has led so far. After the
Awaken class, participants
are matched in small groups of
support and
begin to set goals for
themselves.
COT provides programs on job
readiness, financial
management, parenting, healthy
living, and many
others that help the community
grow in all
dimensions of life and help them
accomplish goals.
What I love about this ministry
is that we first see
individual begin to heal within
and then take steps
towards their future story.
Chad: What are some examples of
success with
COT you can point to?
Guest: Within our community, we
have had
individuals start college, pay
off debt, move into
safer housing, get new jobs, and
learn to trust
others. I would like to take it
a step further and share the
journey of one of our
participants. About 18 months
ago, we had a sixty-year old
woman join our community. She
had just moved to Mobile,
living with her family, and was
searching for a new purpose in
her life. She completed our
leadership
course, Awaken, and set goals
for herself and the
future she envisioned.
She shares a moment when one
night at a COT
meeting, someone turned to her
and asked, "You're
an artist, aren't you?" and in
that moment she felt proud of
who she was and her talents.
After years away
from the art community because
of a disability she began to
invest in her art again. Today,
she owns her own home, shows her
art at
Gallery 450, and has set up her
art studio at the Vision
Center where she teaches private
success with COT. But her story
also shows that the road to
self-sufficiency
takes time and is impossible
without a
community of support.
Chad: How do you change people's
mindsets about
what poverty truly is?
Guest: One key idea that we
live into at Communities
of Transformation is that
everyone is broken. We are all
in some kind of poverty; of
stability. Chad: Why was CoT
started? Guest: Communities of
Transformation started as part
of a conversation of how we are
neighborhood knew each other and
looked out for each other. This
concept of community is no
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Faith Time: Communities of Transformation

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