“On the Front Porch with Ami Chen: Spiritual Dialogues for the 21st Century.”

Ami Chen

Emerging from the popular weekly radio show, “A New Way to Handle Absolutely Everything,” co-host Ami Chen takes flight with her very own show on essential spiritual principles that cross the boundaries of religion, self-help, psychology and all spiritual traditions.

For over a decade, Ami has taught principles of innate mental health and resiliency in jail settings, community settings, schools, and with youth in juvenile hall and court schools. This work led to her initiation of the National Community Resiliency Project, funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and sponsored by her non-profit, the Center for Sustainable Change.

The author of the book for youth, “The Spark Inside,” Ami was an award-winning investigative journalist for many years. Her studies of various forms of spirituality led her to conclude that “the Truth is everywhere.” On the Front Porch will feature Ami Chen, and guests who speak to the “Three Principles of Mind, Consciousness and Thought,” first shared by Sydney Banks … and the mental health and wisdom that lie within; as well as the most enlightened authors and speakers of our day, whose work is to wake up humanity. Come sit “on the front porch” with teachers from many backgrounds, and with ordinary, everyday people, who have found that freedom and Truth, as formlessness and within ALL form, is our essential nature as human beings.

“It is no good to wait for someone else to awaken, so that all will be taken care of. It is you the world is waiting for. Not just for your children, but for all children, all neighborhoods everywhere. It is up to you.” --Gangaji

Topics will include: a new psychology and the “Three Principles,” parenting, relationships, education, community, work life and, always, the constant nowness and presence of pure Consciousness, of mental health and well-being in us all.

Join Ami Chen “On the Front Porch,” the 2nd and 4th Friday of every month, at 10 am Pacific/1pm Eastern. Podcast will also be available for free download on iTunes and elsewhere. Call-in’s welcome!

Dickerson: “I'm ready to transform the Delta”

Gloria Dickerson (front: third from right) and youth from Sunflower County. 

Gloria Dickerson thinks big. Not only is she bringing Three Principles training to 90 youth in Mississippi's Sunflower County through a unique series of all-day Saturday sessions, she plans to wrap up the sessions with a field trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

Why Disney World? She wants the participants to experience for themselves the connections between learning and enjoyment of life. During the day in Orlando, the students will attend classes, and in the evening they will relax and enjoy themselves at the world-famous theme park that most never expected to see.

These young folks come from a background of economic hardship, where they often are told they'll never succeed in life.

“The more I work with these kids, I realize that these are bright kids. They're smart. They have some creativity within them, and they want stuff," Gloria said. "But the way they've been stereotyped in society – that the poor kids from the Delta don't want anything, they've never seen anybody go to work, so they don't know anything about that – it's not true! The more you work with them, you look in their faces, and they talk to you, you see they have dreams, they have aspirations just like any other kids. And they're smart but they haven’t had exposure. They haven't had anybody to work with them and nurture them and teach them and train them.”

Gloria tells of one boy who wants to play piano and have a career in music. But his mother told him, “You're black. You have to remember that” - a message he interprets as a limit on his hopes and dreams. These are exactly the kinds of limiting thoughts that Gloria is hoping to challenge with her program, “$$$ for Your Thoughts.”

“No matter how they treat me, 

I'm still going to go to school”

Gloria Dickerson

Gloria herself is a living example of her belief that mindset is the key to human potential. The daughter of humble sharecroppers on a Mississippi plantation, Gloria and her 12 siblings rose out of generations of poverty and oppression to become university graduates and successful professionals. In the process, her family earned a place for itself in the history of African American rights.

In the 1960s, Gloria's mother, Mae Bertha Carter, decided to break the cycle of poverty. The school district's Freedom of Choice plan supposedly allowed everyone to choose what school they wanted to go to. So Mae Bertha placed seven of her children's names on an application form to attend an all-white school. Such a thing was unheard of in Drew, where whites believed that African Americans would never dare breach the white-black divide. The white community retaliated with violence and intimidation, but her parents refused to give up. They wanted their children to have the best education possible. The family launched a successful lawsuit, with Gloria and her siblings as plaintiffs, against the Freedom of Choice plan, forcing the district to integrate the schools.

Gloria's challenge was just beginning. She was in Grade 7 when she and her siblings started attending the white school. For five years, they were the only black kids in their classes. Their classmates and their teachers subjected them to horrific cruelty, but Gloria's attitude was, “No matter how they treat me, I'm still going to go to school and learn.” She maintained perfect attendance and excellent grades.

