Our Perkins Fellows gathered on August 26th to share their personal stories as well as listen to the individual stories of our community partners and the collective story of our city. Founded eight years ago, the Perkins Fellows program fills a unique void at UVA: to try to live out Jesus’ call to love our Charlottesville neighbors as ourselves. We are inspired and motivated by the vision of John & Vera Mae Perkins who’ve distilled their work in Christian community development down to the 3 R’s:
Relocation - To move to be near the people you are serving. Bryan Stevenson’s talk about Proximity fits in well here, as does the theological concept of the Incarnation.
Reconciliation - To reconcile people to God and neighbor as the Greatest Commandment teaches us.
Redistribution - To love people by tending to their physical needs through practicing justice & mercy.
Since I love alliteration, I developed our own set of practices centered on LOVE for Perkins Fellows called the 3 L’s:
Listen & Learn the stories and histories of our city collectively and our neighbors individually. This involves a lot of question asking; Jesus & his disciples were always asking questions!
Laugh - We don’t take ourselves too seriously. Humility is key.
Lean In for the Long Haul- We hope to help the UVA community to continue to lean into our Cville neighbors and the work of justice, even when uncomfortable or inconvenient
We started the day with visiting Bread & Roses - an urban garden and food justice initiative of Trinity Episcopal Church, the first Black Episcopal Church in the area founded in 1919. We then enjoyed iced lattes at the Kindness Cafe while we heard from Founder Katie Kishore about their work employing adults with cognitive disabilities through a coffee shop. Next stop was the Haven, a low-barrier day shelter for anyone with housing instability where we unpacked some myths around those struggling with finding a home.
We then spent some time at the Heather Heyer Memorial, named after the young woman tragically killed by a white supremacist on Aug 12, 2017. I talked with the Fellows about the importance of asking the question that Civil Rights activist Ruby Sales asks: “Where does it hurt?” Any doctor or concerned parent will always ask this first. Knowing & seeing peoples’ pain is essential. John Perkins talks about learning peoples’ FELT NEEDS. But, we also have to see their strength and beauty as the evolution of asset-based community development has tried to balance out with overly need-focused community development. We are not all just pain and problems! I ended our time at the Heather Heyer Memorial, reading a selection from their summer reading, Welcoming Justice beautifully written by Charles Marsh illuminating the life and last days of Heather Heyer.
After a hearty lunch at Otto’s Turkish Street Food, we joined Ike Anderson for a tour of the Music Resource Center, a place that offers affordable, high-quality music education and community for youth in Charlottesville and the surrounding area. We ended our long day sitting with the program staff of Abundant Life Ministries, long-time friends and partners who for 28 years have been loving on the Prospect neighborhood through all sorts of creative youth and family support.
I’m so honored to walk alongside these faithful community partners and inspiring students who are teaching us so much about what it means to love our neighbors while strengthening ties between the University and our surrounding community.
