We seek to discover and grow the assets of our community and this leads to an aspirational rise for those involved in our programs. Focusing on assets allows formerly negatively labeled people and communities to redefine themselves and begin the process of community healing and renewal.
Metanoia has strong community participation by obeying the ‘Iron Rule’ of community organizing–to never do for people what they can do for themselves. We seek to do our work with and not to the communities we serve. We see residents as citizens who deserve the right to help drive our mission forward.
As Metanoia has grown, we have become a movement that provides good ground for people to nurture and grow their faith in God and one another. Within our movement, there are people with a wide variety of faith expressions, and all are welcome.
We believe
The most efficient and effective way to help neighborhoods recover is by discovering and investing in their strengths rather than constantly focusing on problems. We attract investment to neighborhood assets to build award-winning and effective opportunities that harness the capacity of community citizens. Those who deserve the strongest voice in community renewal are people who live in the neighborhoods where we seek to create opportunities.
Being community-based…
is more than a token effort for us as many of our board and staff live in the communities we serve. Since our earliest days, Metanoia has been driven by feedback from our community where residents experiencing poverty are treated as citizens rather than clients. Finally, our programs are rooted in faith in God and one another. While we have people of different faiths involved in our movement, we find that a commitment to faithfulness is a motivating and sustaining factor in our work.
“We define faith as believing in spite of circumstances and watching circumstances change for positive transformation.”