Mae Bertha always assured her, “The better the education you get, the better your quality of life will be.”

Watch the video, “Mae Bertha Carter Family Story” on Youtube

Mae Bertha proved right. Gloria went on to earn her MBA and hold such positions as vice president and financial controller. Eventually, Gloria realized that her work, while well paid, was not fulfilling.

“I didn't feel good about the work I did,” she said. Her desire to work with people led her into the field of corporate training, but even that did not satisfy her need to contribute on a deeper level. At that time, she was working for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. She asked if she could become more involved with the communities that Kellogg was helping. The answer was yes, and Gloria moved from Michigan back to Mississippi, taking on the position of program director for the Kellogg Foundation's Mid-South Delta Initiative. She was there, awarding grants and playing a pivotal role, when 15 Delta communities came together to form the Delta Citizens Alliance (DCA), dedicated to raising the quality of life for Delta residents.

DCA executive director Larry Williams invited Gloria to sit on the DCA steering committee. Gloria was getting much closer to her dream of being able to share her passionate belief in the human potential of Delta's poverty-stricken people.

“A culture of possibilities”

As she went from community to community in the Delta, she kept hearing people say the same thing: “The Delta is a place where things are not going to change until we can really get to the mindset of the people, the way people think about what's possible, the way people think about what they can do in order to make a difference. The more we can get them to be hopeful and not as hopeless, and the more we can get them to think about their expectations, and their aspirations, and their dreams, then the better off we will be."

Yet, there was no funding specifically addressing the need to raise people's awareness of their own human potential. Gloria wanted to find a way to help folks in the Delta create what she called, “a culture of possibilities.”

Gloria kept looking. One day Larry Williams invited her to a DCA conference and the agenda included a session by Ami Chen Mills-Naim of the Center for Sustainable Change (CSC). Gloria noticed that the topic had something to do with “mindset.”

“I thought, 'Oh, that's what I'm looking for.'” Gloria remembers. The next day, she spoke with her fellow program officer at Kellogg and said, “We need someone to work with people and talk to them about their thought processes and patterns, because unless we can change that, nothing else is going to change.” The program officer replied that she'd just funded a proposal from a woman in California to work with DCA on exactly that. The woman was Ami Chen Mills-Naim.

So when Gloria finally saw Ami later that night in person at the conference, she was quick to make a connection. The two happened to meet in the elevator. Ami looked at Gloria and said, “Are you a trainer?” Gloria said no. So Ami asked, “Why are you here?”

“I'm here because I'm ready to transform the Delta,” Gloria replied.

That meeting led to Gloria attending 3 Principles training sessions with Ami in the Delta, travelling to a CSC retreat in California, and attending follow-up sessions. “I wanted to be sure that whatever it is I was offering in the Delta, fit what the people needed in the Delta,” Gloria said. “I want to raise the awareness of the people in terms of the role that Thought plays in their lives. However, I want to do that in conjunction with whatever their issues are.” She struggled with the fact that most Delta residents live in poverty. They need food, shelter, clothing – the basic necessities of life.

The 3 Principles of Mind, Consciousness and Thought, as she understood them, are about peace of mind and acceptance of what is. At first she saw a contradiction between “accepting what is” and working to change things. But eventually she realized, “There is a difference between being at peace and accepting the status quo.”

She came to this conclusion: “I have to be at peace and accept what is. And then if I want something to be different, I can work to make it different.”

Listen as Gloria describes how she uses 

the 3 Principles to help Delta youth (5 min.)

This realization helped her when it came time to found her own non-profit organization, We2gether Creating Change. And it helps her assist her own students, who struggle with negative thought patterns. She is able to teach them to be okay with what their thought patterns are, now, and to accept them, while also saying, “I can work on changing things.”

Gloria designed a series of Saturday sessions that integrate 3 Principles fundamentals with topics of compelling interest to middle school and high school students. Held in downtown Drew in space donated by the Mississippi Delta Community College, each Saturday focuses on a different theme: health, career, education, finance, relationships, etc. The 90 students attending are bright and creative, but they've received a lot of messages from external sources that make them feel trying is pointless. Many of these kids have been told that being black is an obstacle.

Gloria says, once they realize where these thoughts come from, they can start asking, “Is that really true for me?”

“We talk about the passion within”
 

One boy, who was behind a grade, had the thought that he'd never get out of high school. When he realized he could remove that thought and think something else, like, “I'm going to get out of high school because I want to and because I know the universal support is there,” he began to work harder. He now expects to graduate in May.

