Guest Reflections on Community Transformation

Here we feature monthly reflections by local, regional or national leaders who have significant experience in community transformation. We are asking them to reflect on what’s working and why, what’s not working and why, and what’s not being tried that should be.

CCT Vision — What We See

A Central Valley defined by equal access to all the blessings of our region—an abundant community that flourishes with entrepreneurial creativity, spiritual freedom, economic vitality and justice, environmental integrity, cross cultural/social collaboration and political health.

CCT Purpose — Why We Exist

To provide a faith-rooted, institutional engine and catalyst for systemic and sustainable transformation into a unique region of communities characterized by abundance and peace.

By:  May Gnia Her, Vice President Community Impact, United Way of Fresno County

Ask anyone if they have given money or goods to a donation drive and they may tell you they have supported charity. To many, charity is simply the act of giving. In the nonprofit sector when community wellbeing is the focus, charity is a key first stepping stone to strengthening a community. Through charity one can practice the goodness of, “paying it forward.”  Paying it forward is a gesture of goodness toward a complete stranger. But charity is not the ultimate goal. Can charity in fact ignite the power of transformation?  Transformation occurs when communities embrace each other’s differences as gifts, and accept each other’s uniqueness as an opportunity for learning and loving. Transformation allows communities to share in the abundance of becoming one – one community.