“We talk about the passion within, and the gifts that they came into the world with, and the gifts within,” Gloria said. “It's not what other people say, or other people's thoughts that dictate to you where you're going to go in life.”

To capitalize on the students' enthusiasm for the sessions, Gloria came up with the idea of a field trip to Walt Disney World during March break. During the day, the students will attend more classes on themes of practical importance to their lives, all grounded in the Principles of Universal Mind, Consciousness and Thought. And in the evenings they will head to the theme park for some fun.

Her message to them is simple: “The more you learn, the better quality of life you'll have.”

When they return from Florida, they will have a ceremony to mark their graduation from the Mae Bertha Carter Institute. But that won't necessarily mean the end for these youth. Gloria plans to invite them all to attend alumni meetings, for as long as they want. “They'll always be part of that group, and they'll be the first class to become part of that group in the Delta.”

Gloria Dickerson's work with youth, including the field trip to Walt Disney World, is funded 1/3 from her own financial resources and 2/3 from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The “$$$ for your Thoughts” program is co-facilitated by Drew resident Kyree Smith. Learn more about Gloria's non-profit organization, We2gether Creating Change, by visiting http://we2gether.org/

by Maureen Latta, CSC Grants Manager

Gloria Dickerson's Eight Healthy Mindsets

1. All things are possible.
2. I can and I will.
3. I will discover my gifts, talents, and passions.
4. I love myself first; then others.
5. I will use good thoughts and good feelings to create a good life.
6. I have an attitude of gratitude.
7. I will use my inner power to succeed and connect to the power of the universe for help.
8. My hopes and expectations for myself are UP.

Meet the CSC Team: Liz Alameda's Story

by Liz Alameda, CSC Finance Manager

Liz Alameda

I was employed for 25 years with the Santa Clara County Probation Department in Juvenile Hall with offenders sometimes as young as 11 years of age. My time as a supervisor was to monitor the contractors who came to deliver services to our incarcerated juveniles. One of those contractors was The Department of Alcohol and Drugs, 3 Principles division. They delivered Three Principle training to a selected group of juveniles.

At this particular time, I was also responsible for what is known as the 707B offenders, juveniles who have committed adult crimes. This population, if found guilty, was headed for some serious time in custody, up to double life, in some cases. Imagine a “double life” sentence at the age of 16.

After a trial, it was procedure to place inmates returning from court on a suicide watch where they were monitored every 5 or every 15 minutes.

I began to notice that juveniles who had participated in the 3 Principles group were removed from their suicide watch sooner than those who hadn’t. That really surprised me, and I got very curious. Eventually, administration sent me and another supervisor to 3 Principles training.

My life changed in two ways after that. First, I began to see the minors in custody, not the crime. I have to admit, prior to understanding the 3 Principles, I could view some inmates with compassion, but others, especially those who had committed crimes against children, I could not. If a certain inmate asked for an extra blanket, I could refuse to provide one, for example. When I began to understand that my thoughts and feelings come from me, not from someone else’s actions, I began to soften towards these youth. And I believe that to be effective when working with those who are incarcerated, or anyone, you have to see the person, not the crime, or the behavior. Behavior is a symptom of our thinking. I know that now.

The second realization that occurred for me was that, despite my appearance of success – I had a big house, a husband, two children, and a good job – I was not having fun. My quality of life was poor. Today, I would say I was sick, because I had twisted thinking. If someone “pissed me off,” I placed the blame for my stress, my bad mood and my behavior on them, instead of understanding where all my stress was really coming from – my own thinking.

I decided to take early retirement from the County and focus on having more fun and improving my community. These days, I work as an independent 3 Principles trainer with groups of both male and female perpetrators and victims of domestic violence in my town of Hollister, CA. I had known Gabriela Maldonado-Montano for a long time, and when she told me earlier this year that the Center for Sustainable Change needed help with bookkeeping, I offered to take on the job. I keep the finances in order, and I teach online courses through CSC.

Someone recently asked me why I don’t watch the news more often and become better informed about the issues of the day. I said, “I don’t sit and watch the news. When I sit in my living room, I think about how I can help my community, and when I walk out that door, that’s what I’m doing.”

"There's more than just where you are, and what you have"

If you were to visit the housing development known as Advent Heights, you’d see that the townhouse units are plain and unadorned, that there are few trees or shrubs planted here, and that several units are vacant, their unhinged doors revealing dark and lifeless interiors.

Sylvia Franklin-Maxey

If you were to take a closer look, you might notice the details: flowers planted here and there; children playing between the townhouse units. To the residents of this community on the north-eastern edge of Greenville, Mississippi, these details matter. They signify change.

The tenants, most of whom are single moms and children or people with disabilities, are taking pride in where they are, according to Sylvia Franklin-Maxey. Recently, the whole community threw a party. It was an unprecedented outdoor event to celebrate, in part, the eradication of a bee infestation that had plagued the community for close to 20 years. The children can now play outside freely, without fear. Just the other day, the little ones helped plant some flowers near the office, where Sylvia works as the apartments’ assistant manager.

Yes, things are looking up for the tenants at Advent Heights. Sylvia notices that neighbors are helping each other more. People aren’t as reluctant to ask for help these days.

Sylvia has her own unique way of summing up the mindset that keeps so many people feeling helpless and hopeless. “You see things in black or white and forget the green.” She could be talking about any of us, but in particular those who live with financial lack – those who feel there’s nothing they can do to improve their lives.

Listen to this 60-second audio to hear Sylvia's words of wisdom:  

“There’s more than just where you are and what you have,” Sylvia says. Wise words coming from a woman who until recently lived with scarcity, a struggling single mother of three boys.

Sylvia learned how to use her mindset to attain what she wants in life when she attended meetings on financial literacy, offered last year by Gloria Dickerson and Tasha Griffin. The pair of Three Principles trainers came around to Advent Heights to explain how to open a bank account and keep a budget. Underpinning their talks on finance was an ever-present awareness of the Three Principles of mind, consciousness and thought – and how mindset affects one’s relationship with money.

As Sylvia sums it up now: “It’s not what you have; it’s what you do with what you have.”

At that time, Sylvia was living at Advent Heights, with three sons soon to finish high school. After the meetings, she began to keep a budget and save money aside each month, which helped when it came time for the boys to graduate. It also helped when she decided to get married this year. There was money for the wedding and a fresh start.

“In August I got married to a wonderful gentleman. I relocated to a better house. But the house doesn’t make the mindset,” Sylvia says.

Residents of Advent Heights view "Thoughts on Thought," a video
about the principles of mind, consciousness and thought.

Sylvia still comes back to the community of Advent Heights, keeping her job as assistant manager, and helping Tasha spread an understanding of the 3 Principles among tenants. Many of the residents are receptive, according to Sylvia, because Tasha and Gloria invited them to express their needs and wants, rather than imposing ideas on them. 


The tenants were clear that they wanted to improve their community in a multitude of ways – beautification of the grounds, creating programs for youth, to name a few – but their first priority was getting rid of the bees that had been infesting several of the abandoned units for so many years. Indeed, the bees had terrorized the community for so long that some folks couldn’t remember a time when they could sit or play outside without fear. The extermination job was going to cost $1,000 – far more than this impoverished community could come up with.

And maybe the wisdom of Sylvia’s mantra – “It’s not what you have; it’s what you do with what you have” – paved the way for a miracle. After advocacy work by Tasha and the Delta Citizens Alliance, Reginald Reed of Reed Exterminating offered to do the whole job, free of charge. This September, the local ABC and CBS affiliates came out to cover the event. The residents of Advent Heights, so long neglected on the far edge of Greenville, began to feel seen and heard.

Maybe this was the “green” Sylvia talked about. The palette of life when viewed from an expanded perspective. The color of possibility.

When new tenants arrive at Advent Heights, Sylvia is ready for any opportunity to let them know about the principles of mind, consciousness and thought. Maybe they’ll give it a try, see how it can change their lives.

Advent Heights is a focus of the National Community Resiliency Project, a partnership between the Center for Sustainable Change and local partner organization, Delta Citizens Alliance (DCA) in Greenville, Mississippi. Tasha Griffin is DCA’s Project Director, working towards creating sustainable change in at-risk communities in the Delta region. Special thanks to Reginald Reed of Reed Exterminating in Greenville for donating his services to improve the quality of life for children and adults at Advent Heights. The National Community Resiliency Project is funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and by donations. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation now. You can help people in communities such as Advent Heights to thrive and prosper by giving a contribution today.

By Maureen Latta, Grants Manager

NEWS RELEASE: Advent Heights to take community back from bees

GREENVILLE (Aug, 30, 2011) - “Soybean City” has been under siege by an infestation of bees for 20 years. Up to 10 apartments are uninhabitable and families have abandoned nearby units, fearful that a child could die if a bee sting results in anaphylactic shock. However, thanks to the generosity of Greenville business owner Reginald Reed the bee problem soon may be just a bad memory.

Reed owns Reed Exterminating Company, which plans to send three exterminators on September 12 to eradicate the bees currently infesting five buildings in Advent Heights Apartments. Reed offered to do the work free of charge because the impoverished community had difficulty coming up with the $1,000 extermination fee. It’s a big job because the nests are in walls covered with bricks, but Reed says, “Whatever it takes to get to the nests, I will do it.”

 

Advent Heights residents have been working with Delta Citizens Alliance (DCA) on a community resiliency project, but DCA Operations Manager Tasha Griffin said it’s been difficult to make headway on issues facing the community when the bee problem dominates residents’ concerns. “The bees are an obstacle because large areas have to be avoided where they can’t even cut the grass. It takes away from the beautification of the neighborhood. The residents wanted to work together to keep the community clean and nice-looking.” Griffin contacted Reed, and he said he wanted to help.

Advent Heights Manager Hope Davenport said the community is trying to improve life for the approximately 150 children at risk, not only from bees, but also from the lack of activities available to them on the far side of Greenville. “Lately, we’ve had quite a few children who’ve got into trouble. We’re trying to take back our children,” Davenport said. “We have some highly intelligent children, but because we have not invested in them they have made that turn to the youth court system.”

Solving the bee problem, which is impacting about 20 per cent of Soybean City’s land area, will help pave the way for a greater focus on youth. Griffin said, “Once the bee problem is solved, it’s going to help the residents help themselves to improve their community.”

Community resiliency efforts focus on training residents in high-risk communities in what is known as the “Three Principles” approach to realizing the role that thought plays in the creation of human experience. DCA hopes to see improvements in school performance, crime rates and citizen involvement. DCA is a membership-based, non-profit organization working to improve economic and social conditions of citizens in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi Delta. DCA, based in Greenville, works in partnership with the non-profit Center for Sustainable Change as part of the National Community Resiliency Project, funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

The Power of the Pause

Randa can move fast when she’s angry…

The 47-year-old single mom was in the kitchen making an omelette when her 11-year-old daughter, Nicole, started mouthing off to her from the living room. In a flash, Randa was face-to-face with Nicole. This kind of heated family drama would usually involve Randa raising her hand, followed by tears and recriminations. Nicole would leave for school with the sting of a slap and a dark cloud hanging over her day.

This day was different. In the 20 seconds it took for Randa to run into the living room, she remembered what she’d learned at the Three Principles-based, “Peaceful Parenting” class she had attended the week before in her neighborhood of Lakewood, in Charlotte North Carolina.

She remembered: Your thoughts create your everyday personal reality; your feelings come from this; you can have a new thought any time.

Looking into her daughter’s eyes, Randa found new words coming out of her mouth. In a quiet tone, Randa said, “Do you realize you are talking to me the way you talk to your friends?” Nicole’s defiant look crumbled. “I’m sorry,” she muttered. Randa continued, “Be mindful that I’m not your friend, and watch your tone when you’re talking to me.”

The moment was over. Randa actually felt surprise that the calm words had come so easily. The best part was, “Nicole didn’t go to school feeling like I hated her,” says Randa.

Randa's twin daughters

Randa’s twin daughters have noticed such a change in their mother that they practically push her out the door on the evenings when the Peaceful Parenting class is held just down the road at a neighborhood church. “Don’t you have class tonight, mama?” the twins say. “Don’t be late now.”

With the change in their mother, their own lives have gotten better…

This is what your donations are making possible.

Randa’s story is an example of how our donors help improve people’s lives in impoverished communities across the country. The Center for Sustainable Change's non-profit National Community Resiliency Project (NCRP), in partnership with local organizations such as the Lakewood Community Development Corporation in Charlotte, provides individuals like Randa with the opportunity to receive Three Principles training through a variety of locally-initiated and locally-designed programs.

Like a stone thrown in a pond, one person’s raised level of consciousness has a ripple effect that extends throughout their family, school and community.

For information about the Center for Sustainable Change and to make a donation, please visit our website. www.centerforsustainablechange.org

To receive news about the Center for Sustainable Change and updates about our NCRP project sites, please sign up for our e-newsletter on the right side of this page.

By Maureen Latta, Grants Manager, Center for Sustainable Change

CSC corporate training services expanding non-profit possibilities

A Latino woman in a white pin-striped suit stands in front of the classroom asking the group of 25 adults whether they reflected on a video presented during the previous class. “Do you remember anything about the video?” asks Gabriela Maldonado-Montano, whose job is to teach them the Three Principles. This was their homework, to muse on the taped talk given by Sydney Banks.

Gabriela Maldonado-Montano,
CSC trainer and co-director

“I loved it,” a woman in the front row replies.

“What did you love about it?” Gabriela asks.

“The message. That we ultimately know nothing.”

The man next to her says he had a different impression. “I got the impression Sydney Banks was saying he couldn’t teach you because you, yourself, are your own teacher.”

The woman responds, “I guess what I meant is, you don’t know it with your brain. You know it with your soul.”

This exchange wouldn’t be out of place at a Three Principles retreat. What is unusual is that this discussion is happening during a corporate training session for the executive team, upper-level managers and support staff at Center for Employment Training, a California-based economic and community development corporation which makes hands-on job training available to youth and adults.

What follows is a discussion of Sydney Banks, the soft-spoken Scotsman whose realizations about the principles of Mind, Consciousness and Thought were introduced to Center for Employment Training this year by the Center for Sustainable Change (CSC) through a 2-1/2-day Corporate Retreat followed by a brown-bag lunch series. Today is the final class in the series, and CSC trainer Gabriela Maldonado-Montano is encouraging everyone to translate their learning into real-life work situations.

If key employees can understand more deeply 
how their thinking affects their professional lives, 
they can reduce workplace stress, improve 
performance and generate creative solutions 

“What do you do if you get agitated in a meeting?” Gabriela asks them.

A man jokes, “Kill someone!” and the class cracks up with laughter. Gabriela is smiling, obviously delighted at the relaxed atmosphere. There is no pretense here, only a refreshing honesty about the nature of feelings that arise in the heat of the moment. A few months ago, this group of employees were reluctant to open up with each other.

Gabriela clarifies her question. “What do you do in your head?”

Along with the laughter, there is serious intent here. If the key employees in this large organization -- a leader in the employment training sector -- can understand more deeply how their thinking affects their professional and personal lives, they can reduce workplace stress, improve performance, and generate creative solutions to the dilemmas affecting thousands of their clients experiencing cultural, linguistic and socio-economic hurdles in their lives.

Now the staff members are discussing the ways each one tends to react upon receiving an upsetting email from a co-worker. One woman notes that her cheeks get warm, “like a red tomato.”

Gabriela warns the class she is about to say something that might surprise them. “I just want to propose this to you: if we are creating our reactions every moment of our lives, is it really possible to get an upsetting email? Who is making it upsetting?” Gabriela continues. “Could it be that all emails are neutral, and whether they are upsetting or not is something we do with our emails?”

To drive the point home, Gabriela talks about working in the justice system with violent offenders. She understood that, due to their thinking, their actions made sense to them in the moment. That is how the power of Thought works. Our thoughts, and the feelings generated by the thoughts, seem so real -- in the moment. Gabriela says these convicted felons told her, “If they knew then what they know now [about how Thought works], they wouldn’t have done it.”

When the class is over, several people step forward to embrace Gabriela, and there is talk about the need for more exposure to the 3 Principles so that staff can take their understanding to a deeper level.

Finding new, innovative and creative ways 
of funding CSC's non-profit work

CSC is in the process of expanding its reach to corporations, both not-for-profit and for-profit. The development of corporate training is, in part, a means to generate relationships and financial resources that CSC can use to support its own non-profit work. Gabriela, who is also a co-director of CSC, said in an interview, “The purpose of developing the corporate services is to subsidize the tremendous need that we have at CSC. We have a tremendous need to create a model that is sustainable.”

CSC’s non-profit National Community Resiliency Project (NCRP) helps people in impoverished communities, where training in the Principles has been shown to improve the quality of life for families, reduce violent crime rates, improve school attendance and performance, and generate greater trust between residents, local law enforcement and school staff.

“Throughout my career, I have seen that the financial situation of non-profits is always precarious,” Gabriela said. “At CSC, we’re committed to finding new, innovative and creative ways of funding the non-profit work. I think that is essential.”

For more information about CSC’s corporate training services, please contact CSC.
To read the NCRP Executive Summary or obtain the full report, visit http://cscmediacenter.org/read.html

By Maureen Latta, Grants Manager, Center for Sustainable Change